{ "built": "2026-09-18", "count": 131, "nodes": [ { "id": "bay-area-late-counter", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The all-night counter", "aliases": [ "24-hour donut shop", "the late window" ], "said": "Two in the morning is a different customer and the same donut." }, "region": [ "bay-area", "socal" ], "facets": { "dough": "both", "counter": "coffee-only", "state": "CA" }, "text": { "what": "A shop that never closes, or opens again at midnight: bar traffic, night shifts, students, and whoever else is out.", "story": "Bob's Donuts on Polk Street in San Francisco has run 24 hours and draws a nightlife crowd. Seaside Donuts Bakery in Newport Beach has been open around the clock since 1985. Randy's original drive-in in Inglewood is a 24-hour window.\n\nThe all-night shop is only possible because the fryer runs at night anyway — the overnight bake and the overnight trade are the same shift seen from two sides.", "today": "Where a city has a late counter, it tends to be one of the few places open at that hour that is not a bar or a hospital." }, "kin": [ { "to": "bobs-donuts", "as": "San Francisco's.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "seaside-donuts", "as": "Orange County's.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "as": "The Inglewood window.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "as": "The shift underneath it.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-bob-s-donuts", "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A shop that never closes, or opens again at midnight: bar traffic, night shifts, students, and whoever else is out.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "bay-area", "name": "The Bay Area", "state": "CA" }, { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bobs-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Bob's Donuts and Pastries", "as": "San Francisco's.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "seaside-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Seaside Donuts Bakery", "as": "Orange County's.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "The Inglewood window.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "The shift underneath it.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Bob's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "kind": "web", "title": "Seaside Donuts Bakery — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaside_Donuts_Bakery", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Randy's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bobs-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Bob's Donuts and Pastries", "as": "The city's after-midnight habit.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "chicago-polish-bakery", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The Polish bakery counter", "aliases": [ "paczki counter", "Chicago Polish bakery" ], "said": "The line starts before the sun and the sign says how many you may buy." }, "region": [ "chicago", "detroit", "upper-midwest" ], "facets": { "state": "IL", "dough": "yeast", "counter": "donuts-only" }, "text": { "what": "A Polish-American bakery selling pączki — rich filled donuts, powidła or rose-petal jam inside, powdered or glazed — beside rye bread and coffee cake. One day a year it is the only thing anyone is there for.", "story": "Pączki are medieval in Poland and were improved, Jędrzej Kitowicz wrote, by French cooks at the court of Augustus III until they came out lighter. The dough is richer than a jelly donut's — eggs, fat, sugar, yeast, sometimes milk — and carries a spoonful of rectified spirit, which evaporates in the fryer and keeps the oil out.\n\nThe pale belt around the middle is read as proof the oil was fresh. In Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Windsor the tradition sits with the Polish communities, and Fat Tuesday is Paczki Day.", "how": "Fresh oil, and the bakers say so. Fried in batches all night before the day, filled and sugared as they cool.", "today": "Hamtramck, Michigan, runs a Paczki Day the city closes streets for. Chicago bakeries post limits." }, "kin": [ { "to": "paczki", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki-day", "as": "The Tuesday.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "as": "The German-descended version of the same fast.", "rel": "contrast" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-p-czki", "s:wp-doughnut", "s:wp-hamtramck-michigan" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-hamtramck-michigan" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Polish-American bakery selling pączki — rich filled donuts, powidła or rose-petal jam inside, powdered or glazed — beside rye bread and coffee cake. One day a year it is the only thing anyone is there for.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "chicago", "name": "Chicago", "state": "IL", "note": "Polish bakeries, paczki, the long john" }, { "key": "detroit", "name": "Detroit", "state": "MI", "note": "Hamtramck on Paczki Day" }, { "key": "upper-midwest", "name": "The Upper Midwest", "state": null, "note": "Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas; bismarcks, long johns, church-basement fry" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki-day", "type": "event", "name": "Paczki Day", "as": "The Tuesday.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "as": "The German-descended version of the same fast.", "rel": "contrast" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-p-czki", "kind": "web", "title": "Pączki — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-hamtramck-michigan", "kind": "web", "title": "Hamtramck, Michigan — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamtramck,_Michigan", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-hamtramck-michigan" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The style it belongs to.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "paczki-day", "type": "event", "name": "Paczki Day", "as": "The counter.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "delta-grocery-counter", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The Delta grocery counter", "aliases": [ "Chinese grocery counter" ], "said": "The store came first; the fryer was added because the store was already open." }, "region": [ "mississippi-delta", "chinese-american", "the-south" ], "facets": { "dough": "cake", "counter": "fried-rice" }, "text": { "what": "A small family grocery in the Mississippi or Arkansas Delta with a hot counter — and, in some of them, donuts fried in the morning beside the rest of the cooking.", "story": "Chinese labourers were recruited to the Delta by cotton planters during Reconstruction, most of them men from the Siyi region of Guangdong. By the end of the 1870s they had left the plantations and opened small family groceries in Delta towns, and families followed in the early 1900s. The stores served Black customers that white-owned stores treated badly, in a state whose records classified the owners as \"colored\".\n\n*Inference —* the donut counter in a Delta grocery belongs to the same logic as the egg rolls in a California donut shop: a family business open early with a fryer already lit adds the thing that sells at that hour. This project has not found a published history of Delta grocery donut counters, and says so rather than inventing one.", "how": "Cake batter, a small kettle, and a case by the register.", "today": "The Delta Chinese community has thinned as generations left for cities; the stores that remain are fewer and older." }, "kin": [ { "to": "fried-rice", "as": "What else is hot at the same counter.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The same arithmetic, on a different river.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The easier dough for a counter that is not primarily a bakery.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-chinese-americans-in-the-mississippi-delta" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-chinese-americans-in-the-mississippi-delta" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.what": { "tier": "inference" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-chinese-americans-in-the-mississippi-delta" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "needs_verification": true, "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A small family grocery in the Mississippi or Arkansas Delta with a hot counter — and, in some of them, donuts fried in the morning beside the rest of the cooking.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "mississippi-delta", "name": "The Mississippi Delta", "state": null, "note": "Chinese-American grocers and counters, some of them frying" }, { "key": "chinese-american", "name": "Chinese America", "state": null, "note": "the Delta grocery, the California counter, the fried rice in the warmer" }, { "key": "the-south", "name": "The American South", "state": null } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "fried-rice", "type": "dish", "name": "Fried rice and chow mein", "as": "What else is hot at the same counter.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The same arithmetic, on a different river.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The easier dough for a counter that is not primarily a bakery.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-chinese-americans-in-the-mississippi-delta", "kind": "web", "title": "Chinese Americans in the Mississippi Delta — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Americans_in_the_Mississippi_Delta", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "inference" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-chinese-americans-in-the-mississippi-delta" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-chinese-americans-in-the-mississippi-delta" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "fried-rice", "type": "dish", "name": "Fried rice and chow mein", "as": "The same counter logic in Mississippi.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "Dunkin' country", "aliases": [ "New England coffee-and-donut", "the regular" ], "said": "A regular means light and sweet, and you do not have to say so." }, "region": [ "new-england" ], "facets": { "state": "MA", "dough": "both", "counter": "coffee-only" }, "text": { "what": "Coffee first, donut second, at a counter that measures itself in how fast the line moves. The New England model, and the one the rest of the country meets as a drive-thru.", "story": "Bill Rosenberg opened the Open Kettle in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1948, selling donuts and coffee; in May 1950 he renamed it Dunkin' Donuts. He had been selling food to factories and construction sites and found donuts and coffee were what people bought. Franchising started in 1955. Johnny Spartos, running the original Quincy shop, talked Rosenberg into a donut with a handle, made for dunking.\n\nThe chain's growth came partly by absorption: in 1990 it took over Mister Donut — founded by Rosenberg's former partner Harry Winokur — and Dawn Donuts, converting the shops.\n\nDensity is the New England fact. The Providence metropolitan area has been cited as having the most donut shops per capita in the United States: 25.3 per 100,000 people, as of 13 January 2010.", "how": "Donuts arrive from a central kitchen in most locations now, which is the difference between this and a shop with a kettle.", "today": "A New England independent competes on frying on site and says so on the window." }, "kin": [ { "to": "dunkin", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "bill-rosenberg", "as": "Sold coffee to factories, then sold the idea.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "allies-donuts", "as": "The Rhode Island counter that outlasted the argument.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "donuts-per-capita", "as": "Where the shops actually are, counted.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "s:wp-doughnut-shop" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "inference", "note": "central-kitchen supply is this project's reading; the company publishes no per-store figure here" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Coffee first, donut second, at a counter that measures itself in how fast the line moves. The New England model, and the one the rest of the country meets as a drive-thru.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "bill-rosenberg", "type": "person", "name": "Bill Rosenberg", "as": "Sold coffee to factories, then sold the idea.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "allies-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Allie's Donuts", "as": "The Rhode Island counter that outlasted the argument.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "name": "Where the shops actually are", "as": "Where the shops actually are, counted.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Dunkin' Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin%27_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut shop — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_shop", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.how": { "tier": "inference", "note": "central-kitchen supply is this project's reading; the company publishes no per-store figure here" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "The chain that paired them nationally.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "allies-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Allie's Donuts", "as": "The region it competes in, by frying its own.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "bill-rosenberg", "type": "person", "name": "Bill Rosenberg", "as": "The region it shaped.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The region it defines.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "jimmies", "type": "term", "name": "Jimmies", "as": "The region the word belongs to.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "name": "Where the shops actually are", "as": "The region that drives the New England number.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The malasada counter", "aliases": [ "Hawaiian donut shop" ], "said": "Sold hot, in a paper bag with sugar already in it." }, "region": [ "hawaii" ], "facets": { "state": "HI", "dough": "yeast", "counter": "donuts-only" }, "text": { "what": "A bakery counter in Hawaii selling malasadas — no hole, no filling by default, rolled in sugar — by the dozen in a box or hot by the piece in a bag.", "story": "Portuguese contract labourers from Madeira and the Azores brought the malasada to the islands. The pastry descends from filhós and was carried through Macaronesia by the sixteenth-century sugar trade. In Hawaii it stopped being a Carnival food and became an everyday one, which is not what happened to it anywhere else.\n\nMalasadas are called Hawaiian donuts often enough on the mainland that the name has travelled back.", "how": "A wet, rich yeast dough, hand-pulled rather than cut, fried to order in the shops that can manage it, and dropped straight into sugar.", "today": "Filled versions — haupia, custard, guava — are standard now. The plain one is the one people queue for." }, "kin": [ { "to": "malasada", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "leonards-bakery", "as": "The Honolulu bakery that made it a habit.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "malasada-day", "as": "The day the lines get long.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "mochi-donut", "as": "The other Pacific arrival in the same case.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-malassada", "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A bakery counter in Hawaii selling malasadas — no hole, no filling by default, rolled in sugar — by the dozen in a box or hot by the piece in a bag.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "hawaii", "name": "Hawaii", "state": "HI", "note": "malasadas, no hole, rolled in sugar" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "leonards-bakery", "type": "place", "name": "Leonard's Bakery", "as": "The Honolulu bakery that made it a habit.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "name": "Malasada Day", "as": "The day the lines get long.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Mochi donut", "as": "The other Pacific arrival in the same case.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-malassada", "kind": "web", "title": "Malassada — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malassada", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery", "kind": "web", "title": "Leonard's Bakery — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard%27s_Bakery", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "The island style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Mochi donut", "as": "The island case it shares.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "leonards-bakery", "type": "place", "name": "Leonard's Bakery", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "name": "Malasada Day", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "louisiana-beignet", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The beignet stand", "aliases": [ "New Orleans beignet", "the Quarter counter" ], "said": "Do not wear black, and do not inhale." }, "region": [ "louisiana" ], "facets": { "state": "LA", "dough": "choux", "counter": "coffee-only" }, "text": { "what": "An open-air or walk-up counter selling square fried dough under powdered sugar, three to an order, with coffee cut with chicory beside it.", "story": "French immigrants brought the pâte à choux method to New Orleans in the 1700s, and the square beignet is what it became there. Beignets are also made from yeast-leavened batters and from rice flour; the word covers all of them, and in Canadian French it simply means doughnut.\n\nThe coffee is the other half. The French brought coffee to the Gulf Coast around 1700, and Civil War shortages taught New Orleans to stretch it with chicory, which stayed after the shortage went.", "how": "Roll thin, cut squares, fry hot so they inflate hollow, sugar heavily while steaming, serve immediately.", "today": "Louisiana counters sell beignets, donuts and — in season — king cake off the same register, and nobody calls that a mixed menu." }, "kin": [ { "to": "beignet", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cafe-du-monde", "as": "The stand.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "chicory-coffee", "as": "What it is served with.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "french-cruller", "as": "The other choux fry in America.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-beignet", "s:wp-caf-du-monde" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-beignet" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "An open-air or walk-up counter selling square fried dough under powdered sugar, three to an order, with coffee cut with chicory beside it.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "louisiana", "name": "Louisiana", "state": "LA", "note": "beignets, king cake, and the shops that sell both" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cafe-du-monde", "type": "place", "name": "Café du Monde", "as": "The stand.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "chicory-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "Coffee with chicory", "as": "What it is served with.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "name": "French cruller", "as": "The other choux fry in America.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-beignet", "kind": "web", "title": "Beignet — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beignet", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-caf-du-monde", "kind": "web", "title": "Café du Monde — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_du_Monde", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-beignet" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-beignet" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "cafe-du-monde", "type": "place", "name": "Café du Monde", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The orchard window", "aliases": [ "cider donut stand", "farm stand donuts" ], "said": "Six for the car and six for the house, and the six for the house never arrive." }, "region": [ "new-england", "upstate-ny" ], "facets": { "dough": "cake", "counter": "donuts-only" }, "text": { "what": "A seasonal counter at a cider mill, orchard or farm stand, running one machine and one product: cake donuts with cider in the batter, sugared and handed over hot in a paper bag.", "story": "Donuts belonged to autumn before anyone sold them at an orchard: the slaughter season produced the surplus fat you fried in. Cider donuts themselves go back at least to the late nineteenth century — a 1901 piece in The Buffalo Enquirer has them at Halloween parties.\n\nWhat made them a roadside business was Adolph Levitt's 1921 machine, which fried rings of batter methodically and in public. Cider-selling farm stands took it up quickly. The Doughnut Corporation of America may have sold the first commercial cider donut, a \"sweet cider doughnut\", in 1951.\n\nThe season runs with the apples: September into November or December.", "how": "One depositor over one kettle, in view of the queue. Cider is reduced first, or the batter carries too much water. Donuts go into cinnamon sugar and then into a bag that goes translucent on the drive home.", "today": "Grocery stores start selling them in August and Dunkin' has run them as a seasonal item, which Food & Wine has pointed out is unlikely to involve fresh-pressed cider." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cider-donut", "as": "The one product.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "as": "Whose machine made a farm stand into a donut shop.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "orchard-season", "as": "The weeks it runs.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "as": "Sold the first commercial version, and the machines.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The dough it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cider-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "new-england-cider/new-england-cider-vegan-apple-cider-doughnuts-5373093007.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Vegan Apple Cider Doughnuts (5373093007).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Vegan_Apple_Cider_Doughnuts_%285373093007%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AVegan_Apple_Cider_Doughnuts_%285373093007%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Veganbaking.net from USA", "credit": "Vegan Apple Cider Doughnuts", "alt": "Vegan Apple Cider Doughnuts", "date": "2011-01-18 20:24", "primary": true, "sha256": "f75739ab766bd1b5cb1558dd894e2eb9b673173724319032a0ee1303a7061c5f" } ], "blurb": "A seasonal counter at a cider mill, orchard or farm stand, running one machine and one product: cake donuts with cider in the batter, sugared and handed over hot in a paper bag.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" }, { "key": "upstate-ny", "name": "Upstate New York", "state": "NY", "note": "cider mills, the county fair" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "The one product.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "Whose machine made a farm stand into a donut shop.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "orchard-season", "type": "event", "name": "Cider donut season", "as": "The weeks it runs.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "Sold the first commercial version, and the machines.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The dough it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cider-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cider doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "new-england-cider/new-england-cider-vegan-apple-cider-doughnuts-5373093007.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Vegan Apple Cider Doughnuts (5373093007).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Vegan_Apple_Cider_Doughnuts_%285373093007%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AVegan_Apple_Cider_Doughnuts_%285373093007%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Veganbaking.net from USA", "credit": "Vegan Apple Cider Doughnuts", "alt": "Vegan Apple Cider Doughnuts", "date": "2011-01-18 20:24", "primary": true, "sha256": "f75739ab766bd1b5cb1558dd894e2eb9b673173724319032a0ee1303a7061c5f" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "The trade it created at the roadside.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "orchard-season", "type": "event", "name": "Cider donut season", "as": "The counter.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "new-mexico-burrito-counter", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The Southwest burrito counter", "aliases": [ "donuts and breakfast burritos" ], "said": "Red or green gets asked about the burrito, not the donut." }, "region": [ "new-mexico", "southwest" ], "facets": { "state": "NM", "dough": "both", "counter": "breakfast-burritos" }, "text": { "what": "A donut shop in New Mexico, Arizona or west Texas that also wraps breakfast burritos to order: scrambled egg, potato, cheese and chile in a flour tortilla, sold at the same window as the glazed.", "story": "The breakfast burrito is New Mexican before it is anything else. Tia Sophia's, a diner in Santa Fe, claims the first use of the term on a menu in 1975, though a tortilla rolled around eggs, bacon, potatoes and cheese was on New Mexican tables well before that. The fast-food chains followed — McDonald's in the late 1980s, Sonic, Hardee's and Carl's Jr. through the 1990s, Taco Bell in 2014.\n\nThe donut shop sits in the same slot as those chains: open early, one window, a driver in a truck. *Inference —* a counter already selling coffee at five in the morning has a griddle's worth of spare capacity and a customer who wants something salty, which is the same argument the California shops make about egg rolls.", "how": "A flat-top beside the fryer, a warmer of potatoes, a pot of chile. Burritos are wrapped in foil and stacked; donuts are boxed.", "today": "Where the burrito is on the board, it often outsells the donuts on a weekday morning. This project has not found a count that shows it." }, "kin": [ { "to": "breakfast-burrito", "as": "The item itself.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The same second-menu logic, one state west.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "Why any of these counters sell something savoury at all.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "the-counter", "as": "The map of what else is in the case.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.what": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the sales claim is stated as unverified rather than asserted" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "needs_verification": true, "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A donut shop in New Mexico, Arizona or west Texas that also wraps breakfast burritos to order: scrambled egg, potato, cheese and chile in a flour tortilla, sold at the same window as the glazed.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-mexico", "name": "New Mexico", "state": "NM", "note": "red or green on the breakfast burrito next to the glazed" }, { "key": "southwest", "name": "The Southwest", "state": null, "note": "Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Las Vegas; where the breakfast burrito shares the case" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "breakfast-burrito", "type": "dish", "name": "Breakfast burrito", "as": "The item itself.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The same second-menu logic, one state west.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "Why any of these counters sell something savoury at all.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "The map of what else is in the case.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito", "kind": "web", "title": "Breakfast burrito — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_burrito", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the sales claim is stated as unverified rather than asserted" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "breakfast-burrito", "type": "dish", "name": "Breakfast burrito", "as": "The counter style built on it.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "novelty-donut-shop", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The novelty shop", "aliases": [ "concept donut shop", "the topping arms race" ], "said": "Bacon on a maple bar was a joke once." }, "region": [ "pacific-northwest", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "counter": "donuts-only" }, "text": { "what": "A shop that competes on invention: unusual toppings, themed rooms, names that are jokes, and a queue that photographs its order.", "story": "Voodoo Doughnut opened in Portland in May 2003, night-only until 2006, with a logo carrying Baron Samedi. Psycho Donuts opened in Campbell, California in March 2009 with a straitjacket on the wall and donuts named after mental-health conditions, which has drawn objection. Doughnut Plant, from 1994, took the opposite route: invention aimed at pastry rather than at spectacle.\n\n*Inference —* the novelty shop's real product is a photograph, which is why it prices above a strip-mall counter and why it ages faster.", "today": "The form spread nationally in the 2010s and the strip-mall shops largely ignored it." }, "kin": [ { "to": "voodoo-doughnut", "as": "The best-known one.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "psycho-donuts", "as": "The most argued-over one.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "doughnut-plant", "as": "Invention without the costume.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "as": "Where it sits on price.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut", "s:wp-psycho-donuts", "s:wp-doughnut-plant" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A shop that competes on invention: unusual toppings, themed rooms, names that are jokes, and a queue that photographs its order.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pacific-northwest", "name": "The Pacific Northwest", "state": null, "note": "Portland, Seattle" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "voodoo-doughnut", "type": "place", "name": "Voodoo Doughnut", "as": "The best-known one.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "psycho-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Psycho Donuts", "as": "The most argued-over one.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "doughnut-plant", "type": "place", "name": "Doughnut Plant", "as": "Invention without the costume.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "Where it sits on price.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Voodoo Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-psycho-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Psycho Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-plant", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut Plant — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_Plant", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "psycho-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Psycho Donuts", "as": "The register it works in.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The New York corner counter", "aliases": [ "bodega donut", "deli donut", "Greek coffee shop donut" ], "said": "A coffee regular and a bacon egg and cheese on a roll, and the donut is an afterthought until it isn't." }, "region": [ "nyc", "greek-american" ], "facets": { "state": "NY", "dough": "both", "counter": "bodega-sandwiches" }, "text": { "what": "Donuts sold from a deli, bodega or coffee shop rather than a donut shop: a tray by the register, a grill behind the counter, and a bacon egg and cheese on a kaiser roll doing most of the business.", "story": "A bodega is a small owner-operated store selling hot and prepared food, often open late, defined by the city's health department as a store that sells milk, meat or eggs, is not a specialty store, and has no more than two registers. New York had an estimated 13,000 of them in 2020, and they are tied in the public mind to immigrant and Puerto Rican New York.\n\nThe bacon, egg and cheese is culturally particular to the city, where it comes on a kaiser roll. The donut arrives alongside it as the sweet half of the same transaction.\n\nGreek immigrants ran a large share of the city's coffee shops and diners, and the Anthora cup — blue and white, Greek meander, \"We Are Happy To Serve You\" — was designed for exactly this trade.", "how": "Donuts are bought in, not fried on site, in most of these counters. The kitchen is a grill, not a kettle.", "today": "Dedicated donut shops in the city are a different business with different prices. The corner counter still moves more of them." }, "kin": [ { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "as": "The sandwich that pays the rent.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "anthora-cup", "as": "The cup the coffee comes in.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "doughnut-plant", "as": "The other New York model: one shop, one obsession, higher price.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-counter", "as": "What else is in the case, by region.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-bodega", "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich", "s:wp-greek-americans", "s:wp-anthora" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bodega" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "inference", "note": "that most corner counters buy in rather than fry is this project's reading, not a count" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Donuts sold from a deli, bodega or coffee shop rather than a donut shop: a tray by the register, a grill behind the counter, and a bacon egg and cheese on a kaiser roll doing most of the business.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" }, { "key": "greek-american", "name": "Greek America", "state": null, "note": "the coffee shop, the diner, the paper cup with the meander pattern" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "as": "The sandwich that pays the rent.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "anthora-cup", "type": "art", "name": "The Anthora cup", "as": "The cup the coffee comes in.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "doughnut-plant", "type": "place", "name": "Doughnut Plant", "as": "The other New York model: one shop, one obsession, higher price.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "What else is in the case, by region.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-bodega", "kind": "web", "title": "Bodega — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodega", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich", "kind": "web", "title": "Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon,_egg_and_cheese_sandwich", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-greek-americans", "kind": "web", "title": "Greek Americans — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Americans", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-anthora", "kind": "web", "title": "Anthora — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthora", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bodega" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bodega" }, "text.how": { "tier": "inference", "note": "that most corner counters buy in rather than fry is this project's reading, not a count" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "as": "The counter it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "doughnut-plant", "type": "place", "name": "Doughnut Plant", "as": "The city's other model, at a third the price.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "anthora-cup", "type": "art", "name": "The Anthora cup", "as": "The counter it belongs to.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "aliases": [ "Pennsylvania Dutch fastnacht", "Fasnacht Day" ], "said": "Pre-order by the dozen or do without." }, "region": [ "pennsylvania-dutch" ], "facets": { "state": "PA", "dough": "potato", "counter": "donuts-only" }, "text": { "what": "One pastry, one day. Potato-dough donuts, square or diamond cut, fried for Shrove Tuesday and eaten with butter or golden syrup, sold by bakeries, churches, fire halls and — in eastern Pennsylvania — most chain supermarkets.", "story": "The fasnacht is a pantry-clearing food: lard, sugar, fat and butter used up before Lent. Lancaster, York, Lebanon and Berks counties keep it, and the day is known locally as Fastnacht Day rather than Shrove Tuesday. Parts of Maryland call them kinklings or kuechles, and bakeries there sell them only on that Tuesday.\n\nPolish-American communities in the United States have largely moved pączki from the Thursday before to this same Tuesday, so in a city with both populations, one Tuesday carries two traditions and two arguments about which dough is better.", "how": "Potato dough, risen overnight, rolled, cut in squares with a slit, fried in the morning.", "today": "Volume is ordered ahead. A shop that guesses wrong on Fastnacht Day is wrong for a year." }, "kin": [ { "to": "fastnacht", "as": "The donut itself.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fastnacht-day", "as": "The day.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "paczki", "as": "What the neighbours are frying the same morning.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The other American potato donut.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "One pastry, one day. Potato-dough donuts, square or diamond cut, fried for Shrove Tuesday and eaten with butter or golden syrup, sold by bakeries, churches, fire halls and — in eastern Pennsylvania — most chain…", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pennsylvania-dutch", "name": "Pennsylvania Dutch country", "state": "PA", "note": "fastnachts the day before Lent; potato dough" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The donut itself.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "name": "Fastnacht Day", "as": "The day.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "What the neighbours are frying the same morning.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The other American potato donut.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Fasnacht (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasnacht_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "chicago-polish-bakery", "type": "style", "name": "The Polish bakery counter", "as": "The German-descended version of the same fast.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "name": "Fastnacht Day", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The Southern California pink box", "aliases": [ "the pink box shop", "SoCal independent donut shop", "Cambodian-American donut shop" ], "said": "Nobody calls it a style. You say \"the donut shop\", and everyone knows which corner of which strip mall you mean." }, "region": [ "socal", "cambodian-american", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "dough": "both", "counter": "egg-rolls" }, "text": { "what": "An independent counter, usually in a strip mall, usually open before five in the morning, frying both doughs in one small kitchen and selling them out of a matte pink box. Glazed raised, cake rings, buttermilk bars, fritters, bear claws, maple bars, holes in a bag. Coffee in a paper cup. Often, on the same board: egg rolls, croissant sandwiches, chow mein, boba, or a breakfast burrito.", "story": "Ted Ngoy left Cambodia with his wife and three children in 1975, ahead of the Khmer Rouge, and came through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to Camp Pendleton. He took a janitor's job at a Lutheran church in Tustin and a second job at a gas station, noticed how busy a local donut shop was, and asked to learn the trade. An affirmative-action hiring program at the Winchell's chain trained him; he managed a store in Newport Beach and put his wife and nephew to work in it. In 1977 he bought his own shop, Christy's Donuts in La Habra, and named every shop he bought afterwards the same thing.\n\nBy 1979 he had more than 25 shops. He grew tired of running them himself, so he trained relatives and refugees and leased shops to them — \"I sponsored more than 100 families\", he said, and claimed each on official paperwork as kin. By 1987 he had 32 Christy's; at the peak he reckoned 65. The leasing model is the part that mattered: a family arrived, learned a trade in a month, took a shop, and a few years later sold or leased a shop to the next family.\n\nKQED reported in 2021 that roughly 90 percent of California's 5,000-plus independent donut shops were Cambodian-owned. The pink box itself is attributed to Ngoy and Ning Yen, who were helping other Cambodians set up shops: cheaper matte pink stock instead of the glossy white box.\n\nWhy the second menu is there is not a mystery either. Jolly Chan, who opened China Express and Donut by the 24th Street BART station in San Francisco in 1993, put it plainly to KQED: \"We have to sell more stuff to make up the rent and the expense.\"", "how": "One fryer, two doughs. Raised dough goes up overnight and is cut, proofed and fried first; cake batter is dropped from a depositor after. Glaze table by the door. Everything is done before the first commuter, and the case is not restocked — when the bars are gone they are gone. A second warmer holds whatever the shop also sells hot.", "today": "The model is under pressure from rents, from flour and shortening prices, and from the second generation going to college rather than to the bench at two in the morning. Shops still open, close and change hands quietly; the pink box outlives the owner's name on the sign. *Inference —* the box is the most portable piece of the whole thing, which is why it turns up in cities that never had the shops." }, "kin": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "Trained at Winchell's, bought Christy's in La Habra, and leased shops to the families who followed.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "as": "Named with Ngoy as the reason the box is pink.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "as": "The La Habra shop the whole pattern starts from.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "pink-box", "as": "The object the style is named for here.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "egg-roll", "as": "On the board beside the glazed, and on it for a reason.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "as": "The long version: refugee, empire, gambling, return.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "Rent arithmetic, told by the people who did it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "The item the box is built around.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "buttermilk-bar", "as": "The tell of a shop that can run a cake bench.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "as": "The one with the roof that everybody photographs.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "winchells", "as": "Where the trade got taught, by a chain, to a refugee.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "as": "When the work actually happens.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "s:wp-doughnut-shop" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.what": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "the case description is general knowledge of these shops; the second menu is cited to KQED" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "bench order as these shops run it; hedged" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the pressures are this project reasoning from the cited rent argument and from shop turnover; no count is claimed" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "socal-pink-box/socal-pink-box-california-donuts-los-angeles-usa-panoramio.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:California Donuts , Los Angeles USA - panoramio.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/California_Donuts_%2C_Los_Angeles_USA_-_panoramio.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACalifornia_Donuts_%2C_Los_Angeles_USA_-_panoramio.jpg", "license": "CC BY 3.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/", "author": "The Erica Chang", "credit": "https://web.archive.org/web/20161024035750/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/58494359", "alt": "California Donuts , Los Angeles USA", "date": "Taken on 3 March 2011", "primary": true, "sha256": "6e9e63ef2bf3237161a5a593b1e15bc671b46cddd3f39dafa8b2a781977b09c9" }, { "file": "socal-pink-box/socal-pink-box-dale-s-donuts-15904-s-atlantic-ave-compton-ca-01.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Dale's Donuts 15904 S. Atlantic Ave Compton CA 01.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Dale%27s_Donuts_15904_S._Atlantic_Ave_Compton_CA_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADale%27s_Donuts_15904_S._Atlantic_Ave_Compton_CA_01.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Jengod", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Dale's Donuts 15904 S. Atlantic Ave Compton CA", "date": "2024-03-01 09:27:51", "primary": false, "sha256": "8b400908a25eb8f3892bb8317da077a383157c130f14f302f42f4b5b0812c3c9" } ], "blurb": "An independent counter, usually in a strip mall, usually open before five in the morning, frying both doughs in one small kitchen and selling them out of a matte pink box.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "cambodian-american", "name": "Cambodian America", "state": null, "note": "Long Beach, Stockton, Lowell, Houston; a community, not a place — and the single largest owner group in independent donuts" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "Trained at Winchell's, bought Christy's in La Habra, and leased shops to the families who followed.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "name": "Ning Yen", "as": "Named with Ngoy as the reason the box is pink.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Christy's Donuts", "as": "The La Habra shop the whole pattern starts from.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "The object the style is named for here.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "On the board beside the glazed, and on it for a reason.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The long version: refugee, empire, gambling, return.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "Rent arithmetic, told by the people who did it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The item the box is built around.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "buttermilk-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Buttermilk bar", "as": "The tell of a shop that can run a cake bench.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "The one with the roof that everybody photographs.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "Where the trade got taught, by a chain, to a refugee.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "When the work actually happens.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "kind": "web", "title": "Ted Ngoy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Ngoy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "kind": "web", "title": "Cambodian Americans — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Americans", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut shop — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_shop", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "the case description is general knowledge of these shops; the second menu is cited to KQED" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "bench order as these shops run it; hedged" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the pressures are this project reasoning from the cited rent argument and from shop turnover; no count is claimed" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "socal-pink-box/socal-pink-box-california-donuts-los-angeles-usa-panoramio.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:California Donuts , Los Angeles USA - panoramio.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/California_Donuts_%2C_Los_Angeles_USA_-_panoramio.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACalifornia_Donuts_%2C_Los_Angeles_USA_-_panoramio.jpg", "license": "CC BY 3.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/", "author": "The Erica Chang", "credit": "https://web.archive.org/web/20161024035750/http://www.panoramio.com/photo/58494359", "alt": "California Donuts , Los Angeles USA", "date": "Taken on 3 March 2011", "primary": true, "sha256": "6e9e63ef2bf3237161a5a593b1e15bc671b46cddd3f39dafa8b2a781977b09c9" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "new-mexico-burrito-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Southwest burrito counter", "as": "The same second-menu logic, one state west.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "bear-claw", "type": "donut", "name": "Bear claw", "as": "A staple of the California case, and the name is a California word.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "buttermilk-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Buttermilk bar", "as": "A fixture of the California dozen.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The shop style that sells this one by the dozen before dawn.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "Two or three of these go in the box.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "boba", "type": "dish", "name": "Boba", "as": "The board it turns up on.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "The shop it shares a fryer with.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "Whose families work it.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Christy's Donuts", "as": "The shop the style traces back through.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "donut-wheel", "type": "place", "name": "Donut Wheel", "as": "The same shape of business, further north.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "The regional style it sits inside.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "seaside-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Seaside Donuts Bakery", "as": "A shop the style is made of.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "the-donut-hole", "type": "place", "name": "The Donut Hole", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "voodoo-doughnut", "type": "place", "name": "Voodoo Doughnut", "as": "Where the box came from.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "name": "Ning Yen", "as": "The style it marks.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "The style his system produced.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "b-and-h-distributors", "type": "org", "name": "B & H Bakery Distributors", "as": "The shops it supplies.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "The independents that followed.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "yum-yum-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Yum Yum Donut Shops", "as": "What it competes with.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "hand-lettered-board", "type": "art", "name": "The hand-lettered board", "as": "The shops it is found in.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "The style named for it here.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "name": "Where the shops actually are", "as": "The 5,000-shop state.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The style it belongs to.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The hot light", "aliases": [ "Hot Now", "the Southern glazed" ], "said": "The sign goes on and cars turn in. That is the whole marketing plan and it has worked since 1937." }, "region": [ "the-south", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "NC", "dough": "yeast", "counter": "donuts-only" }, "text": { "what": "A glazed raised ring handed over hot, minutes out of the fryer, with the glaze still moving. Built around a window you can watch the line through, and a lit sign that says the fryer is running.", "story": "Vernon Rudolph bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans chef, rented a building at 534 South Main Street in Winston-Salem in 1937 — now historic Old Salem — and sold to grocery stores. He also sold hot donuts to people who turned up during production, which ran from midnight to four in the morning. That is the origin of the whole idea: the hot donut was a by-product of the wholesale schedule, sold to whoever was awake.\n\nThe recipe traces back further, to Rudolph's uncle Ishmael Armstrong's general store in Paducah, Kentucky, and — by one account — to an Ohio River barge cook named Joseph LeBeouf, whose light doughnuts contained potatoes. The first store outside the South opened in Akron, Ohio, in 1939. A local architect, Benny Dinkins, drew the logo.\n\nIn the early 2010s the company began building shops with tunnel ovens so the hot sign could stay on all day, which is a different proposition from a sign that tells you the night shift is still going.", "how": "A continuous proofer and fryer in the window, a glaze waterfall at the end of the belt, and a warmer nobody pretends is the same thing.", "today": "Independent shops run the same trick without the sign: the raised dough comes out first, and the people who know arrive at opening." }, "kin": [ { "to": "krispy-kreme", "as": "The company that built the window.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "hot-now", "as": "The two words as a term of art.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "as": "The schedule the hot donut fell out of.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "vernon-rudolph", "as": "Bought the recipe, picked the town for a cigarette company.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-krispy-kreme" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the independents' version is this project's reading of opening hours" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A glazed raised ring handed over hot, minutes out of the fryer, with the glaze still moving. Built around a window you can watch the line through, and a lit sign that says the fryer is running.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "the-south", "name": "The American South", "state": null }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "The company that built the window.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "The two words as a term of art.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "The schedule the hot donut fell out of.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "as": "Bought the recipe, picked the town for a cigarette company.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the independents' version is this project's reading of opening hours" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "biscuits-and-gravy", "type": "dish", "name": "Biscuits and gravy", "as": "The region's other early-morning habit.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "A chain that put the table in the window.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "The chain that sold the by-product.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "as": "The style it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "The style it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "type": "event", "name": "Krispy Kreme Challenge", "as": "The regional habit it parodies and honours.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "aliases": [ "kolache shop", "donut and kolache" ], "said": "Order a kolache in Texas and you will probably get sausage in it, which a Czech Texan will tell you is a klobasnek." }, "region": [ "texas", "houston" ], "facets": { "state": "TX", "dough": "both", "counter": "kolaches" }, "text": { "what": "A donut counter that also sells kolaches — and, in Texas, mostly klobasniky: sausage, ham, egg, cheese or jalapeño wrapped in sweet kolache dough. Sold from gas stations, strip-mall shops and dedicated kolache bakeries across the state, well outside the Czech settlement belt.", "story": "Two different pastries carry one name here. A traditional kolache came with Moravian immigrants: sweet dough with a fruit or cheese filling in a well on top. The klobasnek was invented by Czechs who had already settled in Texas — sausage wrapped in that same dough. Texans not of Czech descent call both kolaches; Texans of Czech descent call the savoury ones klobasniky and mean it.\n\nThe town of West, in McLennan County, has one of the largest concentrations of Czech Texans in the state and was designated \"Home of the Official Kolache of the Texas Legislature\" in 1997. Westfest keeps the day.\n\nThe donut shop picked it up because it sells at the same hour to the same driver. Fillings widened from klobása to hot dogs, ham and egg, cheese and peppers, and in some shops boudin, the Cajun pork-and-rice sausage.", "how": "Kolache dough is enriched and proofed like a sweet roll, wrapped around the sausage and baked, not fried — which means a Texas donut shop is running an oven as well as a kettle.", "today": "Kolaches travel where Texans travel. The word now shows up on donut counters in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Colorado, usually meaning the sausage kind." }, "kin": [ { "to": "kolache", "as": "The sweet one, with the well and the fruit.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "klobasnek", "as": "The savoury one Texas calls a kolache.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "czech-stop", "as": "The town the legislature named for it.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "round-rock-donuts", "as": "A Texas counter big enough to be a landmark.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The same arithmetic, a different second menu.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "the-counter", "as": "What else is in the case, state by state.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "s:wp-west-texas", "s:wp-kolach-cake" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-klob-sn-k" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the spread beyond Texas is this project's reading of menus" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A donut counter that also sells kolaches — and, in Texas, mostly klobasniky: sausage, ham, egg, cheese or jalapeño wrapped in sweet kolache dough.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" }, { "key": "houston", "name": "Houston", "state": "TX" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "kolache", "type": "dish", "name": "Kolache", "as": "The sweet one, with the well and the fruit.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "The savoury one Texas calls a kolache.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "czech-stop", "type": "place", "name": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery", "as": "The town the legislature named for it.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "round-rock-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Round Rock Donuts", "as": "A Texas counter big enough to be a landmark.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The same arithmetic, a different second menu.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "What else is in the case, state by state.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "kind": "web", "title": "Klobásník — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klob%C3%A1sn%C3%ADk", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-west-texas", "kind": "web", "title": "West, Texas — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West,_Texas", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-kolach-cake", "kind": "web", "title": "Kolach (cake) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolach_(cake)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-klob-sn-k" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-klob-sn-k" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the spread beyond Texas is this project's reading of menus" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "The counter it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "kolache", "type": "dish", "name": "Kolache", "as": "The counter style.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "czech-stop", "type": "place", "name": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "round-rock-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Round Rock Donuts", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "names": { "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "aliases": [ "Daylight shop", "franchise-flour independent" ], "said": "Same sign, same flour, different family, no head office telling them what to fry." }, "region": [ "us", "texas", "the-south" ], "facets": { "dough": "both", "counter": "kolaches" }, "text": { "what": "An independently owned shop trading under a shared name and buying its dry mix from one supplier. It looks like a chain from the road and is not one at the till.", "story": "Tommy and Lucille Day started in Tulsa in 1954, making donut mix in the mornings and selling it to shops in the afternoon, mostly out of the trunk of their car. The business they named was a flour company: Daylight Donuts Flour Co. The shops came after, and each Daylight Donuts store is independently owned and operated — roughly 950 of them, in 13 countries.\n\nThe Spudnut Shops ran the same way from 1940 with a dry potato mix, reaching more than 300 shops in 38 states by 1954 before the parent company disappeared and left the shops behind.\n\n*Inference —* the mix is what makes a two-person shop possible: it takes the formulation off the owner and leaves them the frying.", "how": "Dry mix plus water, one kettle, one glaze table. The supplier's manual, not a corporate operations team.", "today": "Reading a sign as a chain misses who owns the shop. Reading it as a purely independent bakery misses whose flour it is." }, "kin": [ { "to": "daylight-donuts", "as": "The Tulsa flour company and its 950 signs.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The potato-mix franchise that went before it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "as": "Where this project draws the line, and why it is blurry.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "as": "What comes out of the bag.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "s:wp-spudnut-shops" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "An independently owned shop trading under a shared name and buying its dry mix from one supplier. It looks like a chain from the road and is not one at the till.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" }, { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" }, { "key": "the-south", "name": "The American South", "state": null } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Daylight Donuts", "as": "The Tulsa flour company and its 950 signs.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The potato-mix franchise that went before it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "Where this project draws the line, and why it is blurry.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "What comes out of the bag.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Daylight Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "The shops that buy the mix rather than the formula.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Daylight Donuts", "as": "The kind of business it makes possible.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "mom-and-pop", "type": "term", "name": "Mom-and-pop", "as": "The shops that complicate it.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "type": "story", "name": "The franchise that vanished", "as": "The model.", "rel": "style" }, { "from": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "The style that complicates it.", "rel": "style" } ] }, { "id": "apple-fritter", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Apple fritter", "aliases": [ "fritter" ], "said": "The heaviest thing in the case, and the one that sells out." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "glazed" }, "text": { "what": "Chopped apple and cinnamon folded through raised dough, torn rather than cut, fried craggy and glazed all over so the sugar catches in every fold. No two come out the same shape.", "story": "Fritter covers a wide family: a portion of batter or breading with a filling, fried. The word runs from the Latin frictura, frying, through the Old French friture. American shops use it for the apple one almost exclusively, and put the rest — corn fritters, clam fritters — in a different part of the food world entirely.", "how": "Fold diced apple through sheeted raised dough, cut and stack, press, then pull pieces apart so the edges stay ragged. Fry longer than a plain ring because the fruit carries water, and glaze heavy.", "today": "The fritter is the piece most often sold by weight in the shops that price by piece, because it is roughly two donuts of dough." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Same dough, torn instead of cut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cider-donut", "as": "The other apple one, cake, and seasonal.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bear-claw", "as": "The other big ragged one, filled with almond instead of fruit.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glaze-table", "as": "Glazed all over, not just the top.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-fritter", "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fritter" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "pricing is this project's reading of menus" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Chopped apple and cinnamon folded through raised dough, torn rather than cut, fried craggy and glazed all over so the sugar catches in every fold. No two come out the same shape.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Same dough, torn instead of cut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "The other apple one, cake, and seasonal.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bear-claw", "type": "donut", "name": "Bear claw", "as": "The other big ragged one, filled with almond instead of fruit.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "Glazed all over, not just the top.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-fritter", "kind": "web", "title": "Fritter — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritter", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fritter" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fritter" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "pricing is this project's reading of menus" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bear-claw", "type": "donut", "name": "Bear claw", "as": "The other big ragged piece in the case.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "The year-round apple one, on the raised side.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "bavarian-cream", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Bavarian cream", "aliases": [ "custard-filled", "cream-filled", "Boston cream (when chocolate-topped)" ], "said": "Ask whether it is custard or whipped. The answer tells you what kind of shop you are in." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "filled" }, "text": { "what": "A raised round with no hole, filled with a set custard — Bavarian cream is custard lightened with whipped cream and held with gelatin — and finished in sugar, or iced with chocolate, at which point most counters call it a Boston cream.", "story": "The filled fried round is the older European form; the American shop split it by filling. Jam is a jelly donut or a bismarck; pastry cream and its relatives are custard, Bavarian or Boston cream depending on the shop and the region. The words are not standard and no authority governs them.", "how": "Fry the round, cool it, then inject from the side with a nozzle until it gains weight in the hand. Chocolate icing goes on the top face after.", "today": "The filled donuts are the ones a shop fills in the morning and the ones left over at closing, because a filled donut does not hold overnight the way a glazed ring does." }, "kin": [ { "to": "bismarck", "as": "Same shell, jam instead of custard.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "as": "The nozzle, and the weight in the hand.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "long-john", "as": "The bar version of the same filling.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "day-old", "as": "What a filled donut is not sold as.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-bavarian-cream", "s:wp-jelly-doughnut", "s:wp-custard", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bavarian-cream" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "how filled donuts hold is bench knowledge, hedged" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "filled", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 85.0, "kcal": 306.8, "sugar_g": 12.4, "fat_g": 20.8, "sat_fat_g": 4.6, "carb_g": 25.5, "sodium_mg": 262.6, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172757/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 172757, \"Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, with creme filling\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"doughnut oval (3-1/2\" x 2-1/2\")\" — 85 g. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "blurb": "A raised round with no hole, filled with a set custard — Bavarian cream is custard lightened with whipped cream and held with gelatin — and finished in sugar, or iced with chocolate, at which point most counters call it…", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "Same shell, jam instead of custard.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "The nozzle, and the weight in the hand.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "The bar version of the same filling.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "day-old", "type": "term", "name": "Day-old", "as": "What a filled donut is not sold as.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-bavarian-cream", "kind": "web", "title": "Bavarian cream — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavarian_cream", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Jelly doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-custard", "kind": "web", "title": "Custard — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custard", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bavarian-cream" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bavarian-cream" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bavarian-cream" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "how filled donuts hold is bench knowledge, hedged" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "Same shell, custard instead of jam.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "The custard version.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "bear-claw", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Bear claw", "aliases": [ "bearclaw" ], "said": "Western word. Ask for one in Boston and you may get a look." }, "region": [ "socal", "sacramento", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "iced" }, "text": { "what": "A sweet yeast dough — bread dough carrying more shortening than usual — filled with almond paste and sometimes raisins, shaped in a semicircle with slices cut along the curved edge so the sections separate as it proofs, into toes.", "story": "The name is first attested on 13 March 1914, in a newspaper advertisement for the Geibel German Bakery in Sacramento, California. By the next year bear claws were on the breakfast menu at Hamburger's in Los Angeles, then the largest department store west of Chicago. The Sacramento Bee reports no earlier public reference; a Sacramento historian cautioned against crowning the city as the origin on that evidence alone.\n\nThe phrase is Western American English — the U.S. Regional Dialect Survey asks about it by name. Denmark calls the pastry a kam, Germany a Kamm; France has a patte d'ours, made in the Alps in 1982.\n\nA bear claw cutter was patented into use in 1950 by James Fennell, which is when the shape stopped being purely a knife job.", "how": "Roll sweet dough around almond filling, cut four or five slits along one edge, curve it, proof it so the toes spread, bake or fry depending on the shop, then ice or glaze.", "today": "Donut shops sell it as a donut; bakeries sell the same thing as a Danish. Which one you get depends on which side of the counter it was made on." }, "kin": [ { "to": "apple-fritter", "as": "The other big ragged piece in the case.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Sweeter, richer dough than the ring.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "A staple of the California case, and the name is a California word.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-bear-claw" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bear-claw" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A sweet yeast dough — bread dough carrying more shortening than usual — filled with almond paste and sometimes raisins, shaped in a semicircle with slices cut along the curved edge so the sections separate as it proofs…", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "sacramento", "name": "Sacramento", "state": "CA" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "apple-fritter", "type": "donut", "name": "Apple fritter", "as": "The other big ragged piece in the case.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Sweeter, richer dough than the ring.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "A staple of the California case, and the name is a California word.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-bear-claw", "kind": "web", "title": "Bear claw — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_claw", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bear-claw" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bear-claw" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bear-claw" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "apple-fritter", "type": "donut", "name": "Apple fritter", "as": "The other big ragged one, filled with almond instead of fruit.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "A Western word with a date.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "beignet", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Beignet", "aliases": [ "French-style beignet", "New Orleans beignet" ], "said": "Square, no hole, and the sugar is not optional." }, "region": [ "louisiana" ], "facets": { "dough": "choux", "finish": "powdered", "state": "LA" }, "text": { "what": "A deep-fried pastry of French origin, in New Orleans a square of dough fried until it puffs hollow and buried in confectioner's sugar. Beignet means bump.", "story": "The pâte à choux method — butter, eggs, milk or water, sugar, flour, salt, cooked and beaten — is the style French immigrants brought to New Orleans in the 1700s. Beignets are also made from yeast-leavened batters and from rice flour, and the word covers all of them. In Canadian French, beigne or beignet simply means doughnut. In the former French colonies of West Africa a beignet is a ball of fried dough, sometimes millet flour in Senegal.\n\nThe New Orleans beignet arrives at a table three to an order with a snowbank of powdered sugar and coffee cut with chicory beside it.", "how": "Roll the dough thin, cut squares, fry hot so they inflate and stay hollow, then sugar them heavily while they steam.", "today": "A donut shop in Louisiana may sell beignets, donuts and king cake off the same counter without anyone treating that as a mixed menu." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cafe-du-monde", "as": "The stand that made the square one famous.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "louisiana-beignet", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "french-cruller", "as": "The other American donut lifted by steam alone.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "powdered-sugar", "as": "What it is buried in.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-beignet", "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-beignet" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the mixed counter is this project's reading of Louisiana menus" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "beignet/beignet-beignets-cafe-du-monde-metairie-louisiana-2015.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Beignets - Cafe du Monde, Metairie, Louisiana 2015.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Beignets_-_Cafe_du_Monde%2C_Metairie%2C_Louisiana_2015.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABeignets_-_Cafe_du_Monde%2C_Metairie%2C_Louisiana_2015.jpg", "license": "CC BY 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/", "author": "leighklotz", "credit": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighklotz/17097947182/", "alt": "Beignets - Cafe du Monde, Metairie, Louisiana 2015", "date": "2015-04-10 08:07:56", "primary": true, "sha256": "907e6ab8412a57093083152643570b732bc878b3f28d553963449831ccce790d" } ], "blurb": "A deep-fried pastry of French origin, in New Orleans a square of dough fried until it puffs hollow and buried in confectioner's sugar. Beignet means bump.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "louisiana", "name": "Louisiana", "state": "LA", "note": "beignets, king cake, and the shops that sell both" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cafe-du-monde", "type": "place", "name": "Café du Monde", "as": "The stand that made the square one famous.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "louisiana-beignet", "type": "style", "name": "The beignet stand", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "name": "French cruller", "as": "The other American donut lifted by steam alone.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "powdered-sugar", "type": "term", "name": "Powdered sugar", "as": "What it is buried in.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-beignet", "kind": "web", "title": "Beignet — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beignet", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-beignet" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-beignet" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-beignet" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the mixed counter is this project's reading of Louisiana menus" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "beignet/beignet-beignets-cafe-du-monde-metairie-louisiana-2015.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Beignets - Cafe du Monde, Metairie, Louisiana 2015.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Beignets_-_Cafe_du_Monde%2C_Metairie%2C_Louisiana_2015.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABeignets_-_Cafe_du_Monde%2C_Metairie%2C_Louisiana_2015.jpg", "license": "CC BY 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/", "author": "leighklotz", "credit": "https://www.flickr.com/photos/leighklotz/17097947182/", "alt": "Beignets - Cafe du Monde, Metairie, Louisiana 2015", "date": "2015-04-10 08:07:56", "primary": true, "sha256": "907e6ab8412a57093083152643570b732bc878b3f28d553963449831ccce790d" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "louisiana-beignet", "type": "style", "name": "The beignet stand", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "chicory-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "Coffee with chicory", "as": "What it is served with.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cafe-du-monde", "type": "place", "name": "Café du Monde", "as": "The square one, buried in sugar.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "powdered-sugar", "type": "term", "name": "Powdered sugar", "as": "Buried in it.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Bismarck", "aliases": [ "bismark", "jelly donut", "filled donut", "Berliner" ], "said": "Upper Midwest word. Elsewhere you ask for a jelly." }, "region": [ "upper-midwest", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "filled" }, "text": { "what": "A round raised donut with no hole, fried, then injected with fruit preserve, custard or cream and finished in sugar or icing.", "story": "The filled fried dough is older than the ring by centuries. A recipe for Gefüllte Krapfen — stuffed fried dough cakes — is in Küchenmeisterei, printed in Nuremberg in 1485, and the form spread across Europe: the German Berliner, the Polish pączki, the Jewish sufganiyah, the Italian bombolone. In parts of Germany the same pastry is a Pfannkuchen, which means pancake everywhere else in the country and causes exactly the trouble you would expect.\n\nBismarcks and Berlin doughnuts turn up in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland and the United States. In the Upper Midwest the name stuck hard enough that a case label will say Bismarck and nothing else.", "how": "No hole: round the dough, proof it, fry it so a pale belt runs around the middle where it floated, then fill from the side and dust or ice.", "today": "A jelly donut is the one most likely to be filled to order in a shop that cares, and filled the night before everywhere else." }, "kin": [ { "to": "bavarian-cream", "as": "Same shell, custard instead of jam.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki", "as": "The Polish one, richer, and tied to a single Tuesday.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "sufganiyah", "as": "The Hanukkah one, fried in oil for the reason the holiday turns on.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "as": "The nozzle that makes it what it is.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Same dough, hole instead of filling.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-jelly-doughnut", "s:wp-berliner-doughnut", "s:wp-doughnut", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "filled", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 85.0, "kcal": 289.0, "sugar_g": 17.9, "fat_g": 15.9, "sat_fat_g": 4.1, "carb_g": 33.1, "sodium_mg": 386.8, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172759/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 172759, \"Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, with jelly filling\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"doughnut oval (3-1/2\" x 2-1/2\")\" — 85 g. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "blurb": "A round raised donut with no hole, fried, then injected with fruit preserve, custard or cream and finished in sugar or icing.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "upper-midwest", "name": "The Upper Midwest", "state": null, "note": "Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas; bismarcks, long johns, church-basement fry" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bavarian-cream", "type": "donut", "name": "Bavarian cream", "as": "Same shell, custard instead of jam.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The Polish one, richer, and tied to a single Tuesday.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "sufganiyah", "type": "donut", "name": "Sufganiyah", "as": "The Hanukkah one, fried in oil for the reason the holiday turns on.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "The nozzle that makes it what it is.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Same dough, hole instead of filling.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Jelly doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-berliner-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Berliner (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berliner_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bavarian-cream", "type": "donut", "name": "Bavarian cream", "as": "Same shell, jam instead of custard.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "The other filled one, round instead of long.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "The other no-hole fried round, filled instead of sugared.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The German-descended cousin sold the rest of the year.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "sufganiyah", "type": "donut", "name": "Sufganiyah", "as": "The same round under a different name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "The round it fills.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "The filled round with a regional name.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "buttermilk-bar", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Buttermilk bar", "aliases": [ "buttermilk donut" ], "said": "Split down the middle like it fell apart, which is how you know it is the right one." }, "region": [ "socal", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "glazed" }, "text": { "what": "Cake batter cut in a bar rather than a ring, fried so it splits open along the top, and glazed heavily enough that the glaze runs into the split.", "story": "*Tradition holds —* the bar is a West Coast case staple and a test of a cake bench: too warm a batter and it will not crack, too cold and it breaks apart. It belongs to the same family as the old-fashioned, which cracks for the same reason, and shops that make a good one tend to make a good old-fashioned too.\n\nNo published history names an inventor or a first shop, and this project has not found one.", "how": "Buttermilk cake batter, rested cold, cut in rectangles, fried at a temperature low enough that the crust sets before the lift finishes. Glaze while warm.", "today": "Priced as a bar rather than a ring in most shops, which is to say a little more." }, "kin": [ { "to": "old-fashioned", "as": "Cracks for the same reason, in a ring.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The batter it comes from.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "A fixture of the California dozen.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cake-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "tradition" }, "fields": { "text.what": { "tier": "tradition" }, "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "no published origin found for the bar; the record says so rather than filling the gap" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "needs_verification": true, "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Cake batter cut in a bar rather than a ring, fried so it splits open along the top, and glazed heavily enough that the glaze runs into the split.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "Cracks for the same reason, in a ring.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The batter it comes from.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "A fixture of the California dozen.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "no published origin found for the bar; the record says so rather than filling the gap" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The tell of a shop that can run a cake bench.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "Cake batter cut in a bar, cracked open, glazed heavy.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "Same batter, cut in a bar.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Cake donut", "aliases": [ "fry cake", "cake-type", "chemical-leavened donut" ], "said": "Some counters still call it a fry cake, and the older the sign, the likelier that is." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "sugared" }, "text": { "what": "A ring of thick batter, not dough, raised by baking powder or soda rather than yeast and dropped straight into the fat from a depositor. It is denser, shorter and smaller than a raised ring — cake rings run 24 to 28 grams against the raised ring's 38 — and it takes sugar, cinnamon sugar or a heavy icing better than it takes a thin glaze.", "story": "The cake ring appears in American cookbooks in the 1830s, after pearlash — a potash refined for baking — became easy to buy, and it is the ring that industrialised. Yeast wants hours and a warm room; chemical leavening wants a mixer and a clock. When doughnut shops were streamlining production in the 1920s and 1930s, most bakers went the cake route because baking soda behaved the same way every morning and machines could be built around it.\n\nThe structural difference is in the flour as much as the lift: cake rings use cake flour, around 7 to 8 percent protein, which is why they crumb rather than pull.\n\nThe fat numbers depend on who you ask, and the two accounts do not agree. One puts cake at about 20 percent oil against yeast's 25; another puts cake at 20 to 25 percent and yeast at 25 to 35. Neither names a laboratory. What both agree on is the direction: the raised ring spends longer in the fat and comes out carrying more of it, and the cake ring makes up the difference with shortening mixed in before it ever gets there.", "how": "Beat a soft batter — cake flour, sugar, eggs, shortening, milk, baking powder. Rest it. Drop rings into 190 to 198 °C fat through a depositor, or cut them from a soft rolled dough. Fry roughly 90 seconds, turning once; one account has commercial cake rings out in 30 to 45 seconds at 191 °C. Sugar or ice them after they cool a little, because a hot cake ring drinks a thin glaze and goes soggy.", "today": "Cake is the dough that holds a flavour — buttermilk, sour cream, blueberry, chocolate, cider — so a shop that runs both doughs usually runs its specials on this side of the case." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "The other half of the argument: same fryer, different lift, different mouth.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "as": "The cracked, tapered cake ring people order by name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "as": "How it gets made, and why a machine could learn it.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cider-donut", "as": "A cake ring with cider in the batter, sold by the bag at the orchard.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "buttermilk-bar", "as": "Cake batter cut in a bar, cracked open, glazed heavy.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "as": "The argument, and what the numbers underneath it actually say.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "fry-cake", "as": "What the older counters called it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "as": "Two doughs, two temperatures, one kettle.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "s:wp-doughnut", "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "which side of the case carries the flavours is this project reading menus, not a cited claim" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "sugared", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 45.0, "kcal": 191.7, "sugar_g": null, "fat_g": 10.3, "sat_fat_g": 2.7, "carb_g": 22.9, "sodium_mg": 180.9, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174992/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 174992, \"Doughnuts, cake-type, plain, sugared or glazed\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"doughnut, medium (approx 3\" dia)\" — 45 g. USDA publishes no total-sugars figure for this food, so sugar is null rather than estimated. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "blurb": "A ring of thick batter, not dough, raised by baking powder or soda rather than yeast and dropped straight into the fat from a depositor.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The other half of the argument: same fryer, different lift, different mouth.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "The cracked, tapered cake ring people order by name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "How it gets made, and why a machine could learn it.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "A cake ring with cider in the batter, sold by the bag at the orchard.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "buttermilk-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Buttermilk bar", "as": "Cake batter cut in a bar, cracked open, glazed heavy.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "The argument, and what the numbers underneath it actually say.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "fry-cake", "type": "term", "name": "Fry cake", "as": "What the older counters called it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "Two doughs, two temperatures, one kettle.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Old-fashioned doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-fashioned_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "which side of the case carries the flavours is this project reading menus, not a cited claim" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "delta-grocery-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Delta grocery counter", "as": "The easier dough for a counter that is not primarily a bakery.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "The dough it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "buttermilk-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Buttermilk bar", "as": "The batter it comes from.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "chocolate-cake", "type": "donut", "name": "Chocolate cake", "as": "The family.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "The dough it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "donut-holes", "type": "donut", "name": "Donut holes", "as": "Cut the same way on the other side of the case.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "name": "French cruller", "as": "The other thing the word cruller covers in America.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The other half of the argument: same fryer, different lift, different mouth.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Mochi donut", "as": "Neither yeast nor powder; a third way of getting lift.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "The family it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "What comes out of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "day-old-rack", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Day-old", "as": "Holds longer.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "Shorter, hotter, and drier out of the kettle.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "federal-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Federal Donuts", "as": "The side of the case it works on.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "pips-original", "type": "place", "name": "Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai", "as": "The dough it runs.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "fry-cake", "type": "term", "name": "Fry cake", "as": "What it means now.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "The cake side.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "chocolate-cake", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Chocolate cake", "aliases": [ "devil's food", "chocolate old-fashioned" ], "said": "Cocoa in the batter, not on the outside — the iced one is a different animal." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "glazed" }, "text": { "what": "A cake ring with cocoa in the batter, glazed or sugared. Dark, dense, and sweeter than the plain cake ring on the published numbers.", "story": "Cake donuts hold a flavour the way raised dough does not, and chocolate is the oldest of the cake flavours in an American case. USDA publishes it as its own food — \"Doughnuts, cake-type, chocolate, sugared or glazed\" — separate from the chocolate-coated plain cake donut, which is a plain ring with icing on it and a different set of numbers.", "how": "Cocoa into a cake batter, dropped and fried like any cake ring, then glazed while warm.", "today": "The two chocolate donuts in a case — cocoa in the batter, or chocolate on the outside — get confused constantly, including by people selling them." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The family.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "as": "The plain cake ring beside it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "as": "Where its numbers sit.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "glazed", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 42.0, "kcal": 175.1, "sugar_g": 13.4, "fat_g": 8.4, "sat_fat_g": 2.2, "carb_g": 24.1, "sodium_mg": 90.3, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174993/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 174993, \"Doughnuts, cake-type, chocolate, sugared or glazed\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"doughnut, medium (approx 3\" dia)\" — 42 g. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "blurb": "A cake ring with cocoa in the batter, glazed or sugared. Dark, dense, and sweeter than the plain cake ring on the published numbers.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The family.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "The plain cake ring beside it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "Where its numbers sit.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [] }, { "id": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Cider donut", "aliases": [ "apple cider doughnut" ], "said": "Bought hot at the mill, in a paper bag that goes translucent on the drive home." }, "region": [ "new-england", "upstate-ny", "upper-midwest" ], "facets": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "sugared" }, "text": { "what": "An American cake donut flavoured with apple cider, cinnamon and nutmeg in the batter, usually rolled in cinnamon or granulated sugar. Denser and moister than a plain cake ring because the cider is in the batter, not on it.", "story": "Cider donuts go back at least to the late nineteenth century — a 1901 piece in The Buffalo Enquirer has them at Halloween parties. Donuts had long belonged to autumn anyway: the slaughter season produced the surplus fat you fried them in.\n\nThe modern version follows the machine. Adolph Levitt's 1921 doughnut machine let anyone fry circles of batter methodically, and cider-selling farm stands took it up fast. The first commercially produced cider donut may have been the Doughnut Corporation of America's \"sweet cider doughnut\" in 1951.\n\nSeason runs with the apples: September through November or December. Grocery stores put them out as early as August, and Food & Wine has noted that a year-round cider donut is unlikely to have fresh-pressed cider in it.", "how": "Reduce cider, beat it into a cake batter with cinnamon and nutmeg, drop rings, fry, and roll in sugar while hot.", "today": "Sold at orchards, cider mills and farm stands as part of a day out, and by the half-dozen at the register of every farm store in the Northeast in October." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The dough it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "apple-fritter", "as": "The year-round apple one, on the raised side.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "orchard-season", "as": "The weeks it exists in.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "new-england-cider", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "as": "Whose machine let a farm stand fry.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cider-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "cider-donut/cider-donut-apple-cider-donuts-at-common-man-stop.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Apple Cider Donuts at Common Man Stop.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Apple_Cider_Donuts_at_Common_Man_Stop.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AApple_Cider_Donuts_at_Common_Man_Stop.jpg", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "author": "Rjlevine", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Cider Donuts Stand in NH", "date": "2025-06-11 08:19:58", "primary": true, "sha256": "cd7cb4c6537bc63c34d1404015520b2f5ce77d55ed937b5a4fb7673a39bfeaf5" }, { "file": "cider-donut/cider-donut-cider-doughnut.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Cider Doughnut.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Cider_Doughnut.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACider_Doughnut.jpg", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "author": "Rjlevine", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Cider Doughnut", "date": "2025-06-11 08:37:30", "primary": false, "sha256": "0ebc8999296e61438fcde38bacc81a1bc3ac2437e483b926cf33843f16d873ea" } ], "blurb": "An American cake donut flavoured with apple cider, cinnamon and nutmeg in the batter, usually rolled in cinnamon or granulated sugar.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" }, { "key": "upstate-ny", "name": "Upstate New York", "state": "NY", "note": "cider mills, the county fair" }, { "key": "upper-midwest", "name": "The Upper Midwest", "state": null, "note": "Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas; bismarcks, long johns, church-basement fry" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The dough it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "apple-fritter", "type": "donut", "name": "Apple fritter", "as": "The year-round apple one, on the raised side.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "orchard-season", "type": "event", "name": "Cider donut season", "as": "The weeks it exists in.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "Whose machine let a farm stand fry.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cider-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cider doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "cider-donut/cider-donut-apple-cider-donuts-at-common-man-stop.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Apple Cider Donuts at Common Man Stop.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Apple_Cider_Donuts_at_Common_Man_Stop.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AApple_Cider_Donuts_at_Common_Man_Stop.jpg", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "author": "Rjlevine", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Cider Donuts Stand in NH", "date": "2025-06-11 08:19:58", "primary": true, "sha256": "cd7cb4c6537bc63c34d1404015520b2f5ce77d55ed937b5a4fb7673a39bfeaf5" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "The one product.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "apple-fritter", "type": "donut", "name": "Apple fritter", "as": "The other apple one, cake, and seasonal.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "A cake ring with cider in the batter, sold by the bag at the orchard.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "A product it commercialised.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "orchard-season", "type": "event", "name": "Cider donut season", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "donut-holes", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Donut holes", "aliases": [ "holes", "munchkins", "donut bites" ], "said": "A bag of holes is the only thing in the shop named after an absence." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "both", "finish": "sugared" }, "text": { "what": "The centres cut out of ring donuts, fried and sold by the bag — or, more often now, made on purpose from the same dough or batter and never cut from anything.", "story": "When a cutter with two concentric circles came into use around 1870, every ring made a small disc of dough as a by-product. That disc could be fried and sold, or thrown back into the batch. The name sticks to the piece that was removed, not the space it left, which is why the thing you buy is the opposite of what you asked for.", "how": "Cut rings; collect the centres; fry them a shorter time than the rings, since they are smaller and rounder; roll in sugar or glaze in a tumbler.", "today": "Chains sell them as a named product in boxes by the dozen and half-dozen. Independent shops more often sell them by the bag, by weight or by scoop, and cheaper." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "The ring the hole came out of.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hole", "as": "The word, and the argument about who punched the first one.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "Cut the same way on the other side of the case.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-donut-hole", "s:wp-doughnut", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-hole" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "how independents price them is read off menus, not counted" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "sugared", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 13.0, "kcal": 54.7, "sugar_g": 3.0, "fat_g": 3.0, "sat_fat_g": 1.2, "carb_g": 6.2, "sodium_mg": 41.1, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172758/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 172758, \"Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, glazed, enriched (includes honey buns)\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"doughnut hole\" — 13 g. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "blurb": "The centres cut out of ring donuts, fried and sold by the bag — or, more often now, made on purpose from the same dough or batter and never cut from anything.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The ring the hole came out of.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "The word, and the argument about who punched the first one.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "Cut the same way on the other side of the case.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-donut-hole", "kind": "web", "title": "Donut hole — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donut_hole", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-hole" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-hole" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-hole" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "how independents price them is read off menus, not counted" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The middles, fried and sold by the bag.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "hand-cut", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Cutting by hand", "as": "What the small ring leaves behind.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "What the missing part is sold as.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Fastnacht", "aliases": [ "fasnacht", "faschnacht", "fosnaught", "kinkling" ], "said": "Spelled six ways in six counties, and everybody thinks theirs is the spelling." }, "region": [ "pennsylvania-dutch" ], "facets": { "dough": "potato", "finish": "sugared", "state": "PA" }, "text": { "what": "A Pennsylvania Dutch fried donut, often made with potato dough, eaten in the days of Carnival and above all on Shrove Tuesday. Square or diamond cut, sometimes with a slit rather than a hole, sometimes plain, sometimes dusted with table sugar.", "story": "The point of it is the pantry. Fasnachts were made to use up lard, sugar, fat and butter before Lent, when households gave them up. The Pennsylvania Dutch counties — Lancaster, York, Lebanon, Berks and around — keep the day, and in eastern Pennsylvania the supermarkets carry them. Parts of Maryland call them kinklings or kuechles and bakeries sell them on Shrove Tuesday only.\n\nThe Polish pączek is the same idea a few hundred miles west. In Poland pączki are eaten on the Thursday before; in Polish-American communities the date has moved to Fasnacht Day, which is to say Tuesday.", "how": "Potato dough, risen, rolled, cut in squares or diamonds, slit in the middle, fried. Eaten with butter or golden syrup, which is the part outsiders find strange and Pennsylvania finds obvious.", "today": "Churches and fire halls still sell them by pre-order, by the dozen, and stop when the batch is gone." }, "kin": [ { "to": "fastnacht-day", "as": "The Tuesday it is for.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "paczki", "as": "The Polish one, richer, and on the same Tuesday in America.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The other potato donut, and a franchise built on it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Pennsylvania Dutch fried donut, often made with potato dough, eaten in the days of Carnival and above all on Shrove Tuesday.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pennsylvania-dutch", "name": "Pennsylvania Dutch country", "state": "PA", "note": "fastnachts the day before Lent; potato dough" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "name": "Fastnacht Day", "as": "The Tuesday it is for.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The Polish one, richer, and on the same Tuesday in America.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The other potato donut, and a franchise built on it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Fasnacht (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasnacht_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "as": "The donut itself.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The Pennsylvania Dutch answer to the same fast.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The other American potato donut, and older.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "name": "Fastnacht Day", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "French cruller", "aliases": [ "cruller", "kruller" ], "said": "The light one. Ridged, hollow, gone in three bites." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "choux", "finish": "glazed" }, "text": { "what": "A ring extruded from choux paste — flour cooked into butter and water, then beaten with eggs — piped through a star tip so it fries up ridged and hollow, and glazed thin. No yeast, no baking powder: steam lifts it.", "story": "Cruller is Dutch, from kruller, from krullen, to curl, and it arrives in America in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with Pennsylvania Dutch settlers. In Europe the shape is a twist or a plaited rectangle pulled through itself; in North America the word covers both a small loaf- or stick-shaped cake doughnut and the French cruller, the choux ring. Milwaukee's cruller is the loaf kind: a glazed cake bar with a crunchy shell.\n\nThe word travels further than the pastry. Youtiao, the Chinese fried stick, gets called a Chinese cruller in English; so does mahua, the twisted one.", "how": "Cook the paste, beat in the eggs, pipe rings onto squares of paper, and slide them paper and all into the fat so they keep their shape. The paper lifts off once they set. Glaze while warm.", "today": "Few independent shops make them, because the paste is a different process from everything else on the bench, and the ones that do say so on the sign." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The other thing the word cruller covers in America.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Neither yeast nor powder — this one is lifted by steam alone.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "as": "Piped onto paper, fried paper and all.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cruller-word", "as": "Dutch for curl, and what it came to mean here.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cruller", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "how many shops make them is this project's reading of menus, not a count" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "choux", "finish": "glazed", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 41.0, "kcal": 168.9, "sugar_g": 14.4, "fat_g": 7.5, "sat_fat_g": 1.9, "carb_g": 24.4, "sodium_mg": 141.4, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172756/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 172756, \"Doughnuts, french crullers, glazed\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"cruller (3\" dia)\" — 41 g. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "images": [ { "file": "french-cruller/french-cruller-french-crullers-in-a-doughnut-shop-display-case-in-c-0bbb8fe.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:French crullers in a doughnut shop display case in California 2023 Jan 01.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/French_crullers_in_a_doughnut_shop_display_case_in_California_2023_Jan_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFrench_crullers_in_a_doughnut_shop_display_case_in_California_2023_Jan_01.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Jengod", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "French crullers in a doughnut shop display case in California 2023 Jan", "date": "2024-01-10 08:26:34", "primary": true, "sha256": "e54431753e9c3b0f55a27d461ebf7f529022de6d87b8852bf7c3e89ff686b7b4" } ], "blurb": "A ring extruded from choux paste — flour cooked into butter and water, then beaten with eggs — piped through a star tip so it fries up ridged and hollow, and glazed thin. No yeast, no baking powder: steam lifts it.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The other thing the word cruller covers in America.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Neither yeast nor powder — this one is lifted by steam alone.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "Piped onto paper, fried paper and all.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cruller-word", "type": "term", "name": "Cruller", "as": "Dutch for curl, and what it came to mean here.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cruller", "kind": "web", "title": "Cruller — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruller", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "how many shops make them is this project's reading of menus, not a count" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "french-cruller/french-cruller-french-crullers-in-a-doughnut-shop-display-case-in-c-0bbb8fe.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:French crullers in a doughnut shop display case in California 2023 Jan 01.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/French_crullers_in_a_doughnut_shop_display_case_in_California_2023_Jan_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFrench_crullers_in_a_doughnut_shop_display_case_in_California_2023_Jan_01.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Jengod", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "French crullers in a doughnut shop display case in California 2023 Jan", "date": "2024-01-10 08:26:34", "primary": true, "sha256": "e54431753e9c3b0f55a27d461ebf7f529022de6d87b8852bf7c3e89ff686b7b4" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "louisiana-beignet", "type": "style", "name": "The beignet stand", "as": "The other choux fry in America.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "The other American donut lifted by steam alone.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cruller-word", "type": "term", "name": "Cruller", "as": "The choux one.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Glazed raised", "aliases": [ "raised glazed", "yeast glazed", "the glazed", "plain glazed" ], "said": "Ask for a glazed and nobody asks which kind. It means this one." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "glazed" }, "text": { "what": "A ring of yeast dough, proofed until it is full of gas, fried about two and a half minutes, then dragged through a thin sugar glaze while it is still hot enough to melt it. The glaze sets into a shell you can hear. Yeast-raised rings run larger and taller than cake rings and average around 38 grams apiece.", "story": "The raised ring is the older idea and the harder one to run. Dutch settlers brought olykoek — oil cake — to New Amsterdam in the early eighteenth century, balls of sweetened dough fried in hog fat; Washington Irving put them in print in 1809 as \"dough-nuts, or oly koeks\". The hole arrives in the middle of the nineteenth century, credited by long habit to Hanson Gregory, a New England sailor who said he punched one out with a tin pepper box in 1847 at sixteen because the middles came out raw.\n\n*Tradition holds —* that the hole was about heat reaching the centre. Culinary historian Linda Civitello writes that the hole made doughnuts cook faster; food writer Michael Krondl reckons the ring shape came off recipes that called for a jumble, a ring-shaped cookie already on the table. By 1870 a cutter with two concentric circles was on sale and the argument stopped mattering to anyone but historians.\n\nWhen shops automated in the 1920s the raised dough lost ground: it needs time to rise and it is harder to handle, so machinery and baking soda pushed bakers toward cake. The raised ring survived because it is the one people mean.", "how": "Mix a lean, sweet dough with baker's yeast. Let it rise, sheet it, cut rings, then proof the cut rings again in a warm box until they are light enough to float. Fry about 150 seconds at 182 to 190 °C, turning once. Glaze hot: a thin syrup of powdered sugar and water or milk goes on within a minute of the fryer, so it soaks the crust and sets clear.", "today": "Every shop in the country sells it and most sell nothing else in that volume. A raised ring goes stale faster than a cake ring, which is why a shop that opened at four in the morning tells you so, and why the tray at noon is not the tray at six." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The other half of the argument: same fryer, different lift, different mouth.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "yeast-raise", "as": "What makes it rise, and the reason the shop was working at two in the morning.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glaze-table", "as": "Where it gets the shell, seconds after it leaves the fat.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "hole", "as": "The part that isn't there, and the part they sell you in a bag.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "donut-holes", "as": "The middles, fried and sold by the bag.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "maple-bar", "as": "The same dough, cut in a bar and iced instead of glazed.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The shop style that sells this one by the dozen before dawn.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "as": "Why the two doughs split the case, and the numbers underneath.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "hot-now", "as": "What a chain built out of glazing this exact donut in front of you.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut", "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the staling point reasons from the raised dough's water and structure; the hours are what shops post" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "glazed", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 64.0, "kcal": 269.4, "sugar_g": 14.6, "fat_g": 14.5, "sat_fat_g": 6.0, "carb_g": 30.7, "sodium_mg": 202.2, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/172758/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 172758, \"Doughnuts, yeast-leavened, glazed, enriched (includes honey buns)\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"doughnut medium (approx 3-3/4\" dia)\" — 64 g. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "images": [ { "file": "glazed-raised/glazed-raised-02023-0563-hot-doughnuts.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:02023 0563 Hot doughnuts.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/02023_0563_Hot_doughnuts.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A02023_0563_Hot_doughnuts.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Silar", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Hot Doughnuts", "date": "2023-09-17 12:55:36", "primary": true, "sha256": "427c741de1dfd55fa9a5e66788f261e6cc0ec85a941f7c3a38c3c7ea0da8ad8a" } ], "blurb": "A ring of yeast dough, proofed until it is full of gas, fried about two and a half minutes, then dragged through a thin sugar glaze while it is still hot enough to melt it. The glaze sets into a shell you can hear.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The other half of the argument: same fryer, different lift, different mouth.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "What makes it rise, and the reason the shop was working at two in the morning.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "Where it gets the shell, seconds after it leaves the fat.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "The part that isn't there, and the part they sell you in a bag.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "donut-holes", "type": "donut", "name": "Donut holes", "as": "The middles, fried and sold by the bag.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "The same dough, cut in a bar and iced instead of glazed.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The shop style that sells this one by the dozen before dawn.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "Why the two doughs split the case, and the numbers underneath.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "What a chain built out of glazing this exact donut in front of you.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut shop — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_shop", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the staling point reasons from the raised dough's water and structure; the hours are what shops post" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "glazed-raised/glazed-raised-02023-0563-hot-doughnuts.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:02023 0563 Hot doughnuts.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/02023_0563_Hot_doughnuts.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A02023_0563_Hot_doughnuts.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Silar", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Hot Doughnuts", "date": "2023-09-17 12:55:36", "primary": true, "sha256": "427c741de1dfd55fa9a5e66788f261e6cc0ec85a941f7c3a38c3c7ea0da8ad8a" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The item the box is built around.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "apple-fritter", "type": "donut", "name": "Apple fritter", "as": "Same dough, torn instead of cut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bear-claw", "type": "donut", "name": "Bear claw", "as": "Sweeter, richer dough than the ring.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "Same dough, hole instead of filling.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The other half of the argument: same fryer, different lift, different mouth.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "donut-holes", "type": "donut", "name": "Donut holes", "as": "The ring the hole came out of.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "name": "French cruller", "as": "Neither yeast nor powder — this one is lifted by steam alone.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "Same dough, different cut and finish.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "What it is, under the potato.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "day-old-rack", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Day-old", "as": "Stales first.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "What goes across it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "hand-cut", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Cutting by hand", "as": "What the bench is for.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "proof-box", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The proof box", "as": "What is in there.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "Longer in the fat, and carries more of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "What comes out of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bobs-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Bob's Donuts and Pastries", "as": "What the challenge donut is a very large one of.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "national-donut-day", "type": "event", "name": "National Donut Day", "as": "What gets given away.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "day-old", "type": "term", "name": "Day-old", "as": "Which ones go first.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "olykoek", "type": "term", "name": "Olykoek", "as": "What it became.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "The raised side.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "long-john", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Long John", "aliases": [ "bar", "finger doughnut", "cream stick", "éclair (as sold)" ], "said": "Midwestern by default. In California the same thing is a bar." }, "region": [ "upper-midwest", "texas", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "iced" }, "text": { "what": "A bar-shaped raised donut, glazed all over or iced on top, sometimes filled with custard or cream.", "story": "Names for it are regional in a way few American foods still are. Long John dominates the Midwest, Canada and Texas. The Mid-Atlantic and central Canada market it as an éclair; the pastries look alike but an éclair is steam-puffed choux with fondant, and a Long John is yeast. The West Coast says bar. Parts of the Midwest say finger doughnut, or cream stick when it is filled.", "how": "Cut from sheeted raised dough into rectangles, proofed, fried, then glazed or iced. Filling goes in from the end with a nozzle.", "today": "A filled Long John is one of the few donuts a shop will cut open for you to prove what is inside." }, "kin": [ { "to": "maple-bar", "as": "The West Coast name and the coast's favourite icing.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bismarck", "as": "The other filled one, round instead of long.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bar-or-long-john", "as": "The map of what to call it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "as": "How the custard gets in.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A bar-shaped raised donut, glazed all over or iced on top, sometimes filled with custard or cream.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "upper-midwest", "name": "The Upper Midwest", "state": null, "note": "Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas; bismarcks, long johns, church-basement fry" }, { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "The West Coast name and the coast's favourite icing.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The other filled one, round instead of long.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "The map of what to call it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "How the custard gets in.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Long John (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bavarian-cream", "type": "donut", "name": "Bavarian cream", "as": "The bar version of the same filling.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "The same bar under the name most of the country uses.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bar", "type": "term", "name": "Bar", "as": "The record for the pastry.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "The pastry.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "malasada", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Malasada", "aliases": [ "malassada", "Hawaiian donut", "filhós (related)" ], "said": "No hole, no filling unless you ask, and sugar all over your shirt." }, "region": [ "hawaii", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "sugared", "state": "HI" }, "text": { "what": "A flattened round of yeasted dough, fried and rolled in sugar — cinnamon sugar, often — with no hole and traditionally no filling. Portuguese from Madeira; Hawaiian by adoption, and the islands sell more of them than anywhere on the mainland.", "story": "The name is Portuguese: mal and assado, badly roasted, for the unstructured shape — or, another account has it, for the underdone dough inside. Malasadas descend from the mainland and Madeiran filhós, a product of the sixteenth-century sugar industry, and travelled through Macaronesia to the Azores, the Canaries and as far as Brazil. They are first described in the Dicionário Houaiss da Língua Portuguesa in 1609 and appear in the ledgers of the Convento da Encarnação in Lisbon between 1688 and 1762.\n\nPortuguese contract labourers carried them to Hawaii, where they are called Hawaiian donuts often enough that the name has stuck to them in the rest of the country too. The Azorean malasada is a Carnival food; the Penedono filhós, made with brandy and olive oil instead of milk, is eaten year round, and the Portuguese agriculture directorate treats the two as distinct.", "how": "A rich yeast dough, rested, pulled into rounds by hand rather than cut, fried until it puffs, then dropped straight into a pan of granulated sugar.", "today": "Hawaii keeps a day for them. Shops sell them plain and filled — haupia, custard, guava — and the plain one is still the one that goes fastest." }, "kin": [ { "to": "leonards-bakery", "as": "The Honolulu bakery that made it a statewide habit.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "as": "The island style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "malasada-day", "as": "The Tuesday it gets its own line out the door.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "bismarck", "as": "The other no-hole fried round, filled instead of sugared.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "paczki", "as": "Another Carnival donut that empties the pantry before a fast.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-malassada" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "the flavours are what island shops list; which sells fastest is shop lore, hedged" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "malasada/malasada-leonard-s-malasadas.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Leonard's malasadas.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Leonard%27s_malasadas.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALeonard%27s_malasadas.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "_e.t from Saratoga, USA", "credit": "O'ahu: Honolulu.", "alt": "(Leonard's Bakery, Honolulu, Hawaii) we couldn't decide!, so ended up getting at least one of each of the flavor-filled (custard, chocolate, haupia, guava) malasadas, a cinnamon plain one, and an orig", "date": "2007-10-26 08:31", "primary": true, "sha256": "b00a1e6ec7dbcab767d08c51ccfe796c23cb457ebe87f03d4b94b2dce9d68914" } ], "blurb": "A flattened round of yeasted dough, fried and rolled in sugar — cinnamon sugar, often — with no hole and traditionally no filling.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "hawaii", "name": "Hawaii", "state": "HI", "note": "malasadas, no hole, rolled in sugar" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "leonards-bakery", "type": "place", "name": "Leonard's Bakery", "as": "The Honolulu bakery that made it a statewide habit.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The island style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "name": "Malasada Day", "as": "The Tuesday it gets its own line out the door.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The other no-hole fried round, filled instead of sugared.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "Another Carnival donut that empties the pantry before a fast.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-malassada", "kind": "web", "title": "Malassada — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malassada", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "the flavours are what island shops list; which sells fastest is shop lore, hedged" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "malasada/malasada-leonard-s-malasadas.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Leonard's malasadas.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Leonard%27s_malasadas.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALeonard%27s_malasadas.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "_e.t from Saratoga, USA", "credit": "O'ahu: Honolulu.", "alt": "(Leonard's Bakery, Honolulu, Hawaii) we couldn't decide!, so ended up getting at least one of each of the flavor-filled (custard, chocolate, haupia, guava) malasadas, a cinnamon plain one, and an orig", "date": "2007-10-26 08:31", "primary": true, "sha256": "b00a1e6ec7dbcab767d08c51ccfe796c23cb457ebe87f03d4b94b2dce9d68914" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "leonards-bakery", "type": "place", "name": "Leonard's Bakery", "as": "The thing it sells.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "name": "Malasada Day", "as": "The pastry.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Maple bar", "aliases": [ "maple log", "maple long john", "maple creamstick", "maple bismarck" ], "said": "On the West Coast it is a bar. Say Long John in Portland and you will be understood, and marked." }, "region": [ "pacific-northwest", "socal", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "iced" }, "text": { "what": "A bar of raised dough, fried, then topped end to end with maple-flavoured icing. Sometimes filled with custard or cream; sometimes finished with chopped bacon, which is a newer idea and an argued one.", "story": "The same pastry carries different names by region. Long John runs through the Midwest, Canada and Texas; the Mid-Atlantic and central Canada sometimes sell it as an éclair, though an éclair is choux and this is yeast; parts of the Midwest say finger doughnut or cream stick when it is filled. On the West Coast it is a bar — maple bar, chocolate bar, filled bar — and the maple one is the one the coast is known for.", "how": "Sheet raised dough, cut rectangles, proof, fry, cool enough that icing will not run off, then dip the top face in maple icing and set it down icing-up.", "today": "A maple bar is the default second donut in a West Coast dozen — the one that goes in after the glazed." }, "kin": [ { "to": "long-john", "as": "The same bar under the name most of the country uses.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Same dough, different cut and finish.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bar-or-long-john", "as": "Where the country changes the word.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "Two or three of these go in the box.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "maple-bar/maple-bar-bacon-maple-bar.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Bacon maple bar.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Bacon_maple_bar.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABacon_maple_bar.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Kevin Galens", "credit": "Bacon Maple", "alt": "A bacon maple bar from Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon.", "date": "2010-05-27 14:55", "primary": true, "sha256": "f4ccca1b2e72c1b69b070b2ceab9585a8f4c32aa291abd824672590b5348be82" } ], "blurb": "A bar of raised dough, fried, then topped end to end with maple-flavoured icing. Sometimes filled with custard or cream; sometimes finished with chopped bacon, which is a newer idea and an argued one.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pacific-northwest", "name": "The Pacific Northwest", "state": null, "note": "Portland, Seattle" }, { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "The same bar under the name most of the country uses.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Same dough, different cut and finish.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "Where the country changes the word.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "Two or three of these go in the box.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Long John (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "maple-bar/maple-bar-bacon-maple-bar.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Bacon maple bar.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Bacon_maple_bar.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABacon_maple_bar.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Kevin Galens", "credit": "Bacon Maple", "alt": "A bacon maple bar from Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon.", "date": "2010-05-27 14:55", "primary": true, "sha256": "f4ccca1b2e72c1b69b070b2ceab9585a8f4c32aa291abd824672590b5348be82" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The same dough, cut in a bar and iced instead of glazed.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "The West Coast name and the coast's favourite icing.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bar", "type": "term", "name": "Bar", "as": "The West Coast's version.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "The coast's version.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Mochi donut", "aliases": [ "pon de ring", "poi mochi" ], "said": "Eight balls in a ring, and you pull it apart rather than bite it." }, "region": [ "hawaii", "socal", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "other", "finish": "iced" }, "text": { "what": "A chewy donut made with glutinous rice flour or tapioca flour, usually formed as a ring of eight connected balls that pull apart. Moist, springy, and heavier in the hand than it looks.", "story": "An early version traces to Hawaii in 1992, when Charmaine Ocasek made poi mochi — deep-fried balls of mashed taro and mochiko, Japanese sweet rice flour. In 2003 the Japanese chain Mister Donut launched pon de ring, named for the Brazilian cheese bread pão de queijo, and that eight-ball shape is the one that travelled: Japan, then Hawaii, then the mainland. Hawaii tends to pick up Japanese food before the rest of the country does.\n\nEpicurious has pointed out the tangle in the name: neither pon de ring nor pão de queijo is typically made with glutinous rice flour — both lean on tapioca.", "how": "Rice or tapioca flour batter, piped as eight touching balls onto paper, fried, then iced in bright flavours.", "today": "Mochi donut counters opened across American cities through the 2020s, some as chains, some as a second case inside an older donut shop." }, "kin": [ { "to": "mochinut", "as": "The chain that put the shape in strip malls nationwide.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "Neither yeast nor powder; a third way of getting lift.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "as": "The island case it shares.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-mochi-donut", "s:wp-mochinut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochi-donut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochinut" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A chewy donut made with glutinous rice flour or tapioca flour, usually formed as a ring of eight connected balls that pull apart. Moist, springy, and heavier in the hand than it looks.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "hawaii", "name": "Hawaii", "state": "HI", "note": "malasadas, no hole, rolled in sugar" }, { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "mochinut", "type": "org", "name": "Mochinut", "as": "The chain that put the shape in strip malls nationwide.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "Neither yeast nor powder; a third way of getting lift.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The island case it shares.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-mochi-donut", "kind": "web", "title": "Mochi donut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi_donut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-mochinut", "kind": "web", "title": "Mochinut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochinut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochi-donut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochi-donut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochi-donut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochinut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The other Pacific arrival in the same case.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "boba", "type": "dish", "name": "Boba", "as": "The other recent arrival in the same case.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "mister-donut", "type": "org", "name": "Mister Donut", "as": "The shape its Japanese arm launched.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "mochinut", "type": "org", "name": "Mochinut", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Old-fashioned", "aliases": [ "old fashioned", "sour cream old-fashioned", "fry cake" ], "said": "The one that looks broken on purpose." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "glazed" }, "text": { "what": "A cake ring with a cracked surface and tapered edges, glazed or sugared so the glaze pools in the cracks. The crack is the point: more surface, crisper edge, and a ring that holds up to coffee longer than a raised one.", "story": "The name has moved. Nineteenth-century cookbooks print old-fashioned doughnuts made with yeast; the old-fashioned in a shop case today is a cake ring raised with baking powder or soda, and has been described as a subset of the cake doughnut. Older counters called cake rings fry cakes, and the terms doughnut, cruller and fry cake have been argued over for as long as anyone has written them down.\n\nCommercial versions often start from a dry batter mix that takes only water, which is one reason the same crack shows up in shops two thousand miles apart.", "how": "A stiff cake batter, chilled, cut thick. Into the fat cooler than a plain cake ring so the outside sets before the inside finishes lifting, which is what splits the surface. Glaze while warm.", "today": "Sour cream and buttermilk versions sell as their own items in most shops, and the plain glazed old-fashioned is the one that gets ordered with black coffee." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The family it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "buttermilk-bar", "as": "Same batter, cut in a bar.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fry-cake", "as": "The older name for it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "as": "Cooler fat is what makes the crack.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "as": "The argument this one anchors.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "glaze-table", "as": "Where the cracks fill.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut", "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "s:fdc-sr-legacy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "the cooler-fat explanation is bench knowledge, hedged here; the cracked, tapered description is cited" }, "profile": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "profile": { "dough": "cake", "finish": "glazed", "kind": "usda", "leaven": null, "serving_g": 40.0, "kcal": 173.6, "sugar_g": 7.3, "fat_g": 10.0, "sat_fat_g": 4.4, "carb_g": 18.8, "sodium_mg": 190.8, "ingredients": [], "flour_rank": null, "sugar_rank": null, "fat_rank": null, "egg_rank": null, "maker": null, "town": null, "state": null, "source": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/174990/nutrients", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "note": "USDA SR Legacy 174990, \"Doughnuts, cake-type, plain (includes unsugared, old-fashioned)\", published per 100 g and scaled here to the portion USDA itself lists as \"donut\" — 40 g. No ingredient list is published for these generic rows, so the ingredient ranks are null. A shop's own donut is not this donut; this is the closest published measurement of the kind." }, "images": [ { "file": "old-fashioned/old-fashioned-old-fashioned-doughnut-from-doughnut-vault-chicago.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Old-fashioned doughnut from Doughnut Vault (Chicago).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Old-fashioned_doughnut_from_Doughnut_Vault_%28Chicago%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOld-fashioned_doughnut_from_Doughnut_Vault_%28Chicago%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "justgrimes from Washington DC, USA", "credit": "Old Fashion Donut from Doughnut Vault (Chicago)", "alt": "Old-fashioned doughnut from Doughnut Vault (Chicago)", "date": "2011-09-02 09:31", "primary": true, "sha256": "28865c09d0490fc4ebc8c3600409d5ec261d4bdef40a8c01e9d904290f39fa28" }, { "file": "old-fashioned/old-fashioned-old-fashioned-doughnut.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Old fashioned doughnut.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Old_fashioned_doughnut.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOld_fashioned_doughnut.jpg", "license": "CC BY 3.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/", "author": "BrokenSphere", "credit": "File:Various_doughnuts_1.JPG", "alt": "A plain old fashioned doughnut", "date": "2010-07-18 12:39:56", "primary": false, "sha256": "3948ce9528bb3e1210f6888c857a973cd8d2e9eccbaf8dc5dd7abf8674c39af2" } ], "blurb": "A cake ring with a cracked surface and tapered edges, glazed or sugared so the glaze pools in the cracks. The crack is the point: more surface, crisper edge, and a ring that holds up to coffee longer than a raised one.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The family it belongs to.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "buttermilk-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Buttermilk bar", "as": "Same batter, cut in a bar.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fry-cake", "type": "term", "name": "Fry cake", "as": "The older name for it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "Cooler fat is what makes the crack.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "The argument this one anchors.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "Where the cracks fill.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Old-fashioned doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-fashioned_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:fdc-sr-legacy", "kind": "data", "title": "FoodData Central, SR Legacy — doughnut foods", "publisher": "U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service", "url": "https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/", "accessed": "2026-09-17", "license": "Public domain (U.S. government work)", "note": "SR Legacy CSV bundle 2018-04; the nine doughnut rows last updated 2019-04-01. Values per 100 g, with USDA's own portion weights." } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition", "note": "the cooler-fat explanation is bench knowledge, hedged here; the cracked, tapered description is cited" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "old-fashioned/old-fashioned-old-fashioned-doughnut-from-doughnut-vault-chicago.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Old-fashioned doughnut from Doughnut Vault (Chicago).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Old-fashioned_doughnut_from_Doughnut_Vault_%28Chicago%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AOld-fashioned_doughnut_from_Doughnut_Vault_%28Chicago%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "justgrimes from Washington DC, USA", "credit": "Old Fashion Donut from Doughnut Vault (Chicago)", "alt": "Old-fashioned doughnut from Doughnut Vault (Chicago)", "date": "2011-09-02 09:31", "primary": true, "sha256": "28865c09d0490fc4ebc8c3600409d5ec261d4bdef40a8c01e9d904290f39fa28" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "buttermilk-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Buttermilk bar", "as": "Cracks for the same reason, in a ring.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The cracked, tapered cake ring people order by name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "chocolate-cake", "type": "donut", "name": "Chocolate cake", "as": "The plain cake ring beside it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "fry-cake", "type": "term", "name": "Fry cake", "as": "The cake ring that kept the old shape.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "The cake ring people name.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "paczki", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Pączki", "aliases": [ "paczki", "punchki", "pączek (sing.)" ], "said": "Pronounced closer to POONCH-key than anything the spelling suggests." }, "region": [ "chicago", "detroit", "upper-midwest" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "filled" }, "text": { "what": "A Polish filled donut: a flattened ball of rich dough — eggs, fat, sugar, yeast, sometimes milk — deep fried, filled with jam or cream, and finished in powdered sugar, icing, glaze or dried orange zest.", "story": "Pączki have been known in Poland since at least the Middle Ages. Jędrzej Kitowicz wrote that under Augustus III, French cooks in Poland improved the dough until pączki came out lighter and springier.\n\nTwo details separate them from a jelly donut. A small amount of grain alcohol — traditionally rectified spirit — goes into the dough; as it evaporates it keeps the oil from soaking in. And the bright pale stripe around the middle, from floating in fresh fat, is read as evidence the oil had not been used and reused.\n\nTraditional fillings are powidła, stewed plum jam, and wild rose petal jam. American shops fill them with everything else as well.", "how": "Rich yeast dough with a spoonful of spirit, proofed, flattened, fried in fresh oil so the belt shows, filled from the side, sugared.", "today": "In Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee and Windsor the Tuesday before Lent runs on them. Lines start before dawn and bakeries sell by the dozen until the dough runs out." }, "kin": [ { "to": "paczki-day", "as": "The one Tuesday the whole thing turns on.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "bismarck", "as": "The German-descended cousin sold the rest of the year.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fastnacht", "as": "The Pennsylvania Dutch answer to the same fast.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "chicago-polish-bakery", "as": "The style it belongs to.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-p-czki" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Polish filled donut: a flattened ball of rich dough — eggs, fat, sugar, yeast, sometimes milk — deep fried, filled with jam or cream, and finished in powdered sugar, icing, glaze or dried orange zest.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "chicago", "name": "Chicago", "state": "IL", "note": "Polish bakeries, paczki, the long john" }, { "key": "detroit", "name": "Detroit", "state": "MI", "note": "Hamtramck on Paczki Day" }, { "key": "upper-midwest", "name": "The Upper Midwest", "state": null, "note": "Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas; bismarcks, long johns, church-basement fry" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "paczki-day", "type": "event", "name": "Paczki Day", "as": "The one Tuesday the whole thing turns on.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The German-descended cousin sold the rest of the year.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The Pennsylvania Dutch answer to the same fast.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "chicago-polish-bakery", "type": "style", "name": "The Polish bakery counter", "as": "The style it belongs to.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-p-czki", "kind": "web", "title": "Pączki — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "chicago-polish-bakery", "type": "style", "name": "The Polish bakery counter", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "as": "What the neighbours are frying the same morning.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The Polish one, richer, and tied to a single Tuesday.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The Polish one, richer, and on the same Tuesday in America.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "Another Carnival donut that empties the pantry before a fast.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "sufganiyah", "type": "donut", "name": "Sufganiyah", "as": "Another calendar donut, another fast.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "Powidła and rose petal.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "frying-fat", "type": "kitchen", "name": "What is in the kettle", "as": "Where fresh oil is read off the donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "paczki-day", "type": "event", "name": "Paczki Day", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Spudnut", "aliases": [ "potato donut" ], "said": "A word somebody trademarked, and the shops that still use it earned it." }, "region": [ "utah", "mountain-west", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "potato", "finish": "glazed" }, "text": { "what": "A donut made with potato flour or mashed potato in the dough. Softer crumb, longer shelf life, and a faint savoury note under the sugar.", "story": "Al and Bob Pelton of Salt Lake City ate potato doughnuts in Germany, then worked through wheat dough flavoured with potato water and mashed potato before landing on a dry potato mix that could be shipped — which is what made a franchise possible. They coined the word spudnut and opened in 1940.\n\nThe chain moved fast. Franchising began in 1946; in 1948 a new franchisee paid fifty dollars plus the cost of a hundred sacks of spudnut flour; by mid-1949 there were more than 225 shops in 31 states, more than 300 in 38 states by 1954, and 315 by 1968. The advertising ran \"Coast to coast… Alaska to Mexico\", with a cartoon Mr. Spudnut in parades.\n\nThe parent company is gone. Independent shops still trading under the name are the survivors of that system, not a chain.", "how": "Potato flour or riced potato into a yeast dough, proofed, cut and fried like any raised ring.", "today": "A Spudnut sign is a dated object: it marks a shop that bought into a franchise that no longer exists and kept the name." }, "kin": [ { "to": "fastnacht", "as": "The other American potato donut, and older.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What it is, under the potato.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "as": "How a 300-shop system leaves independent shops behind.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "neon-donut", "as": "Spudnut signs are half the reason those signs get photographed.", "rel": "art" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-spudnut-shops" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "reading a surviving sign as a franchise remnant is this project's reasoning from the company's collapse" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A donut made with potato flour or mashed potato in the dough. Softer crumb, longer shelf life, and a faint savoury note under the sugar.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "utah", "name": "Utah", "state": "UT", "note": "the maple bar country of the Mountain West" }, { "key": "mountain-west", "name": "The Mountain West", "state": null, "note": "Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The other American potato donut, and older.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What it is, under the potato.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "type": "story", "name": "The franchise that vanished", "as": "How a 300-shop system leaves independent shops behind.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "as": "Spudnut signs are half the reason those signs get photographed.", "rel": "art" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "reading a surviving sign as a franchise remnant is this project's reasoning from the company's collapse" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "as": "The other American potato donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "The potato-mix franchise that went before it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The other potato donut, and a franchise built on it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "mr-spudnut", "type": "art", "name": "Mr. Spudnut and the mascots", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "as": "The vanished franchise on the sign.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "type": "story", "name": "The franchise that vanished", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "The franchise fee.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "The vanished franchise.", "rel": "donut" }, { "from": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "The franchise that vanished.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "sufganiyah", "type": "donut", "names": { "name": "Sufganiyah", "aliases": [ "sufganiyot", "Hanukkah donut" ], "said": "Fried in oil, for a reason the holiday turns on." }, "region": [ "nyc", "us" ], "facets": { "dough": "yeast", "finish": "filled" }, "text": { "what": "A round filled donut, traditionally red jelly with icing sugar on top, eaten at Hanukkah. Dulce de leche fillings became common after South American immigration to Israel early in this century.", "story": "Jelly or custard-filled donuts are a Hanukkah tradition because they are cooked in oil, which is the miracle the holiday commemorates: one day's oil kept the Temple menorah burning for eight. The sufganiyah belongs to the same European family as the Berliner, the pączek and the bombolone, whose common ancestor is the Gefüllte Krapfen of a 1485 Nuremberg cookbook.", "how": "Rich yeast dough, rounded and proofed, fried, filled from the side, dusted.", "today": "American bakeries and donut shops in Jewish neighbourhoods run them for the eight days and mark them on the board by name." }, "kin": [ { "to": "bismarck", "as": "The same round under a different name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki", "as": "Another calendar donut, another fast.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "as": "How it is filled.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-sufganiyah", "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sufganiyah" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A round filled donut, traditionally red jelly with icing sugar on top, eaten at Hanukkah. Dulce de leche fillings became common after South American immigration to Israel early in this century.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The same round under a different name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "Another calendar donut, another fast.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "How it is filled.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-sufganiyah", "kind": "web", "title": "Sufganiyah — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufganiyah", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Jelly doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sufganiyah" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sufganiyah" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The Hanukkah one, fried in oil for the reason the holiday turns on.", "rel": "donut" } ] }, { "id": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "aliases": [ "BEC", "baconeggandcheese", "bodega sandwich" ], "said": "On a roll, salt pepper ketchup, and the order is said as one word." }, "region": [ "nyc" ], "facets": { "course": "breakfast", "state": "NY" }, "text": { "what": "Bacon, fried or scrambled egg and cheese on bread — in New York City, on a kaiser roll. About 20 grams of fat and 350 calories in a typical one.", "story": "The sandwich is common across the United States and Canada and culturally particular to New York, where the deli, the bodega and the corner coffee shop all make it to order and wrap it in foil and paper. It is abbreviated BEC in print and said as a single word at the counter.", "today": "Where the sandwich is the business, the donut is the impulse buy beside the register rather than the reason anyone came in." }, "kin": [ { "to": "nyc-bodega-donut", "as": "The counter it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "anthora-cup", "as": "What the coffee comes in.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-counter", "as": "What else is in the case, by region.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich", "s:wp-bodega" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Bacon, fried or scrambled egg and cheese on bread — in New York City, on a kaiser roll. About 20 grams of fat and 350 calories in a typical one.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "name": "The New York corner counter", "as": "The counter it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "anthora-cup", "type": "art", "name": "The Anthora cup", "as": "What the coffee comes in.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "What else is in the case, by region.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich", "kind": "web", "title": "Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon,_egg_and_cheese_sandwich", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-bodega", "kind": "web", "title": "Bodega — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodega", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "name": "The New York corner counter", "as": "The sandwich that pays the rent.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "anthora-cup", "type": "art", "name": "The Anthora cup", "as": "What it comes with.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "New York.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The New York version.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "biscuits-and-gravy", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Biscuits and gravy", "aliases": [], "said": "A styrofoam clamshell, a plastic fork, and a queue that is not there for donuts." }, "region": [ "the-south", "us" ], "facets": { "course": "breakfast" }, "text": { "what": "Soft wheat biscuits split and covered in a white gravy built on sausage drippings, flour and milk.", "story": "The dish is an American breakfast staple of the South, built out of cheap ingredients — biscuits made without yeast, gravy made from what was left in the pan.", "today": "Southern donut counters that open at five sell it beside the case, on the same argument every other second menu rests on." }, "kin": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The same arithmetic, in a different accent.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "as": "The region's other early-morning habit.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-biscuits-and-gravy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-biscuits-and-gravy" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Soft wheat biscuits split and covered in a white gravy built on sausage drippings, flour and milk.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "the-south", "name": "The American South", "state": null }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The same arithmetic, in a different accent.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The region's other early-morning habit.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-biscuits-and-gravy", "kind": "web", "title": "Biscuits and gravy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuits_and_gravy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-biscuits-and-gravy" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-biscuits-and-gravy" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "The South.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "boba", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Boba", "aliases": [ "bubble tea", "pearl milk tea" ], "said": "The newest thing on an old board, usually in a different typeface." }, "region": [ "socal", "us" ], "facets": { "course": "drink" }, "text": { "what": "Tea with milk and tapioca pearls, sealed under a film lid and drunk through a fat straw.", "story": "Bubble tea came out of Taiwan in the 1980s and spread through Taiwanese and Chinese diaspora communities. American donut shops with Asian-American owners have added it to the board as a second-generation move: a product with a young customer and a better margin than a glazed.", "today": "A shop that adds boba is usually adding it beside the donuts, not instead of them." }, "kin": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The board it turns up on.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "mochi-donut", "as": "The other recent arrival in the same case.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-bubble-tea" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bubble-tea" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the margin reading is this project's; the Taiwanese origin is cited" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Tea with milk and tapioca pearls, sealed under a film lid and drunk through a fat straw.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The board it turns up on.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Mochi donut", "as": "The other recent arrival in the same case.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-bubble-tea", "kind": "web", "title": "Bubble tea — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_tea", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bubble-tea" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the margin reading is this project's; the Taiwanese origin is cited" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "The recent one.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "breakfast-burrito", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Breakfast burrito", "aliases": [ "breakfast wrap" ], "said": "Foil-wrapped, eaten one-handed, and the chile question comes with it." }, "region": [ "new-mexico", "southwest" ], "facets": { "course": "breakfast" }, "text": { "what": "Breakfast inside a flour tortilla: scrambled egg, potato, cheese, and in the Southwest, New Mexico chile, jalapeño, salsa, onion, chorizo or bacon.", "story": "It comes out of New Mexican cooking. Tia Sophia's, a diner in Santa Fe, claims the first use of the term on a menu in 1975, though a tortilla rolled around eggs, bacon, potatoes and cheese predates the name. McDonald's added a version in the late 1980s; Sonic, Hardee's and Carl's Jr. followed in the 1990s; Taco Bell in 2014. Dunkin' sells one too.", "today": "A donut shop with a griddle sells them to the same driver at the same hour, which is the whole reason they share a board." }, "kin": [ { "to": "new-mexico-burrito-counter", "as": "The counter style built on it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "egg-roll", "as": "The California answer to the same arithmetic.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "Why the savoury item is there at all.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Breakfast inside a flour tortilla: scrambled egg, potato, cheese, and in the Southwest, New Mexico chile, jalapeño, salsa, onion, chorizo or bacon.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-mexico", "name": "New Mexico", "state": "NM", "note": "red or green on the breakfast burrito next to the glazed" }, { "key": "southwest", "name": "The Southwest", "state": null, "note": "Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Las Vegas; where the breakfast burrito shares the case" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "new-mexico-burrito-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Southwest burrito counter", "as": "The counter style built on it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "The California answer to the same arithmetic.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "Why the savoury item is there at all.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito", "kind": "web", "title": "Breakfast burrito — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_burrito", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "new-mexico-burrito-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Southwest burrito counter", "as": "The item itself.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "The Southwest.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The Southwestern version.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "chicory-coffee", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Coffee with chicory", "aliases": [ "café au lait", "New Orleans coffee" ], "said": "Half coffee, half hot milk, and the chicory is not optional." }, "region": [ "louisiana" ], "facets": { "course": "drink", "state": "LA" }, "text": { "what": "Coffee blended with roasted chicory root and cut half-and-half with hot milk.", "story": "The French brought coffee to the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi around 1700. During the Civil War, with coffee short, New Orleans Creoles stretched it with chicory, which adds a chocolate-like note. The practice outlived the shortage.", "today": "Served at Café du Monde and across New Orleans, beside beignets, in a cup that leaves sugar on the rim." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cafe-du-monde", "as": "Where most people meet it.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "beignet", "as": "What it is served with.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "as": "What the rest of the country pours instead.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-caf-du-monde" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Coffee blended with roasted chicory root and cut half-and-half with hot milk.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "louisiana", "name": "Louisiana", "state": "LA", "note": "beignets, king cake, and the shops that sell both" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cafe-du-monde", "type": "place", "name": "Café du Monde", "as": "Where most people meet it.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "What it is served with.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "What the rest of the country pours instead.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-caf-du-monde", "kind": "web", "title": "Café du Monde — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_du_Monde", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "louisiana-beignet", "type": "style", "name": "The beignet stand", "as": "What it is served with.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "The New Orleans version.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "cafe-du-monde", "type": "place", "name": "Café du Monde", "as": "What it is served with, and why.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Egg roll", "aliases": [ "eggroll" ], "said": "Two for a dollar something, in the warmer by the register, and nobody explains why." }, "region": [ "socal", "chinese-american", "us" ], "facets": { "course": "savory" }, "text": { "what": "A cylindrical deep-fried roll in a thick wheat skin — shredded cabbage, chopped meat, sometimes shrimp — eaten with the fingers out of a cellophane packet of duck sauce. Despite the name it generally has no egg in it, though egg white sometimes seals the seam.", "story": "The egg roll is American. It is distinct from mainland Chinese spring rolls and first appears in the United States in the early twentieth century. Andrew Coe, who wrote Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States, reckons the modern American egg roll was probably invented at a New York Chinese restaurant in the early 1930s by one of two chefs who each later claimed it: Lung Fong of Lung Fong's, or Henry Low of Port Arthur. Low's recipe, printed in the 1938 cookbook Cook at Home in Chinese, called for bamboo shoots, roast pork, shrimp, scallions, water chestnuts, salt, MSG, sugar, palm oil and pepper.\n\nWhy it is in a donut shop is a separate question with a plain answer: rent. Jolly Chan, who runs China Express and Donut in San Francisco, told KQED the combination \"came out of necessity\" — \"we have to sell more stuff to make up the rent and the expense.\"", "today": "In Southern California a hot case beside the donuts holds egg rolls, and often chow mein and fried rice with them. The fryer was already on." }, "kin": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The shop it shares a fryer with.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The whole argument, told by the people running the shops.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "fried-rice", "as": "What sits next to it in the warmer.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "as": "One kettle, two menus.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-egg-roll", "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-egg-roll" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A cylindrical deep-fried roll in a thick wheat skin — shredded cabbage, chopped meat, sometimes shrimp — eaten with the fingers out of a cellophane packet of duck sauce.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "chinese-american", "name": "Chinese America", "state": null, "note": "the Delta grocery, the California counter, the fried rice in the warmer" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The shop it shares a fryer with.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The whole argument, told by the people running the shops.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "fried-rice", "type": "dish", "name": "Fried rice and chow mein", "as": "What sits next to it in the warmer.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "One kettle, two menus.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-egg-roll", "kind": "web", "title": "Egg roll — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_roll", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-egg-roll" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-egg-roll" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "On the board beside the glazed, and on it for a reason.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "breakfast-burrito", "type": "dish", "name": "Breakfast burrito", "as": "The California answer to the same arithmetic.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "fried-rice", "type": "dish", "name": "Fried rice and chow mein", "as": "The other thing in the warmer.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "California.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The item that names the argument.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "fried-rice", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Fried rice and chow mein", "aliases": [ "chow mein", "the hot case" ], "said": "Kept in a warmer, sold by the scoop, priced under the sandwich." }, "region": [ "socal", "chinese-american" ], "facets": { "course": "savory" }, "text": { "what": "Cooked rice stir-fried with egg, vegetables and meat, held hot in a steam table beside the donut case — with chow mein next to it in many shops.", "story": "Fried rice is a staple of Chinese cooking and of American Chinese menus. In California donut shops it arrives for the same reason egg rolls do: the shop needs a second product at a second hour, and the kitchen can already do it.\n\nDorothy Chow's family business, B & H Bakery Distributors, supplies these shops; her father, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, built it, she told KQED, \"to help our own people.\"", "today": "A donut shop with a steam table is doing lunch, which is a different business from the one it does at five in the morning." }, "kin": [ { "to": "egg-roll", "as": "The other thing in the warmer.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "delta-grocery-counter", "as": "The same counter logic in Mississippi.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The argument.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-fried-rice", "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fried-rice" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Cooked rice stir-fried with egg, vegetables and meat, held hot in a steam table beside the donut case — with chow mein next to it in many shops.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "chinese-american", "name": "Chinese America", "state": null, "note": "the Delta grocery, the California counter, the fried rice in the warmer" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "The other thing in the warmer.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "delta-grocery-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Delta grocery counter", "as": "The same counter logic in Mississippi.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The argument.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-fried-rice", "kind": "web", "title": "Fried rice — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fried_rice", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fried-rice" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "delta-grocery-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Delta grocery counter", "as": "What else is hot at the same counter.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "What sits next to it in the warmer.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Klobasnek", "aliases": [ "klobásník", "klobasniky", "Texas kolache (as sold)" ], "said": "Ask a Czech Texan and you get the distinction; ask anyone else and you get a sausage roll." }, "region": [ "texas", "houston" ], "facets": { "course": "savory", "state": "TX" }, "text": { "what": "Sausage — klobása, traditionally — wrapped in kolache dough and baked. Ham, egg, cheese, jalapeño and hot dog are all standard now, and in some Texas shops boudin, the Cajun pork-and-rice sausage.", "story": "Unlike the kolache, which came with Moravian immigrants, the klobasnek was invented by Czechs who had already settled in Texas. Texans of Czech ancestry call the savoury doughs klobasniky; Texans who are not call them kolaches, and that is what the sign says. They are sold everywhere from gas stations to dedicated kolache shops, well outside the Czech counties.", "today": "The klobasnek is the reason a Texas donut shop runs an oven." }, "kin": [ { "to": "kolache", "as": "The sweet one whose name it borrowed.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "as": "The counter it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "czech-stop", "as": "The stop on I-35 that sells them around the clock.", "rel": "place" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-klob-sn-k" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-klob-sn-k" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Sausage — klobása, traditionally — wrapped in kolache dough and baked. Ham, egg, cheese, jalapeño and hot dog are all standard now, and in some Texas shops boudin, the Cajun pork-and-rice sausage.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" }, { "key": "houston", "name": "Houston", "state": "TX" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "kolache", "type": "dish", "name": "Kolache", "as": "The sweet one whose name it borrowed.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The counter it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "czech-stop", "type": "place", "name": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery", "as": "The stop on I-35 that sells them around the clock.", "rel": "place" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "kind": "web", "title": "Klobásník — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klob%C3%A1sn%C3%ADk", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-klob-sn-k" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-klob-sn-k" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The savoury one Texas calls a kolache.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "kolache", "type": "dish", "name": "Kolache", "as": "The savoury one Texas calls by this name.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "czech-stop", "type": "place", "name": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery", "as": "What it sells most of.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "Texas.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The Texan version.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "kolache", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "Kolache", "aliases": [ "koláč", "kolach", "kolaches" ], "said": "\"Kolaches\" is a double plural and Texas says it anyway." }, "region": [ "texas" ], "facets": { "course": "sweet", "state": "TX" }, "text": { "what": "A sweet bread with a well of fruit or cheese in the middle of puffy yeast dough — tvaroh, jam, poppy seed, or povidla, which is prune. Baked, not fried.", "story": "The word comes from Czech and Slovak koláč, from the Old Slavonic kolo, a circle or wheel. Traditional Czech koláče are small, no more than about eight centimetres across, and are village feast and wedding food. Moravian immigrants brought them to the United States.\n\nIn American English kolache is often used as the singular and given an extra s, which makes kolaches a double plural. Czech Texans notice.", "today": "Texas donut counters sell them beside the savoury ones, and the savoury ones outsell them." }, "kin": [ { "to": "klobasnek", "as": "The savoury one Texas calls by this name.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "as": "The counter style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "czech-stop", "as": "The town the legislature named for it.", "rel": "place" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-kolach-cake", "s:wp-klob-sn-k" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-kolach-cake" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "which sells better is this project's reading of Texas counters" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "kolache/kolache-howdy-kolache-coffee-amazing-breakfast-buns.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Howdy Kolache & Coffee - Amazing Breakfast Buns.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Howdy_Kolache_%26_Coffee_-_Amazing_Breakfast_Buns.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHowdy_Kolache_%26_Coffee_-_Amazing_Breakfast_Buns.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "HosiyarSingh7357", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Howdy Kolache, a pair of Chicago entrepreneurs’ tribute to the kolache (“koh-la-chee”) – a typical Texas breakfast delicacy with Czech origins", "date": "2022-11-29", "primary": true, "sha256": "e6731851c51a304158db9b40225338737c0943c3f372b005d4956662597a4e15" } ], "blurb": "A sweet bread with a well of fruit or cheese in the middle of puffy yeast dough — tvaroh, jam, poppy seed, or povidla, which is prune. Baked, not fried.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "The savoury one Texas calls by this name.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The counter style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "czech-stop", "type": "place", "name": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery", "as": "The town the legislature named for it.", "rel": "place" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-kolach-cake", "kind": "web", "title": "Kolach (cake) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolach_(cake)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "kind": "web", "title": "Klobásník — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klob%C3%A1sn%C3%ADk", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-kolach-cake" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-kolach-cake" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "which sells better is this project's reading of Texas counters" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "kolache/kolache-howdy-kolache-coffee-amazing-breakfast-buns.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Howdy Kolache & Coffee - Amazing Breakfast Buns.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Howdy_Kolache_%26_Coffee_-_Amazing_Breakfast_Buns.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHowdy_Kolache_%26_Coffee_-_Amazing_Breakfast_Buns.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "HosiyarSingh7357", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Howdy Kolache, a pair of Chicago entrepreneurs’ tribute to the kolache (“koh-la-chee”) – a typical Texas breakfast delicacy with Czech origins", "date": "2022-11-29", "primary": true, "sha256": "e6731851c51a304158db9b40225338737c0943c3f372b005d4956662597a4e15" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The sweet one, with the well and the fruit.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "The sweet one whose name it borrowed.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "czech-stop", "type": "place", "name": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery", "as": "The sweet one, and the town's official one.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "round-rock-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Round Rock Donuts", "as": "What else a Texas counter sells at that hour.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "names": { "name": "The pot of coffee", "aliases": [ "drip coffee", "the regular", "bottomless cup" ], "said": "Refills happen without the question being asked, which is most of the reason people sit down." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "course": "drink" }, "text": { "what": "Drip coffee from a glass pot on a warmer, in a paper cup or a mug, refilled by whoever is at the counter.", "story": "Coffee and donuts were paired commercially before either was a chain: Bill Rosenberg's finding, selling food to factories and construction sites in the 1940s, was that donuts and coffee were the two items people bought. He built a company on the pair. The dunking that gave Dunkin' its name was ordinary behaviour first; Johnny Spartos, running the Quincy shop, talked Rosenberg into making a donut with a handle for it.", "today": "An independent shop's coffee is rarely the reason to go, and a shop that raises the coffee price before the donut price is telling you where its margin is. *Inference —* that reading is this project's, not a published finding." }, "kin": [ { "to": "dunkin-country", "as": "The chain that paired them nationally.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "bill-rosenberg", "as": "Found the pairing selling to factories.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "chicory-coffee", "as": "The New Orleans version.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "s:wp-coffeehouse" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Drip coffee from a glass pot on a warmer, in a paper cup or a mug, refilled by whoever is at the counter.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The chain that paired them nationally.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "bill-rosenberg", "type": "person", "name": "Bill Rosenberg", "as": "Found the pairing selling to factories.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "chicory-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "Coffee with chicory", "as": "The New Orleans version.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Dunkin' Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin%27_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-coffeehouse", "kind": "web", "title": "Coffeehouse — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "chicory-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "Coffee with chicory", "as": "What the rest of the country pours instead.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "bill-rosenberg", "type": "person", "name": "Bill Rosenberg", "as": "The other half of what he sold.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "national-dunking-association", "type": "org", "name": "National Dunking Association", "as": "The other half.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "dunking", "type": "term", "name": "Dunking", "as": "What you dunk into.", "rel": "dish" }, { "from": "anthora-cup", "type": "art", "name": "The Anthora cup", "as": "What is in it.", "rel": "dish" } ] }, { "id": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The batter and the depositor", "aliases": [ "depositor", "the drop" ], "said": "Two levers and a plunger: the ring lands in the fat already round." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "mix" }, "text": { "what": "A thick chemically-leavened batter dropped straight into hot fat through a hand-held or bench depositor, which forms the ring as it falls.", "story": "Cake batter uses cake flour, about 7 to 8 percent protein, and baking powder or soda rather than yeast. Commercial shops often start from a dry mix that takes only water — which is how the same donut turns up in shops two thousand miles apart.\n\nThis is the dough that industrialised. When shops were streamlining in the 1920s and 1930s, chemical leavening behaved the same way every morning and a machine could be built around it.", "how": "Mix, rest, load the hopper, drop rings in rows, and turn them once with sticks when the underside sets.", "today": "A depositor is what lets one person run a case alone." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "What comes out of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "yeast-raise", "as": "The slower way.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "as": "The shops that buy the mix rather than the formula.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "as": "Whose machine started the idea.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "s:wp-doughnut-shop" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A thick chemically-leavened batter dropped straight into hot fat through a hand-held or bench depositor, which forms the ring as it falls.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "What comes out of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "The slower way.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "The shops that buy the mix rather than the formula.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "Whose machine started the idea.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut shop — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_shop", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cake-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "What comes out of the bag.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "How it gets made, and why a machine could learn it.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "The other way to get lift, and the one machines preferred.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "The process his machine automated.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Daylight Donuts", "as": "What comes out of the bag.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "The process it sold.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "What a machine could learn.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "day-old-rack", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "Day-old", "aliases": [ "the day-old rack", "yesterday's" ], "said": "Half price, in a bag, and the sign does not apologise." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "hold" }, "text": { "what": "Yesterday's donuts, sold cheap the next morning, usually bagged rather than boxed and usually the rings rather than the filled ones.", "story": "*Tradition holds —* the rack exists because a donut's shelf life is one morning and a shop's costs are not. Raised rings go stale fastest; cake rings hold longer, which is part of why the cake side of the case is the one that turns up marked down.\n\nThis project has found no published study of American day-old donut pricing, and says so rather than estimating one.", "how": "Bag what is left at close, price it at open.", "today": "Where a shop puts the day-old rack — by the till or out of sight — says how it would like to be thought of." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Stales first.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "Holds longer.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "day-old", "as": "The word.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "tradition" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "needs_verification": true, "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Yesterday's donuts, sold cheap the next morning, usually bagged rather than boxed and usually the rings rather than the filled ones.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Stales first.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "Holds longer.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "day-old", "type": "term", "name": "Day-old", "as": "The word.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-case", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The case", "as": "Where the leftovers go.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "day-old", "type": "term", "name": "Day-old", "as": "Where they sit.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The filler", "aliases": [ "the injector", "the nozzle", "the pump" ], "said": "You can hear a filled donut being made: a thump and a hiss, once per piece." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "finish" }, "text": { "what": "A hand pump or bench machine that pushes jam, custard or cream through a nozzle into the side of a fried round.", "story": "Filled fried dough is older than the ring — Gefüllte Krapfen are in a Nuremberg cookbook of 1485 — but the injector is what makes a case full of them possible before six in the morning. Fillings run to fruit preserve, custard, Bavarian cream, and in Polish shops powidła, stewed plum, and wild rose petal jam.", "how": "Fry, cool, weigh the first few to set the dose, then work a tray at a time.", "today": "A filled donut does not hold overnight the way a glazed ring does, which is why it is the one most often made last and sold out first." }, "kin": [ { "to": "bismarck", "as": "The round it fills.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bavarian-cream", "as": "The custard version.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki", "as": "Powidła and rose petal.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "day-old", "as": "What filled donuts are not sold as.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-jelly-doughnut", "s:wp-p-czki", "s:wp-fruit-preserves" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A hand pump or bench machine that pushes jam, custard or cream through a nozzle into the side of a fried round.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The round it fills.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bavarian-cream", "type": "donut", "name": "Bavarian cream", "as": "The custard version.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "Powidła and rose petal.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "day-old", "type": "term", "name": "Day-old", "as": "What filled donuts are not sold as.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Jelly doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jelly_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-p-czki", "kind": "web", "title": "Pączki — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-fruit-preserves", "kind": "web", "title": "Fruit preserves — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_preserves", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-jelly-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bavarian-cream", "type": "donut", "name": "Bavarian cream", "as": "The nozzle, and the weight in the hand.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The nozzle that makes it what it is.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "How the custard gets in.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "sufganiyah", "type": "donut", "name": "Sufganiyah", "as": "How it is filled.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "frying-fat", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "What is in the kettle", "aliases": [ "shortening", "lard", "frying oil" ], "said": "Ask what they fry in and you learn how old the shop is." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "fry" }, "text": { "what": "The fat itself: lard, beef tallow, vegetable shortening, or liquid oils — canola, soybean, palm.", "story": "Shortening means any fat solid at room temperature; the word is about what it does to gluten, keeping strands short so pastry crumbs instead of stretching. Lard was the original. Hippolyte Mège-Mouriès invented margarine from beef tallow in 1869 and the industry moved to hydrogenated vegetable fats after.\n\nThen it moved back. In 2015 the FDA found that artificial trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils were not generally recognised as safe; they were banned from foods sold in the United States from 18 June 2018, with limited extensions to 2020 and 2021. Crisco had already been reformulated in January 2007 to meet the zero-grams-per-serving definition. Denmark had capped industrial trans fats in 2004.\n\nFor a donut shop that meant a new fat, a different mouthfeel and, in many kitchens, a new supplier — inside a few years, and not by choice.", "how": "Filter it, top it up, and change it on a schedule the shop keeps in its head.", "today": "Fresh fat shows: a pale belt around a filled donut is read in Polish bakeries as evidence the oil had not been used and reused." }, "kin": [ { "to": "the-fryer", "as": "The kettle it sits in.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "paczki", "as": "Where fresh oil is read off the donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "as": "How much of it each dough takes up.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-shortening", "s:wp-trans-fat", "s:wp-p-czki", "s:wp-lard" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-shortening" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The fat itself: lard, beef tallow, vegetable shortening, or liquid oils — canola, soybean, palm.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "The kettle it sits in.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "Where fresh oil is read off the donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "How much of it each dough takes up.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-shortening", "kind": "web", "title": "Shortening — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortening", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-trans-fat", "kind": "web", "title": "Trans fat — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-p-czki", "kind": "web", "title": "Pączki — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-lard", "kind": "web", "title": "Lard — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lard", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-shortening" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-shortening" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-shortening" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-shortening" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "What is in the kettle.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The glaze table", "aliases": [ "the waterfall", "the dip" ], "said": "Glaze goes on hot or it goes on wrong." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "finish" }, "text": { "what": "A shallow pan of thin sugar glaze beside the fryer, where raised rings are dragged through face-down within a minute of coming out of the fat.", "story": "Glaze is a thin coating applied to food — here, powdered sugar with water or milk and sometimes a little fat, thin enough to run off and set clear. On a hot ring it soaks the crust and hardens into a shell; on a cool one it sits on top and stays tacky.\n\nCake rings are finished differently for the same reason: a hot cake ring drinks a thin glaze and goes soggy, so it takes sugar, cinnamon sugar or a heavier icing instead.", "how": "Dip, turn, lift, drain on a screen. The pan is topped up all morning and the glaze thickens as the shop warms.", "today": "The glaze table is where a shop's whole tray of raised donuts is either made or ruined, in about a minute each." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What goes across it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "powdered-sugar", "as": "What it is made of.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "sprinkle-and-dip", "as": "What happens after.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "as": "A chain that put the table in the window.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-glaze-cooking", "s:wp-powdered-sugar", "s:wp-cake-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-glaze-cooking" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A shallow pan of thin sugar glaze beside the fryer, where raised rings are dragged through face-down within a minute of coming out of the fat.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What goes across it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "powdered-sugar", "type": "term", "name": "Powdered sugar", "as": "What it is made of.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "sprinkle-and-dip", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Dipping and sprinkles", "as": "What happens after.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "A chain that put the table in the window.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-glaze-cooking", "kind": "web", "title": "Glaze (cooking) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaze_(cooking)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-powdered-sugar", "kind": "web", "title": "Powdered sugar — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powdered_sugar", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-glaze-cooking" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-glaze-cooking" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-glaze-cooking" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-glaze-cooking" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "apple-fritter", "type": "donut", "name": "Apple fritter", "as": "Glazed all over, not just the top.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Where it gets the shell, seconds after it leaves the fat.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "Where the cracks fill.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "sprinkle-and-dip", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Dipping and sprinkles", "as": "What happens first.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "powdered-sugar", "type": "term", "name": "Powdered sugar", "as": "Where it is used by the bucket.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "hand-cut", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "Cutting by hand", "aliases": [ "the bench", "hand-cut", "the cutter" ], "said": "A shop that says hand-cut on the window is drawing a line, and everyone in the trade knows which one." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "cut" }, "text": { "what": "Rolling sheeted dough and cutting rings with a two-ring cutter, rather than depositing or buying pre-formed shells.", "story": "Cutters with two concentric circles were on sale by 1870, which is when the ring and its hole became a manufactured thing rather than a trick with a pepper box. A ring can also be made by joining the ends of a rope of dough, or by stretching a disc until the middle tears.", "how": "Sheet, cut in rows, lift the rings onto screens, gather and re-roll the scrap once — twice makes it tough.", "today": "Hand-cut is a claim a shop makes on its sign. This project records the claim and its source, and does not test it." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What the bench is for.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "allies-donuts", "as": "A shop that put the words in its name.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "donut-holes", "as": "What the small ring leaves behind.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Rolling sheeted dough and cutting rings with a two-ring cutter, rather than depositing or buying pre-formed shells.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What the bench is for.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "allies-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Allie's Donuts", "as": "A shop that put the words in its name.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "donut-holes", "type": "donut", "name": "Donut holes", "as": "What the small ring leaves behind.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "allies-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Allie's Donuts", "as": "What the name claims and the bench does.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "proof-box", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The proof box", "aliases": [ "proofer", "the cabinet" ], "said": "Warm, damp, and the one thing in the shop nobody opens without a reason." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "raise" }, "text": { "what": "A warm humid cabinet where cut rings take their final rise before they go in the fat.", "story": "*Tradition holds —* a proof box is run warm and wet so the skin does not dry: a dried skin will not expand and the ring fries lopsided. Shops without a box use a rack near the fryer and the room's own heat, which is why a raised dough behaves differently in January.", "how": "Rings go in on screens, come out when they wobble.", "today": "The box is the piece of equipment that decides whether a shop can run raised dough at volume." }, "kin": [ { "to": "yeast-raise", "as": "The process it serves.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What is in there.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "tradition" }, "fields": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" }, "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A warm humid cabinet where cut rings take their final rise before they go in the fat.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "The process it serves.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What is in there.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique", "kind": "web", "title": "Proofing (baking technique) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofing_(baking_technique)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" }, "text.story": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "Where the second rise happens.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "sprinkle-and-dip", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "Dipping and sprinkles", "aliases": [ "jimmies", "nonpareils", "the dip" ], "said": "New England says jimmies. Almost nowhere else does." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "finish" }, "text": { "what": "Icing in flat pans, sprinkles in bins: a donut is dipped face-down, then set in the sprinkles while the icing is still wet.", "story": "Sprinkles are small pieces of confectionery used as decoration. The long ones are called jimmies in parts of the United States, above all New England and Philadelphia; the tiny balls are nonpareils. Chocolate, maple, strawberry and vanilla icings are the standard dips, and the colour on a shop's sprinkles is one of the few things it chooses purely to look like itself.", "how": "Dip, lift, tilt to shed the excess, then straight into the tray of sprinkles before it sets.", "today": "A case of sprinkled donuts is the shop's shop window, which is why the bright ones sit at eye level." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glaze-table", "as": "What happens first.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "the-case", "as": "How the tray is laid out.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "jimmies", "as": "The word, and where it stops.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-sprinkles" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Icing in flat pans, sprinkles in bins: a donut is dipped face-down, then set in the sprinkles while the icing is still wet.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "What happens first.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "the-case", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The case", "as": "How the tray is laid out.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "jimmies", "type": "term", "name": "Jimmies", "as": "The word, and where it stops.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-sprinkles", "kind": "web", "title": "Sprinkles — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprinkles", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" }, "text.how": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "What happens after.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "the-case", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The case", "as": "What makes the front row bright.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "jimmies", "type": "term", "name": "Jimmies", "as": "What happens with them.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The night shift", "aliases": [ "the two o'clock", "the night bake" ], "said": "The light is on and the door is locked, and that is the shop working." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "shift" }, "text": { "what": "The hours the work actually happens in: dough started in the small hours so the case is full when the door opens.", "story": "Krispy Kreme's hot donut began as a by-product of exactly this. Vernon Rudolph's Winston-Salem shop sold wholesale to grocery stores, and production ran from midnight to four in the morning; he sold hot donuts to whoever turned up during it. The window came later; the schedule came first.\n\nA raised dough sets the clock. It has to be mixed, risen, cut, proofed and fried before opening, and none of those steps can be hurried by much.", "how": "Mix around midnight or one. Raised first, cake after. Glaze, ice, fill, sprinkle, load the case, unlock the door.", "today": "The shift is the part of the business that does not scale, and the part a family absorbs. *Inference —* it is also the reason a second generation often does not take the shop on." }, "kin": [ { "to": "yeast-raise", "as": "What sets the clock.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "as": "The chain that sold the by-product.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "Whose families work it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "vernon-rudolph", "as": "Sold hot donuts to the people awake at 2 a.m.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The hours the work actually happens in: dough started in the small hours so the case is full when the door opens.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "What sets the clock.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The chain that sold the by-product.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "Whose families work it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "as": "Sold hot donuts to the people awake at 2 a.m.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bay-area-late-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The all-night counter", "as": "The shift underneath it.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "When the work actually happens.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The schedule the hot donut fell out of.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "What the raise does to the schedule.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "as": "The schedule the hot donut fell out of.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "What it used to point at.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "the-case", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The case", "aliases": [ "the display", "the tray" ], "said": "Top shelf is what the shop wants you to see. Bottom shelf is what it has a lot of." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "hold" }, "text": { "what": "The glass case: trays by kind, tongs on a hook, and a layout that repeats across the country without anyone having agreed on it.", "story": "*Inference —* the arrangement follows the frying order more than any merchandising plan. Raised glazed comes out first and takes the biggest tray; cake and old-fashioned follow; filled and iced pieces, which are finished last, land at the front where they look best and sell first.", "how": "Load hot, front the trays as they empty, and stop refilling a few hours before close.", "today": "A case that is still full at ten in the morning is a shop that made too many, and a case that is empty at eight is a shop that could have sold more. Neither is visible from the road." }, "kin": [ { "to": "sprinkle-and-dip", "as": "What makes the front row bright.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "day-old-rack", "as": "Where the leftovers go.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "the-dozen", "as": "How it gets sold.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:this-project" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "the-case/the-case-020240623-131800-donuts.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:020240623 131800 Donuts.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/020240623_131800_Donuts.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A020240623_131800_Donuts.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Silar", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Donuts", "date": "2024-06-23", "primary": true, "sha256": "8d4ebf7ac0934b37066c90892398a8b9885cc379502569b7bf814aae5fd264c5" }, { "file": "the-case/the-case-boston-cream-doughnuts-in-display-case-november-2007.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Boston cream doughnuts in display case, November 2007.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Boston_cream_doughnuts_in_display_case%2C_November_2007.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABoston_cream_doughnuts_in_display_case%2C_November_2007.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Eugene Peretz", "credit": "originally posted to Flickr as boston cream", "alt": "Boston cream doughnuts in display case.", "date": "2007-11-17 13:43:55", "primary": false, "sha256": "20f1b89375390362159ddf1362bd781a52747e46da20e6c855d07ce49a027130" } ], "blurb": "The glass case: trays by kind, tongs on a hook, and a layout that repeats across the country without anyone having agreed on it.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "sprinkle-and-dip", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Dipping and sprinkles", "as": "What makes the front row bright.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "day-old-rack", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Day-old", "as": "Where the leftovers go.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "name": "The dozen", "as": "How it gets sold.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:this-project", "kind": "web", "title": "Pink Box — this project's own reasoning", "publisher": "Pink Box", "url": "" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" }, "text.how": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "the-case/the-case-020240623-131800-donuts.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:020240623 131800 Donuts.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/020240623_131800_Donuts.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A020240623_131800_Donuts.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Silar", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Donuts", "date": "2024-06-23", "primary": true, "sha256": "8d4ebf7ac0934b37066c90892398a8b9885cc379502569b7bf814aae5fd264c5" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "sprinkle-and-dip", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Dipping and sprinkles", "as": "How the tray is laid out.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "name": "The dozen", "as": "Where it comes from.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "hand-lettered-board", "type": "art", "name": "The hand-lettered board", "as": "What the board describes.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The kettle", "aliases": [ "the fryer", "the vat", "the flip" ], "said": "One kettle, two temperatures, and a pair of sticks." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "fry" }, "text": { "what": "A shallow open kettle of hot fat with a screen, where every donut in the shop is cooked, turned once, and lifted out.", "story": "The two doughs want different heat. Yeast-raised rings fry about 150 seconds at 182 to 190 °C and absorb more fat for it — around 25 percent by weight. Cake rings fry about 90 seconds at 190 to 198 °C, turning once, and run near 20 percent, with extra shortening already in the batter.\n\nThe numbers are not settled. Another account puts cake at 20 to 25 percent and yeast at 25 to 35, and commercial cake rings at 30 to 45 seconds at 191 °C. Neither cites a laboratory, and this project reports both rather than picking.", "how": "Drop, wait for the belt to show, flip with sticks, wait, lift onto the drain screen.", "today": "Every other decision in the shop is downstream of how many rings fit on the surface of the fat at once." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Longer in the fat, and carries more of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "Shorter, hotter, and drier out of the kettle.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "frying-fat", "as": "What is in the kettle.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "as": "The numbers, side by side.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut", "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "s:wp-deep-frying" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A shallow open kettle of hot fat with a screen, where every donut in the shop is cooked, turned once, and lifted out.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Longer in the fat, and carries more of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "Shorter, hotter, and drier out of the kettle.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "frying-fat", "type": "kitchen", "name": "What is in the kettle", "as": "What is in the kettle.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "The numbers, side by side.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-deep-frying", "kind": "web", "title": "Deep frying — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_frying", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "Two doughs, two temperatures, one kettle.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "name": "French cruller", "as": "Piped onto paper, fried paper and all.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "Cooler fat is what makes the crack.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "One kettle, two menus.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "frying-fat", "type": "kitchen", "name": "What is in the kettle", "as": "The kettle it sits in.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "Where the difference is settled.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "names": { "name": "The raise", "aliases": [ "proofing", "the rise", "bulk ferment" ], "said": "The dough is worked when it is ready, not when the clock says." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "raise" }, "text": { "what": "Baker's yeast fermenting a sweet dough until it is full of gas — once in bulk, once again after the rings are cut.", "story": "Proofing is the rest in which yeast ferments the dough and makes the gas that lifts it. Blooming is a different thing with the same word: suspending dry yeast in warm water to hydrate it, and to see whether it is still alive.\n\nThe raise is why the raised donut lost ground when shops automated in the 1920s. Yeast needs time and a warm room, and the dough is harder to handle; baking soda was predictable and easy to build a machine around, so most bakers went to cake.", "how": "Mix, bulk rise, sheet, cut, then proof the cut rings again in a warm cabinet until they are light enough to float sideways in the fat.", "today": "The raise is the reason the shop opens at four and the work started at one." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What comes out of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "proof-box", "as": "Where the second rise happens.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "as": "The other way to get lift, and the one machines preferred.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "as": "What the raise does to the schedule.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique", "s:wp-baker-s-yeast", "s:wp-cake-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Baker's yeast fermenting a sweet dough until it is full of gas — once in bulk, once again after the rings are cut.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What comes out of it.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "proof-box", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The proof box", "as": "Where the second rise happens.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "The other way to get lift, and the one machines preferred.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "What the raise does to the schedule.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique", "kind": "web", "title": "Proofing (baking technique) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proofing_(baking_technique)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-baker-s-yeast", "kind": "web", "title": "Baker's yeast — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker%27s_yeast", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" }, "text.how": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-proofing-baking-technique" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What makes it rise, and the reason the shop was working at two in the morning.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "The slower way.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "from": "proof-box", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The proof box", "as": "The process it serves.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "What sets the clock.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "from": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "name": "Cake against raised", "as": "What costs the time.", "rel": "kitchen" } ] }, { "id": "allies-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Allie's Donuts", "aliases": [ "Allie's Hand-Cut Do-nut Shop" ], "sort": "Allie's Donuts" }, "region": [ "new-england" ], "facets": { "state": "RI", "status": "open", "founded": 1968, "dough": "both" }, "text": { "what": "A shop on Route 2 in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, cutting its donuts by hand since 1968, and the state's landmark of the trade.", "story": "Frederick Alvin \"Allie\" Briggs opened Allie's Hand-Cut Do-nut Shop on 1 June 1968 in a former sub sandwich shop, with about forty dollars in hand and a seven-thousand-dollar debt. He was a dairy farmer from Point Judith with ten years of donut experience from a shop in Wakefield. He took $38 on the first day, selling close to a hundred dozen at 39 cents each.\n\nIn 1969 his son Ricky was killed by a drunk driver while out delivering donuts for the business alongside his cousin. Briggs nearly closed.", "today": "Customers drive in from Connecticut and Massachusetts. Saveur listed it among the country's best donut shops in 2008; Thrillist did the same in 2016." }, "geo": { "lat": 41.59826, "lon": -71.49684, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "3661 Quaker Lane", "city": "North Kingstown", "county": "South", "state": "RI" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "hand-cut", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts", "tier": "cited", "note": "the shop's original name was Allie's Hand-Cut Do-nut Shop" }, { "tag": "family-run", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts", "tier": "cited" } ], "recognitions": [ { "by": "other", "what": "Saveur, best doughnut shops in the country", "year": 2008, "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" }, { "by": "thrillist", "what": "best doughnut shops in the country", "year": 2016, "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "dunkin-country", "as": "The region it competes in, by frying its own.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "donuts-per-capita", "as": "Rhode Island's density, counted.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "hand-cut", "as": "What the name claims and the bench does.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A shop on Route 2 in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, cutting its donuts by hand since 1968, and the state's landmark of the trade.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The region it competes in, by frying its own.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "name": "Where the shops actually are", "as": "Rhode Island's density, counted.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "hand-cut", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Cutting by hand", "as": "What the name claims and the bench does.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Allie's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allie%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "hand-cut", "label": "Cut by hand", "icon": "✂", "group": "kitchen", "evidence": "the shop's own words or a press piece describing the bench", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts", "note": "the shop's original name was Allie's Hand-Cut Do-nut Shop", "tier": "cited", "url": "" }, { "key": "family-run", "label": "Family-run", "icon": "👪", "group": "ownership", "evidence": "a press profile or the shop's own history", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts", "note": "", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [ { "key": "other", "label": "Other named recognition", "what": "Saveur, best doughnut shops in the country", "url": "", "year": 2008, "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" }, { "key": "thrillist", "label": "Thrillist", "what": "best doughnut shops in the country", "url": "", "year": 2016, "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" } ], "acclaim": 2, "kin_in": [ { "from": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The Rhode Island counter that outlasted the argument.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "hand-cut", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Cutting by hand", "as": "A shop that put the words in its name.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "The 1968 price.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "bobs-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Bob's Donuts and Pastries", "aliases": [ "Bob's Donuts", "Bob's on Polk" ], "sort": "Bob's Donuts" }, "region": [ "bay-area" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open", "founded": 1953, "dough": "both" }, "text": { "what": "A 24-hour counter on Polk Street in San Francisco, busiest after midnight, and two other locations.", "story": "The shop opened at 1621 Polk Street in 1953 or 1960 — accounts differ — and the original owner is not firmly established, though a city report points to Robert N. Nolt, who ran several businesses on the street. Elinor and Ronald Ahn bought it in 1977. After Elinor died in 2001 it passed to her son and daughter-in-law; Aya Ahn is a co-owner.\n\nAround 2012 the shop introduced the Bob's Donut Challenge: eat a giant donut the size of twelve regular ones in under three minutes, and your name goes on a wall.", "today": "Two locations in San Francisco and one in Mill Valley." }, "geo": { "lat": 37.79182, "lon": -122.42128, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "1621 Polk Street", "city": "San Francisco", "county": "", "state": "CA" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "twentyfour-hours", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts", "tier": "cited", "note": "the Polk Street location" }, { "tag": "family-run", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts", "tier": "cited", "note": "held by the Ahn family since 1977" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "bay-area-late-counter", "as": "The city's after-midnight habit.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What the challenge donut is a very large one of.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A 24-hour counter on Polk Street in San Francisco, busiest after midnight, and two other locations.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "bay-area", "name": "The Bay Area", "state": "CA" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bay-area-late-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The all-night counter", "as": "The city's after-midnight habit.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What the challenge donut is a very large one of.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Bob's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "twentyfour-hours", "label": "Open around the clock", "icon": "🕓", "group": "visit", "evidence": "posted hours", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts", "note": "the Polk Street location", "tier": "cited", "url": "" }, { "key": "family-run", "label": "Family-run", "icon": "👪", "group": "ownership", "evidence": "a press profile or the shop's own history", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-bob-s-donuts", "note": "held by the Ahn family since 1977", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bay-area-late-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The all-night counter", "as": "San Francisco's.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "cafe-du-monde", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Café du Monde", "aliases": [ "Cafe du Monde" ], "sort": "Cafe du Monde" }, "region": [ "louisiana" ], "facets": { "state": "LA", "status": "open", "dough": "choux", "styles": [ "louisiana-beignet" ] }, "text": { "what": "An open-air coffee stand on Decatur Street in the French Quarter, selling café au lait cut with chicory and beignets three to an order under powdered sugar.", "story": "The French brought coffee to the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi around 1700. During the Civil War, New Orleans Creoles stretched short coffee with chicory, which adds a chocolate note to café au lait, and the practice stayed.", "today": "A landmark, and busy enough that the queue is part of the experience people describe." }, "geo": { "lat": 29.95756, "lon": -90.06185, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "800 Decatur Street", "city": "New Orleans", "county": "Orleans Parish", "state": "LA" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "counter-or-window", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde", "tier": "cited", "note": "an open-air coffee stand" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "beignet", "as": "The square one, buried in sugar.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "louisiana-beignet", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "chicory-coffee", "as": "What it is served with, and why.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-caf-du-monde" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "cafe-du-monde/cafe-du-monde-beignets-and-caf-au-lait-at-caf-du-monde-new-orleans.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Beignets and Café au Lait at Café du Monde, New Orleans.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Beignets_and_Caf%C3%A9_au_Lait_at_Caf%C3%A9_du_Monde%2C_New_Orleans.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABeignets_and_Caf%C3%A9_au_Lait_at_Caf%C3%A9_du_Monde%2C_New_Orleans.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Pburka", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Beignets and cafe au lait at Café du Monde, New Orleans", "date": "2016-12-26 16:21:32", "primary": true, "sha256": "05739320174d348eea439b47f41099519531198312fa7975282aafb3b40f6d63" } ], "blurb": "An open-air coffee stand on Decatur Street in the French Quarter, selling café au lait cut with chicory and beignets three to an order under powdered sugar.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "louisiana", "name": "Louisiana", "state": "LA", "note": "beignets, king cake, and the shops that sell both" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "The square one, buried in sugar.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "louisiana-beignet", "type": "style", "name": "The beignet stand", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "chicory-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "Coffee with chicory", "as": "What it is served with, and why.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-caf-du-monde", "kind": "web", "title": "Café du Monde — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_du_Monde", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "cafe-du-monde/cafe-du-monde-beignets-and-caf-au-lait-at-caf-du-monde-new-orleans.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Beignets and Café au Lait at Café du Monde, New Orleans.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Beignets_and_Caf%C3%A9_au_Lait_at_Caf%C3%A9_du_Monde%2C_New_Orleans.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABeignets_and_Caf%C3%A9_au_Lait_at_Caf%C3%A9_du_Monde%2C_New_Orleans.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Pburka", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Beignets and cafe au lait at Café du Monde, New Orleans", "date": "2016-12-26 16:21:32", "primary": true, "sha256": "05739320174d348eea439b47f41099519531198312fa7975282aafb3b40f6d63" }, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "counter-or-window", "label": "Counter or window, no tables", "icon": "🪟", "group": "visit", "evidence": "the shop's own site, a press piece, or OpenStreetMap takeaway=only", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-caf-du-monde", "note": "an open-air coffee stand", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "louisiana-beignet", "type": "style", "name": "The beignet stand", "as": "The stand.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "The stand that made the square one famous.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "chicory-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "Coffee with chicory", "as": "Where most people meet it.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Christy's Donuts", "aliases": [ "Christy's" ], "sort": "Christy's Donuts" }, "region": [ "socal", "cambodian-american" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "unknown", "founded": 1977, "dough": "both", "styles": [ "socal-pink-box" ] }, "text": { "what": "The La Habra shop Ted Ngoy bought in 1977, and the name he put on every shop he bought after it.", "story": "Christy's had not done well under its previous owners. It did well under the Ngoys, and they kept the name uniform across the shops they added — by 1979 more than 25 of them, by 1987 thirty-two, and at the peak Ngoy reckoned sixty-five. Ngoy and his wife took the American names Ted and Christy when they became citizens in 1985.\n\nThe shops were leased out to relatives and to refugee families Ngoy sponsored, which is how one shop turned into a trade for a community.", "today": "Shops trading as Christy's Donuts still exist in Southern California. This project has not verified which, if any, descend from the Ngoy shops, and does not claim it." }, "geo": { "lat": 33.93161, "lon": -117.94549, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "La Habra", "county": "Orange", "state": "CA" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "cambodian-american", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "tier": "cited", "note": "bought and run by Ted and Christy Ngoy from 1977" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "Bought it, then made it a name and a system.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The shop the style traces back through.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "as": "The long version.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-ted-ngoy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "town centre; the article gives no street address" }, "facets.status": { "tier": "inference", "note": "unknown: this project has not established whether the original shop trades today" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "needs_verification": true, "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The La Habra shop Ted Ngoy bought in 1977, and the name he put on every shop he bought after it.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "cambodian-american", "name": "Cambodian America", "state": null, "note": "Long Beach, Stockton, Lowell, Houston; a community, not a place — and the single largest owner group in independent donuts" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "Bought it, then made it a name and a system.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The shop the style traces back through.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The long version.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "kind": "web", "title": "Ted Ngoy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Ngoy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "town centre; the article gives no street address" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "cambodian-american", "label": "Cambodian-American owned", "icon": "🇰🇭", "group": "community", "evidence": "the owner's own words, a press profile naming the family, or an oral-history archive. Never a surname, never a guess.", "resources": [ "r:cambodian-donut-press", "r:sfa-oral-histories" ], "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "note": "bought and run by Ted and Christy Ngoy from 1977", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The La Habra shop the whole pattern starts from.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "The shop he bought first.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The shop.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "The name that spread.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "czech-stop", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery", "aliases": [ "Czech Stop" ], "sort": "Czech Stop" }, "region": [ "texas" ], "facets": { "state": "TX", "status": "open", "founded": 1983, "dough": "yeast", "counter": "kolaches", "styles": [ "texas-kolache-counter" ] }, "text": { "what": "A combination deli, bakery and convenience store on Interstate 35 in West, Texas, selling kolaches, klobasniky and strudel to about 600 people a day.", "story": "Established in 1983 in a town designated \"Home of the official Kolache of the Texas Legislature\". A poster in the store counts the year's raw materials in thousands of pounds — over 1,200 pounds of cream cheese, 9,000 pounds of flour.\n\nFor a lot of Texans the Czech Stop is where the kolache and the klobasnek stop being a regional food and become a road food: the reason you take I-35 rather than another route.", "today": "Open around the clock, and busiest when the highway is." }, "geo": { "lat": 31.80322, "lon": -97.09932, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "West", "county": "McLennan", "state": "TX" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "kolaches", "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery", "tier": "cited", "note": "kolache, klobasnek and strudel are named in the article" }, { "tag": "twentyfour-hours", "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery", "tier": "cited", "note": "described as a highway stop serving travellers; hours read from the article" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "klobasnek", "as": "What it sells most of.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "kolache", "as": "The sweet one, and the town's official one.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery", "s:wp-west-texas" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "town centre, not the store's door" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the second paragraph is this project's reading of why the stop matters" }, "tags[1]": { "tier": "cited", "note": "hours are read from the article's description; if the store's own posted hours differ, they win" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "czech-stop/czech-stop-czechstopfff2010-4kpx.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:CzechStopFFF2010 4kpx.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/CzechStopFFF2010_4kpx.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACzechStopFFF2010_4kpx.jpg", "license": "CC0 1.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/", "author": "Lm13700", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Czeh Stop the Kolache capitol of Texas --- Photo Taken 5/11/2010 in West, TX 76691", "date": "2001-11-05", "primary": true, "sha256": "9fdec4ee077ec51a901732375d04447a1d8756326d46955ff60fda005a16126a" }, { "file": "czech-stop/czech-stop-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery-in-west-texas-dpl-b8f8152.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Czech Stop And Little Czech Bakery in West Texas - DPLA - 3779739db77dbb45945f5da5965dc2c0.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Czech_Stop_And_Little_Czech_Bakery_in_West_Texas_-_DPLA_-_3779739db77dbb45945f5da5965dc2c0.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACzech_Stop_And_Little_Czech_Bakery_in_West_Texas_-_DPLA_-_3779739db77dbb45945f5da5965dc2c0.jpg", "license": "CC BY 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "author": "Hicks, William", "credit": "This file was contributed to Wikimedia Commons by University of North Texas Libraries as part of a cooperation project. The donation was facilitated by the Digital Public Library of America.\nRecord in", "alt": "Photograph of the Czech Stop And Little Czech Bakery. Well known roadside stop for kolaches on Interstate 35 in West, TX.; 1 photograph : digital, col.", "date": "24 June 2018", "primary": false, "sha256": "08792f82be0155658c05f267e240ad1dd4b42f756ee8b4933e2e0a3be62edd7f" } ], "blurb": "A combination deli, bakery and convenience store on Interstate 35 in West, Texas, selling kolaches, klobasniky and strudel to about 600 people a day.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "What it sells most of.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "kolache", "type": "dish", "name": "Kolache", "as": "The sweet one, and the town's official one.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery", "kind": "web", "title": "Czech Stop and Little Czech Bakery — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Stop_and_Little_Czech_Bakery", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-west-texas", "kind": "web", "title": "West, Texas — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West,_Texas", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the second paragraph is this project's reading of why the stop matters" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "town centre, not the store's door" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "czech-stop/czech-stop-czechstopfff2010-4kpx.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:CzechStopFFF2010 4kpx.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/CzechStopFFF2010_4kpx.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACzechStopFFF2010_4kpx.jpg", "license": "CC0 1.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/", "author": "Lm13700", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Czeh Stop the Kolache capitol of Texas --- Photo Taken 5/11/2010 in West, TX 76691", "date": "2001-11-05", "primary": true, "sha256": "9fdec4ee077ec51a901732375d04447a1d8756326d46955ff60fda005a16126a" }, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "kolaches", "label": "Kolaches and klobasniky", "icon": "🌭", "group": "counter", "evidence": "the menu or a press piece naming them", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery", "note": "kolache, klobasnek and strudel are named in the article", "tier": "cited", "url": "" }, { "key": "twentyfour-hours", "label": "Open around the clock", "icon": "🕓", "group": "visit", "evidence": "posted hours", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-czech-stop-and-little-czech-bakery", "note": "described as a highway stop serving travellers; hours read from the article", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The town the legislature named for it.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "The stop on I-35 that sells them around the clock.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "kolache", "type": "dish", "name": "Kolache", "as": "The town the legislature named for it.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "donut-wheel", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Donut Wheel", "aliases": [ "Jack's Donut Wheel" ], "sort": "Donut Wheel" }, "region": [ "bay-area" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open", "founded": 1962, "dough": "both" }, "text": { "what": "A Livermore landmark at the intersection of the city's four quadrants, trading since 1962.", "story": "Jack and Jean Weil started Jack's Donut Wheel in 1962, the year they moved to Livermore from San Francisco. The name came from a colleague at Stemple's who pointed out that people said Weil as \"wheel\". The Weils sold in 1972; it has changed hands since and kept the name. The building went up in 1941.", "today": "A small shop that outlasted four sets of owners by not being renamed." }, "geo": { "lat": 37.68086, "lon": -121.77086, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Livermore", "county": "Alameda", "state": "CA" }, "kin": [ { "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "as": "Why the name on the window is not the family inside.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The same shape of business, further north.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-donut-wheel" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-wheel" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Livermore landmark at the intersection of the city's four quadrants, trading since 1962.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "bay-area", "name": "The Bay Area", "state": "CA" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "Why the name on the window is not the family inside.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The same shape of business, further north.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-donut-wheel", "kind": "web", "title": "Donut Wheel — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donut_Wheel", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-wheel" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-wheel" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-wheel" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "Four owners, one name.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "doughnut-plant", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Doughnut Plant", "aliases": [ "Doughnut Plant NYC" ], "sort": "Doughnut Plant" }, "region": [ "nyc" ], "facets": { "state": "NY", "status": "open", "founded": 1994, "dough": "both" }, "text": { "what": "A New York bakery that treats the donut as a thing to redesign: square filled donuts, crème brûlée donuts, shapes that do not come off a standard cutter.", "story": "Mark Isreal started making donuts in the basement of his Lower East Side building in 1994 and delivered them by bicycle to restaurants and food shops. The first storefront opened on Grand Street in 2000.", "today": "Bon Appétit and Saveur have both named it an early influence on the American artisanal donut shops that followed." }, "geo": { "lat": 40.71634, "lon": -73.98854, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "379 Grand Street", "city": "New York", "county": "", "state": "NY" }, "recognitions": [ { "by": "bon-appetit", "what": "identified as an early influence on the modern American artisanal doughnut", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-plant" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "nyc-bodega-donut", "as": "The city's other model, at a third the price.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "as": "Where a five-dollar donut sits.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut-plant" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-plant" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A New York bakery that treats the donut as a thing to redesign: square filled donuts, crème brûlée donuts, shapes that do not come off a standard cutter.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "name": "The New York corner counter", "as": "The city's other model, at a third the price.", "rel": "contrast" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "Where a five-dollar donut sits.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-plant", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut Plant — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_Plant", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-plant" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-plant" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-plant" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-plant" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [ { "key": "bon-appetit", "label": "Bon Appétit", "what": "identified as an early influence on the modern American artisanal doughnut", "url": "", "year": null, "source": "s:wp-doughnut-plant" } ], "acclaim": 1, "kin_in": [ { "from": "novelty-donut-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The novelty shop", "as": "Invention without the costume.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "name": "The New York corner counter", "as": "The other New York model: one shop, one obsession, higher price.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "federal-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Federal Donuts", "aliases": [ "Federal Donuts & Chicken" ], "sort": "Federal Donuts" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "state": "PA", "status": "open", "founded": 2011, "dough": "cake" }, "text": { "what": "A Philadelphia counter selling donuts, coffee and fried chicken from the same window.", "story": "The founders took the idea from Cafe Soho in Philadelphia, which serves Korean fried chicken. The first shop opened in Pennsport in 2011; by 2018 there were six, plus stands at Citizens Bank Park. A Miami branch opened in 2017 and closed in 2018. In 2024 the flagship moved from 1219 South 2nd Street to 22 Wolf Street in South Philadelphia. Michael Solomonov owns the chain.", "today": "Donuts and fried chicken on one menu reads as a concept here and as ordinary arithmetic in a Los Angeles strip mall." }, "geo": { "lat": 39.91879, "lon": -75.14676, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "22 Wolf Street", "city": "Philadelphia", "county": "Philadelphia", "state": "PA" }, "kin": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The same two-menu logic, with a chef's name on it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The side of the case it works on.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-federal-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-federal-donuts" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Philadelphia counter selling donuts, coffee and fried chicken from the same window.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The same two-menu logic, with a chef's name on it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The side of the case it works on.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-federal-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Federal Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-federal-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-federal-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-federal-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [] }, { "id": "leonards-bakery", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Leonard's Bakery", "aliases": [ "Leonard's", "Leonard's Malasadas" ], "sort": "Leonard's Bakery" }, "region": [ "hawaii" ], "facets": { "state": "HI", "status": "open", "founded": 1952, "dough": "yeast", "styles": [ "hawaii-malasada" ] }, "text": { "what": "A Portuguese bakery on Kapahulu Avenue in Honolulu that made the malasada an everyday Hawaiian habit rather than a Carnival one.", "story": "Margaret and Frank Leonard Rego Sr. opened the bakery in 1952. Rego's mother pushed him to sell malasadas — the holeless Portuguese pastry Portuguese immigrants had brought to the islands at the turn of the twentieth century. Leonard's carried it to a far wider audience than it had before.\n\nA franchise location opened in Japan in 2008.", "today": "A household name in Hawaii and known well beyond it; the malasada wagons park across the island." }, "geo": { "lat": 21.28491, "lon": -157.81328, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "933 Kapahulu Avenue", "city": "East Honolulu", "county": "Honolulu", "state": "HI" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "family-run", "source": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery", "tier": "cited", "note": "opened by Margaret and Frank Leonard Rego Sr." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "malasada", "as": "The thing it sells.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "malasada-day", "as": "The day the queue goes around the block.", "rel": "event" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "leonards-bakery/leonards-bakery-leonard-s-bakery-honolulu-hawaii-4540006860.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Leonard's Bakery, Honolulu, Hawaii (4540006860).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Leonard%27s_Bakery%2C_Honolulu%2C_Hawaii_%284540006860%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALeonard%27s_Bakery%2C_Honolulu%2C_Hawaii_%284540006860%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Ken Lund from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA", "credit": "Leonard's Bakery, Honolulu, Hawaii", "alt": "Eat their malasadas and other good things. www.leonardshawaii.com/", "date": "2010-04-17 11:17", "primary": true, "sha256": "4dfb312ff6fdad0569c080075c068c4def5cae5876f7642748d4cf96345f9542" } ], "blurb": "A Portuguese bakery on Kapahulu Avenue in Honolulu that made the malasada an everyday Hawaiian habit rather than a Carnival one.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "hawaii", "name": "Hawaii", "state": "HI", "note": "malasadas, no hole, rolled in sugar" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "The thing it sells.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The style it anchors.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "name": "Malasada Day", "as": "The day the queue goes around the block.", "rel": "event" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery", "kind": "web", "title": "Leonard's Bakery — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard%27s_Bakery", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "leonards-bakery/leonards-bakery-leonard-s-bakery-honolulu-hawaii-4540006860.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Leonard's Bakery, Honolulu, Hawaii (4540006860).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Leonard%27s_Bakery%2C_Honolulu%2C_Hawaii_%284540006860%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALeonard%27s_Bakery%2C_Honolulu%2C_Hawaii_%284540006860%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Ken Lund from Las Vegas, Nevada, USA", "credit": "Leonard's Bakery, Honolulu, Hawaii", "alt": "Eat their malasadas and other good things. www.leonardshawaii.com/", "date": "2010-04-17 11:17", "primary": true, "sha256": "4dfb312ff6fdad0569c080075c068c4def5cae5876f7642748d4cf96345f9542" }, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "family-run", "label": "Family-run", "icon": "👪", "group": "ownership", "evidence": "a press profile or the shop's own history", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-leonard-s-bakery", "note": "opened by Margaret and Frank Leonard Rego Sr.", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The Honolulu bakery that made it a habit.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "The Honolulu bakery that made it a statewide habit.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "name": "Malasada Day", "as": "The bakery most associated with it.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "pips-original", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai", "aliases": [ "Pip's Original" ], "sort": "Pip's Original" }, "region": [ "pacific-northwest" ], "facets": { "state": "OR", "status": "open", "dough": "cake" }, "text": { "what": "A northeast Portland shop frying small cake donuts to order and serving house chai beside them.", "story": "The shop is on Fremont Street in northeast Portland; Nate Snell is a co-owner. A second location in Beaverton ran through 2023 and 2024. Vogue has described an always-out-the-door line at the Portland shop.", "today": "Made-to-order is the opposite end of the trade from a case filled at four in the morning, and costs accordingly." }, "geo": { "lat": 45.54843, "lon": -122.61384, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "4759 NE Fremont Street", "city": "Portland", "county": "Multnomah", "state": "OR" }, "kin": [ { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "as": "Where made-to-order sits on the price map.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The dough it runs.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-pip-s-original-doughnuts-chai" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-pip-s-original-doughnuts-chai" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A northeast Portland shop frying small cake donuts to order and serving house chai beside them.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pacific-northwest", "name": "The Pacific Northwest", "state": null, "note": "Portland, Seattle" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "Where made-to-order sits on the price map.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The dough it runs.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-pip-s-original-doughnuts-chai", "kind": "web", "title": "Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pip%27s_Original_Doughnuts_%26_Chai", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-pip-s-original-doughnuts-chai" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-pip-s-original-doughnuts-chai" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-pip-s-original-doughnuts-chai" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "The other end of the range.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "psycho-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Psycho Donuts", "aliases": [], "sort": "Psycho Donuts" }, "region": [ "bay-area" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open", "founded": 2009, "dough": "both" }, "text": { "what": "A Campbell, California shop themed on \"craziness\", with donut names punning on mental illness, a straitjacket on the wall and a padded cell in the room.", "story": "Jordan Zweigoron and Kipp Berdianski opened it in March 2009; Berdiansky left the partnership that July. A San Jose location and a Santa Clara location have both closed, as has a 2021 pop-up at Valley Fair.\n\nThe theme has drawn objection from mental-health advocates, which is part of the shop's public record rather than an aside to it.", "today": "Still open in Campbell." }, "geo": { "lat": 37.28674, "lon": -121.94954, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Campbell", "county": "Santa Clara", "state": "CA" }, "kin": [ { "to": "novelty-donut-shop", "as": "The register it works in.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-psycho-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-psycho-donuts" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-psycho-donuts", "note": "the objection is reported in the cited article; this record states that it exists and takes no side" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Campbell, California shop themed on \"craziness\", with donut names punning on mental illness, a straitjacket on the wall and a padded cell in the room.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "bay-area", "name": "The Bay Area", "state": "CA" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "novelty-donut-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The novelty shop", "as": "The register it works in.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-psycho-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Psycho Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-psycho-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-psycho-donuts", "note": "the objection is reported in the cited article; this record states that it exists and takes no side" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-psycho-donuts" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-psycho-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "novelty-donut-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The novelty shop", "as": "The most argued-over one.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Randy's Donuts", "aliases": [ "the big donut", "Big Donut Drive-In (original)" ], "sort": "Randy's Donuts" }, "region": [ "socal" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open", "founded": 1952, "dough": "both", "styles": [ "socal-pink-box" ] }, "text": { "what": "A drive-in donut counter on West Manchester Boulevard in Inglewood, under a 1950s rooftop donut big enough to be a landmark from the 405. Open around the clock.", "story": "Russell Wendell, a donut machine salesman, founded a chain of drive-in shops called Big Donut in the late 1940s; the first opened in Westmont in 1951 and the second — this building — in 1952. Wendell moved on to his Pup 'N' Taco chain and sold the Inglewood shop in 1976 to Robert Eskow, who renamed it after his son Randy. Eskow sold it in 1978 to Ron and Larry Weintraub, who kept the name. It changed hands again in 2015.\n\nFour of Wendell's big donuts survive; a fifth became a bagel. At their height there were ten Do-Nut Drive-Ins carrying 22-foot donuts, and the opening of the first one in December 1949 had clowns, jugglers, free coffee and a trapeze artist swinging through the hole.", "today": "The rooftop donut gets photographed more than anything else in the trade, and the shop now runs additional locations under the same name." }, "geo": { "lat": 33.96185, "lon": -118.37038, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "805 West Manchester Boulevard", "city": "Inglewood", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "postcode": "90301" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "drive-thru", "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "tier": "cited" }, { "tag": "twentyfour-hours", "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "tier": "cited", "note": "the original is described as a 24-hour drive-in" } ], "recognitions": [ { "by": "local-press", "what": "described as one of Los Angeles's most iconic landmarks", "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "as": "The best-known example of the form.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The regional style it sits inside.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-donut-hole", "as": "The other drive-through landmark, twenty miles east.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "russell-wendell", "as": "Sold the machines, then built the chain the sign came from.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the photograph claim is this project's reading, not a count" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "randys-donuts/randys-donuts-2008-0914-randysdonuts.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:2008-0914-RandysDonuts.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/2008-0914-RandysDonuts.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2008-0914-RandysDonuts.jpg", "license": "CC BY 3.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/", "author": "Bobak Ha'Eri", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Randy's Donuts, Los Angeles, California.", "date": "Taken on 14 September 2008", "primary": true, "sha256": "13aa9dca442e58d1e9444ee2d19226876e5075f64ccd52c7247e05a60a57599d" }, { "file": "randys-donuts/randys-donuts-big-do-nut-drive-in-inglewood-california-lccn2017709531.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Big Do-Nut Drive-in, Inglewood, California LCCN2017709531.tif", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Big_Do-Nut_Drive-in%2C_Inglewood%2C_California_LCCN2017709531.tif?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABig_Do-Nut_Drive-in%2C_Inglewood%2C_California_LCCN2017709531.tif", "license": "Public domain", "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain", "author": "John Margolies", "credit": "Library of Congress\n\nCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/2017709531\nImage download: https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/mrg/07400/07439a.tif\nOriginal url: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/mrg.07439", "alt": "Title: Big Do-Nut Drive-in, Inglewood, California\nPhysical description: 1 photograph : color transparency ; 35 mm (slide format).\n\nNotes: Forms part of: John Margolies Roadside America photograph arc", "date": "1976", "primary": false, "sha256": "0e2ad36697386debbff141976ec85210604a238aac0d5d5c5094a988b0e72bf2" } ], "blurb": "A drive-in donut counter on West Manchester Boulevard in Inglewood, under a 1950s rooftop donut big enough to be a landmark from the 405. Open around the clock.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "The best-known example of the form.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The regional style it sits inside.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-donut-hole", "type": "place", "name": "The Donut Hole", "as": "The other drive-through landmark, twenty miles east.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "russell-wendell", "type": "person", "name": "Russell C. Wendell", "as": "Sold the machines, then built the chain the sign came from.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Randy's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california", "kind": "web", "title": "Big donuts of Southern California — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_donuts_of_Southern_California", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the photograph claim is this project's reading, not a count" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "randys-donuts/randys-donuts-2008-0914-randysdonuts.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:2008-0914-RandysDonuts.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/2008-0914-RandysDonuts.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2008-0914-RandysDonuts.jpg", "license": "CC BY 3.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/", "author": "Bobak Ha'Eri", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Randy's Donuts, Los Angeles, California.", "date": "Taken on 14 September 2008", "primary": true, "sha256": "13aa9dca442e58d1e9444ee2d19226876e5075f64ccd52c7247e05a60a57599d" }, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "drive-thru", "label": "Drive-thru", "icon": "🚗", "group": "visit", "evidence": "the shop's own site, a press piece, or OpenStreetMap drive_through=yes", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "note": "", "tier": "cited", "url": "" }, { "key": "twentyfour-hours", "label": "Open around the clock", "icon": "🕓", "group": "visit", "evidence": "posted hours", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "note": "the original is described as a 24-hour drive-in", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [ { "key": "local-press", "label": "The local paper or alt-weekly", "what": "described as one of Los Angeles's most iconic landmarks", "url": "", "year": null, "source": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" } ], "acclaim": 1, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bay-area-late-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The all-night counter", "as": "The Inglewood window.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The one with the roof that everybody photographs.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "the-donut-hole", "type": "place", "name": "The Donut Hole", "as": "The other landmark, on a roof rather than around a car.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "russell-wendell", "type": "person", "name": "Russell C. Wendell", "as": "His second building.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "The most photographed one.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "No Randy.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "round-rock-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Round Rock Donuts", "aliases": [ "Lone Star Bakery" ], "sort": "Round Rock Donuts" }, "region": [ "texas" ], "facets": { "state": "TX", "status": "open", "founded": 1926, "dough": "both", "styles": [ "texas-kolache-counter" ] }, "text": { "what": "A Texas counter trading since 1926, known for an outsized orange-yellow donut and a queue that starts early.", "story": "Established in 1926 as Lone Star Bakery, it moved to 106 West Liberty in 1970 because the old spot at 101 East Main had nowhere to park. A second Austin location opened on Burnet Road in January 1977. A second modern location opened in Cedar Park in 2022.", "today": "It has turned up on best-of lists for fifty years: Texas Monthly in 1976, Bon Appétit in 2010, The Daily Meal in 2013, Yelp in 2022, TasteAtlas in 2025." }, "geo": { "lat": 30.50954, "lon": -97.67991, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "106 West Liberty Avenue", "city": "Round Rock", "county": "Williamson", "state": "TX" }, "recognitions": [ { "by": "local-press", "what": "Texas Monthly best-of list", "year": 1976, "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, { "by": "bon-appetit", "what": "best-of list", "year": 2010, "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, { "by": "other", "what": "The Daily Meal best-of list", "year": 2013, "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "kolache", "as": "What else a Texas counter sells at that hour.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Texas counter trading since 1926, known for an outsized orange-yellow donut and a queue that starts early.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "kolache", "type": "dish", "name": "Kolache", "as": "What else a Texas counter sells at that hour.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Round Rock Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Rock_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [ { "key": "local-press", "label": "The local paper or alt-weekly", "what": "Texas Monthly best-of list", "url": "", "year": 1976, "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, { "key": "bon-appetit", "label": "Bon Appétit", "what": "best-of list", "url": "", "year": 2010, "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" }, { "key": "other", "label": "Other named recognition", "what": "The Daily Meal best-of list", "url": "", "year": 2013, "source": "s:wp-round-rock-donuts" } ], "acclaim": 3, "kin_in": [ { "from": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "A Texas counter big enough to be a landmark.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "seaside-donuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Seaside Donuts Bakery", "aliases": [ "Seaside Bakery", "Seaside" ], "sort": "Seaside Donuts Bakery" }, "region": [ "socal", "cambodian-american" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open", "founded": 1985, "dough": "both", "styles": [ "socal-pink-box" ] }, "text": { "what": "A Cambodian-American bakery in Newport Beach, open 24 hours, known for cheap selections and a beachside room that fills up at odd hours.", "story": "Kong Eap, who came to the United States in the 1970s, opened the bakery in 1985 — one of many Cambodian-American bakeries that opened in the area after Ted Ngoy's shops showed the way. He later handed it to his son, Roger Eap, and went into hospitality. The family also took on Simone's Donuts in Long Beach, which his daughter Melissa Eap runs.\n\nSince the 2020s the shop has drawn heavy attention from Asian-American creators on TikTok, which is a different kind of custom from the college students who kept it going for decades.", "today": "Still open around the clock." }, "geo": { "lat": 33.60869, "lon": -117.92897, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Newport Beach", "county": "Orange", "state": "CA" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "cambodian-american", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "tier": "cited", "note": "the article names Kong Eap, a Cambodian immigrant, as founder and the family as owners since" }, { "tag": "family-run", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "tier": "cited", "note": "founder to son to daughter across two shops" }, { "tag": "twentyfour-hours", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "tier": "cited" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "A shop the style is made of.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "The shops that showed the way, by name, in the shop's own history.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "as": "How a family arrives at a fryer in Orange County.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "town centre, not the shop door — the article gives no street address" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Cambodian-American bakery in Newport Beach, open 24 hours, known for cheap selections and a beachside room that fills up at odd hours.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "cambodian-american", "name": "Cambodian America", "state": null, "note": "Long Beach, Stockton, Lowell, Houston; a community, not a place — and the single largest owner group in independent donuts" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "A shop the style is made of.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "The shops that showed the way, by name, in the shop's own history.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "How a family arrives at a fryer in Orange County.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "kind": "web", "title": "Seaside Donuts Bakery — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seaside_Donuts_Bakery", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "town centre, not the shop door — the article gives no street address" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "cambodian-american", "label": "Cambodian-American owned", "icon": "🇰🇭", "group": "community", "evidence": "the owner's own words, a press profile naming the family, or an oral-history archive. Never a surname, never a guess.", "resources": [ "r:cambodian-donut-press", "r:sfa-oral-histories" ], "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "note": "the article names Kong Eap, a Cambodian immigrant, as founder and the family as owners since", "tier": "cited", "url": "" }, { "key": "family-run", "label": "Family-run", "icon": "👪", "group": "ownership", "evidence": "a press profile or the shop's own history", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "note": "founder to son to daughter across two shops", "tier": "cited", "url": "" }, { "key": "twentyfour-hours", "label": "Open around the clock", "icon": "🕓", "group": "visit", "evidence": "posted hours", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-seaside-donuts-bakery", "note": "", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bay-area-late-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The all-night counter", "as": "Orange County's.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "the-donut-hole", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "The Donut Hole", "aliases": [ "Donut Hole La Puente" ], "sort": "Donut Hole" }, "region": [ "socal" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open", "founded": 1963, "dough": "both", "styles": [ "socal-pink-box" ] }, "text": { "what": "A drive-through bakery in La Puente shaped like two giant donuts: you drive in through one hole, order, and drive out through the other.", "story": "The first Donut Hole opened in 1963 in La Puente, though sources disagree — one says the La Puente shop was the second, opened in 1968, and dates the building anywhere from 1947 to 1962. What is settled is that the chain went out of business in 1979, the Lopez family bought the La Puente shop that year and held it until 2003, the Covina branch was remodelled beyond recognition and the rest were demolished. This one is the last working example.\n\nNewlyweds drive through it. Some say for luck; others are less coy about the symbolism. Cars have hit the building more than once.", "today": "An example of programmatic architecture — a building shaped like what it sells — and among the most photographed donut shops in the country." }, "geo": { "lat": 34.03714, "lon": -117.95171, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "15300 Amar Road", "city": "La Puente", "county": "Los Angeles", "state": "CA", "postcode": "91744" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "drive-thru", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-hole", "tier": "cited" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "as": "Programmatic architecture, and the one you drive through.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "as": "The other landmark, on a roof rather than around a car.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-the-donut-hole", "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-hole" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A drive-through bakery in La Puente shaped like two giant donuts: you drive in through one hole, order, and drive out through the other.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "Programmatic architecture, and the one you drive through.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "The other landmark, on a roof rather than around a car.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-the-donut-hole", "kind": "web", "title": "The Donut Hole — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Donut_Hole", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california", "kind": "web", "title": "Big donuts of Southern California — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_donuts_of_Southern_California", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-hole" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-hole" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-hole" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-hole" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "drive-thru", "label": "Drive-thru", "icon": "🚗", "group": "visit", "evidence": "the shop's own site, a press piece, or OpenStreetMap drive_through=yes", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-the-donut-hole", "note": "", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "The other drive-through landmark, twenty miles east.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "russell-wendell", "type": "person", "name": "Russell C. Wendell", "as": "The drive-through cousin.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "The one you drive through.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "top-pot-doughnuts", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Top Pot Doughnuts", "aliases": [ "Top Pot" ], "sort": "Top Pot Doughnuts" }, "region": [ "pacific-northwest" ], "facets": { "state": "WA", "status": "open", "founded": 2002, "dough": "both" }, "text": { "what": "A Seattle coffee-and-donut company begun on Capitol Hill, now 17 cafés around Puget Sound.", "story": "Brothers Mark and Michael Klebeck started Top Pot in February 2002. As of November 2023 it ran 17 cafés, though the donuts are made only at the downtown Seattle and Bellevue kitchens and trucked to the rest.\n\nIts recipes are used for the donuts sold in more than 7,000 Starbucks stores in the United States and Canada, and by the Seattle grocer QFC. They are the official donut at Lumen Field.", "today": "A shop that makes its own and ships them is a third thing: not a chain kitchen, not a counter with a kettle." }, "geo": { "lat": 47.61524, "lon": -122.34113, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "2124 5th Avenue", "city": "Seattle", "county": "King", "state": "WA" }, "kin": [ { "to": "voodoo-doughnut", "as": "The other Northwest name, playing it differently.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "as": "Where a shop stops being one.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "top-pot-doughnuts/top-pot-doughnuts-top-pot-5th-ave-seattle-09.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Top Pot 5th Ave Seattle 09.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Top_Pot_5th_Ave_Seattle_09.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATop_Pot_5th_Ave_Seattle_09.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/", "author": "Joe Mabel", "credit": "Photo by Joe Mabel", "alt": "Top Pot (Donut shop / coffeehouse) on Fifth Avenue in Belltown (the north part of downtown), Seattle, Washington. The building was previously the office of an architecture firm.", "date": "Taken on 15 September 2006", "primary": true, "sha256": "c8d7e2c37423a330b3ea4c94e40d528e7eadc5cd7cb4ae1ae222218e663c55ee" } ], "blurb": "A Seattle coffee-and-donut company begun on Capitol Hill, now 17 cafés around Puget Sound.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pacific-northwest", "name": "The Pacific Northwest", "state": null, "note": "Portland, Seattle" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "voodoo-doughnut", "type": "place", "name": "Voodoo Doughnut", "as": "The other Northwest name, playing it differently.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "Where a shop stops being one.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Top Pot Doughnuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Pot_Doughnuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "top-pot-doughnuts/top-pot-doughnuts-top-pot-5th-ave-seattle-09.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Top Pot 5th Ave Seattle 09.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Top_Pot_5th_Ave_Seattle_09.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATop_Pot_5th_Ave_Seattle_09.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 3.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/", "author": "Joe Mabel", "credit": "Photo by Joe Mabel", "alt": "Top Pot (Donut shop / coffeehouse) on Fifth Avenue in Belltown (the north part of downtown), Seattle, Washington. The building was previously the office of an architecture firm.", "date": "Taken on 15 September 2006", "primary": true, "sha256": "c8d7e2c37423a330b3ea4c94e40d528e7eadc5cd7cb4ae1ae222218e663c55ee" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "voodoo-doughnut", "type": "place", "name": "Voodoo Doughnut", "as": "The other Northwest shop, and the opposite register.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "Central kitchen, many cafés.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "voodoo-doughnut", "type": "place", "names": { "name": "Voodoo Doughnut", "aliases": [ "Voodoo" ], "sort": "Voodoo Doughnut" }, "region": [ "pacific-northwest" ], "facets": { "state": "OR", "status": "open", "founded": 2003, "dough": "yeast" }, "text": { "what": "A Portland shop built on novelty donuts and a late-night queue, now with locations in several states.", "story": "Kenneth \"Cat Daddy\" Pogson and Richard \"Tres\" Shannon opened the first shop on Southwest Third Avenue in Old Town Portland in May 2003. The logo carries a depiction of Baron Samedi, a figure from Haitian Vodou. Until 2006 the shop opened only at night.\n\nThe pink box came from California: Pogson travelled there, saw the boxes, and brought both the box and the slogan home — \"Good things come in pink boxes.\"", "today": "The pink box now reads as Voodoo's to a lot of people who have never been to a strip-mall shop in Orange County." }, "geo": { "lat": 45.52266, "lon": -122.67312, "precision": "street", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "22 SW 3rd Avenue", "city": "Portland", "county": "Multnomah", "state": "OR" }, "tags": [ { "tag": "pink-box", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut", "tier": "cited", "note": "adopted after Pogson saw the California boxes; the slogan followed" } ], "kin": [ { "to": "pink-box", "as": "Took the box east and made it a brand.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "Where the box came from.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "top-pot-doughnuts", "as": "The other Northwest shop, and the opposite register.", "rel": "place" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" }, "fields": { "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "voodoo-doughnut/voodoo-doughnut-captain-my-captain-voodoo-doughnut.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Captain My Captain, Voodoo Doughnut.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Captain_My_Captain%2C_Voodoo_Doughnut.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACaptain_My_Captain%2C_Voodoo_Doughnut.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Kevin Galens", "credit": "O' Captain My Captain", "alt": "A \"Captain my Captain\" doughnut from Voodoo Doughtnut in Portland, Oregon, consisting of vanilla frosting and Cap'n Crunch cereal.", "date": "2010-05-27 14:54", "primary": true, "sha256": "75c477e12935b5d221ed26d8bdab9ecbf6875dcbe90ad3c130571b20ecb91731" } ], "blurb": "A Portland shop built on novelty donuts and a late-night queue, now with locations in several states.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pacific-northwest", "name": "The Pacific Northwest", "state": null, "note": "Portland, Seattle" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "Took the box east and made it a brand.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "Where the box came from.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "top-pot-doughnuts", "type": "place", "name": "Top Pot Doughnuts", "as": "The other Northwest shop, and the opposite register.", "rel": "place" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Voodoo Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "voodoo-doughnut/voodoo-doughnut-captain-my-captain-voodoo-doughnut.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Captain My Captain, Voodoo Doughnut.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Captain_My_Captain%2C_Voodoo_Doughnut.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACaptain_My_Captain%2C_Voodoo_Doughnut.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/", "author": "Kevin Galens", "credit": "O' Captain My Captain", "alt": "A \"Captain my Captain\" doughnut from Voodoo Doughtnut in Portland, Oregon, consisting of vanilla frosting and Cap'n Crunch cereal.", "date": "2010-05-27 14:54", "primary": true, "sha256": "75c477e12935b5d221ed26d8bdab9ecbf6875dcbe90ad3c130571b20ecb91731" }, "tag_facts": [ { "key": "pink-box", "label": "Pink box", "icon": "🎁", "group": "visit", "evidence": "a photograph, the shop's own words, or a press piece naming the box", "resources": [], "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut", "note": "adopted after Pogson saw the California boxes; the slogan followed", "tier": "cited", "url": "" } ], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "novelty-donut-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The novelty shop", "as": "The best-known one.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "top-pot-doughnuts", "type": "place", "name": "Top Pot Doughnuts", "as": "The other Northwest name, playing it differently.", "rel": "place" }, { "from": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "Carried it north.", "rel": "place" } ] }, { "id": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Adolph Levitt", "aliases": [], "said": "Sold the machine, then sold the donut, then sold membership in liking them." }, "region": [ "nyc" ], "facets": { "role": "inventor", "state": "NY" }, "text": { "what": "The Russian refugee who built the first automated donut machine in New York in 1920 and founded the Doughnut Corporation of America.", "story": "Levitt's machine cut and fried donuts automatically, which turned a bakery job into a production line and made a shop window into a show. He founded the Doughnut Corporation of America, which later started the National Dunking Association, and opened the Mayflower donut shop in Times Square in 1931. At the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair the machine was billed as the food hit of the Century of Progress.\n\nThe farm stands followed: cider-selling orchards took up the machine quickly, and cider donuts became a roadside product.", "today": "Every depositor over every kettle in every strip-mall shop is downstream of that machine." }, "kin": [ { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "as": "The company he built.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "as": "The process his machine automated.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "new-england-cider", "as": "The trade it created at the roadside.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "national-dunking-association", "as": "The membership stunt his company ran.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "s:wp-cider-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The Russian refugee who built the first automated donut machine in New York in 1920 and founded the Doughnut Corporation of America.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "The company he built.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "The process his machine automated.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "The trade it created at the roadside.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "national-dunking-association", "type": "org", "name": "National Dunking Association", "as": "The membership stunt his company ran.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut shop — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_shop", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cider-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cider doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "Whose machine made a farm stand into a donut shop.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "Whose machine let a farm stand fry.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "Whose machine started the idea.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "Who built it.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "orchard-season", "type": "event", "name": "Cider donut season", "as": "Whose machine made it a roadside trade.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "bill-rosenberg", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Bill Rosenberg", "aliases": [ "William Rosenberg" ], "said": "Worked out what people bought and sold them only that." }, "region": [ "new-england" ], "facets": { "role": "founder", "state": "MA" }, "text": { "what": "Opened the Open Kettle in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1948 and renamed it Dunkin' Donuts in 1950.", "story": "Rosenberg had been selling food to factories and construction sites, and found donuts and coffee were the two things people bought. He built the shop around the pair, introduced a logo in 1953 and the mascot Dunkie in 1954, and started selling franchises in 1955. Johnny Spartos, one of the men running the Quincy shop, talked him into a donut with a handle, made for dunking. His son Bob became chief executive in 1963 at 25, the year the hundredth shop opened.", "today": "Dunkin' dropped Donuts from its name in 2019 and kept selling them." }, "kin": [ { "to": "dunkin", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "dunkin-country", "as": "The region it shaped.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "as": "The other half of what he sold.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Opened the Open Kettle in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1948 and renamed it Dunkin' Donuts in 1950.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The region it shaped.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "The other half of what he sold.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Dunkin' Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin%27_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "Sold coffee to factories, then sold the idea.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "Found the pairing selling to factories.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "Who built it.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "elizabeth-gregory", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Elizabeth Gregory", "aliases": [], "said": "The one who was actually frying." }, "region": [ "new-england" ], "facets": { "role": "cook", "state": "ME" }, "text": { "what": "Hanson Gregory's mother, who by the Smithsonian's account made the deep-fried dough the ring story starts from.", "story": "She used her son's spice cargo — nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon rind — and put hazelnuts or walnuts in the centre, where the dough might not cook through, and called them doughnuts. That detail is the strongest reading of why a fried cake is named after a nut.", "today": "The son's version of the story travels; hers explains the word." }, "kin": [ { "to": "hanson-gregory", "as": "Her son, and the claim.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "olykoek", "as": "What she was frying a version of.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "hole", "as": "The argument.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Hanson Gregory's mother, who by the Smithsonian's account made the deep-fried dough the ring story starts from.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "hanson-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Hanson Gregory", "as": "Her son, and the claim.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "olykoek", "type": "term", "name": "Olykoek", "as": "What she was frying a version of.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "The argument.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "hanson-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Hanson Gregory", "as": "The other Gregory in the story.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "hanson-gregory", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Hanson Gregory", "aliases": [ "Captain Gregory" ], "said": "Claimed the hole and told it the same way for sixty years." }, "region": [ "new-england" ], "facets": { "role": "inventor", "state": "ME" }, "text": { "what": "The New England sailor who said he punched the first hole in a donut in 1847, at sixteen, aboard a lime-trading ship.", "story": "Gregory said he disliked how greasy twisted donuts were and how raw their centres came out, and punched a hole through the middle with the ship's tin pepper box, later teaching his mother the trick. The Smithsonian's account has his mother, Elizabeth Gregory, frying a deep dough that used his spice cargo — nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon rind — and putting hazelnuts or walnuts in the middle where the dough might not cook through.\n\nThe claim is one of several. Michael Krondl suggests the ring came from recipes for a jumble, a ring-shaped cookie; Linda Civitello writes the hole made donuts cook faster. By 1870 a cutter with two concentric circles was in production.", "today": "Nobody has produced a document that settles it, and the story is repeated as settled anyway." }, "kin": [ { "to": "hole", "as": "The claim itself.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "olykoek", "as": "What came before it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "elizabeth-gregory", "as": "The other Gregory in the story.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The New England sailor who said he punched the first hole in a donut in 1847, at sixteen, aboard a lime-trading ship.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "The claim itself.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "olykoek", "type": "term", "name": "Olykoek", "as": "What came before it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "elizabeth-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Elizabeth Gregory", "as": "The other Gregory in the story.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "elizabeth-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Elizabeth Gregory", "as": "Her son, and the claim.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "Who claimed it.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Ning Yen", "aliases": [], "said": "Named in the same breath as Ngoy, and much less often." }, "region": [ "socal", "cambodian-american" ], "facets": { "role": "founder", "state": "CA" }, "text": { "what": "Credited with Ted Ngoy for the pink donut box, after helping other Cambodians set up shops in Southern California.", "story": "The pink boxes that package donuts in Southern California shops are attributed to Ngoy and Yen. Beyond that attribution this project has found little published detail about him, and says so rather than filling it in.", "today": "The box outlasted both names in public memory: most people who know the box do not know either." }, "kin": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "The other name on the box.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "pink-box", "as": "The object.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The style it marks.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cambodian-americans" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cambodian-americans" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "needs_verification": true, "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Credited with Ted Ngoy for the pink donut box, after helping other Cambodians set up shops in Southern California.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "cambodian-american", "name": "Cambodian America", "state": null, "note": "Long Beach, Stockton, Lowell, Houston; a community, not a place — and the single largest owner group in independent donuts" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "The other name on the box.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "The object.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The style it marks.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "kind": "web", "title": "Cambodian Americans — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Americans", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cambodian-americans" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cambodian-americans" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cambodian-americans" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "Named with Ngoy as the reason the box is pink.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "Named with him for the pink box.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "Credited with it.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The other name on the box.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "russell-wendell", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Russell C. Wendell", "aliases": [ "Russell Wendell" ], "said": "Sold donut machines, then built buildings shaped like what they made." }, "region": [ "socal" ], "facets": { "role": "founder", "state": "CA" }, "text": { "what": "The machine salesman who founded the Big Do-Nut Drive-In chain and put 22-foot donuts on its roofs.", "story": "Wendell started the chain in the 1940s; the first shop opened in Westmont in 1951, the second — now Randy's — in 1952. At its height there were ten Do-Nut Drive-Ins carrying the giant rings. The December 1949 opening of the first big donut came with clowns, jugglers, magicians, free coffee and a trapeze artist swinging through the hole.\n\nHe sold out in the 1970s and moved to his Pup 'N' Taco chain, which Taco Bell bought in 1984. Four of the big donuts survive; a fifth was converted into a bagel.", "today": "Municipal construction codes now generally prohibit giant object-shaped buildings, so the surviving ones cannot be replaced." }, "kin": [ { "to": "randys-donuts", "as": "His second building.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "as": "The form.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-donut-hole", "as": "The drive-through cousin.", "rel": "place" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california", "s:wp-randy-s-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The machine salesman who founded the Big Do-Nut Drive-In chain and put 22-foot donuts on its roofs.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "His second building.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "The form.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-donut-hole", "type": "place", "name": "The Donut Hole", "as": "The drive-through cousin.", "rel": "place" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california", "kind": "web", "title": "Big donuts of Southern California — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_donuts_of_Southern_California", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Randy's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "Sold the machines, then built the chain the sign came from.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "Who built them.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Ted Ngoy", "aliases": [ "Bun Tek Ngoy", "the Donut King" ], "said": "He is called the Donut King and the nickname did the work of a business card." }, "region": [ "socal", "cambodian-american" ], "facets": { "role": "founder", "state": "CA" }, "text": { "what": "The Cambodian refugee who turned one La Habra donut shop into a trade for a community, and lost the fortune it made him.", "story": "Born in 1941 in Sisophon, near the Thai border, to a Chinese immigrant family; his mother, from Shantou, did not speak Khmer. He was sent to Phnom Penh to study in 1967, married Suganthini Khoeun, worked as a travel agent and tour guide, joined the military in 1970 and, through his brother-in-law Sak Sutsakhan, became a major and military attaché in Thailand. In 1975 he fled the Khmer Rouge with his wife and three children and reached Camp Pendleton through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.\n\nHe took a janitor's job at Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin and a second job at a gas station, noticed a busy donut shop, and asked how it worked. An affirmative-action hiring programme at Winchell's trained him; he managed a store in Newport Beach. In 1977 he bought Christy's Donuts in La Habra.\n\nBy 1979 he had more than 25 shops. He began training relatives and refugees and leasing shops to them — \"I sponsored more than 100 families\" — living out of a motor home to open new ones. By 1987 there were 32 Christy's; at the peak he reckoned 65. He and his wife took citizenship in 1985 as Ted and Christy, bought a house at Lake Mission Viejo and a second at Big Bear, joined the Republican Party and held fundraisers for George H. W. Bush.\n\nThen the gambling. A 1977 Las Vegas trip introduced him to blackjack; he returned monthly, forged his wife's signature on cheques, borrowed from relatives who leased shops from him and signed shops over when he could not repay. Gamblers Anonymous did not hold: \"I cry, everybody cry. After cry, go back gambling.\"", "today": "Alice Gu's documentary The Donut King (2020) put the story in front of a national audience. The shops the model produced outlasted the fortune by decades." }, "kin": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The style his system produced.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "as": "The shop he bought first.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "as": "Named with him for the pink box.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "winchells", "as": "Where he learned the trade.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "as": "The long version.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "pink-box", "as": "The object credited to him.", "rel": "art" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "s:wp-the-donut-king", "s:wp-cambodian-americans" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-king" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The Cambodian refugee who turned one La Habra donut shop into a trade for a community, and lost the fortune it made him.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "cambodian-american", "name": "Cambodian America", "state": null, "note": "Long Beach, Stockton, Lowell, Houston; a community, not a place — and the single largest owner group in independent donuts" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The style his system produced.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Christy's Donuts", "as": "The shop he bought first.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "name": "Ning Yen", "as": "Named with him for the pink box.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "Where he learned the trade.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The long version.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "The object credited to him.", "rel": "art" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "kind": "web", "title": "Ted Ngoy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Ngoy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-the-donut-king", "kind": "web", "title": "The Donut King — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Donut_King", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "kind": "web", "title": "Cambodian Americans — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Americans", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-the-donut-king" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "Trained at Winchell's, bought Christy's in La Habra, and leased shops to the families who followed.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Christy's Donuts", "as": "Bought it, then made it a name and a system.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "seaside-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Seaside Donuts Bakery", "as": "The shops that showed the way, by name, in the shop's own history.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "name": "Ning Yen", "as": "The other name on the box.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "Learned the trade here.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "Credited with it.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The man.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "How the trade arrived.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "names": { "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "aliases": [], "said": "Picked the town because his cigarettes came from there." }, "region": [ "the-south" ], "facets": { "role": "founder", "state": "NC" }, "text": { "what": "Bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans chef and opened in Winston-Salem in 1937.", "story": "Rudolph (1915–1973) started at eighteen in his uncle Ishmael Armstrong's general store in Paducah, Kentucky, which sold popular doughnuts; the recipe is believed to trace to an Ohio River barge cook named Joseph LeBeouf, whose light doughnuts contained potatoes. Uncle and nephew moved to Nashville in 1934 and opened The Krispy Kreme Doughnut Company on Gallatin Road.\n\nIn 1937 Rudolph opened his own store, choosing Winston-Salem because Camel Cigarettes was headquartered there. He rented 534 South Main Street, in what is now historic Old Salem, sold to grocery stores, and sold hot donuts to people who came by during production between midnight and four in the morning. A local architect, Benny Dinkins, drew the logo. The first store outside the South opened in Akron, Ohio, in 1939.", "today": "The hot-donut trade he started as a side effect became the company's main idea." }, "kin": [ { "to": "krispy-kreme", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "as": "The style it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "as": "The schedule the hot donut fell out of.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "hot-now", "as": "The two words.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-krispy-kreme" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Bought a yeast-raised recipe from a New Orleans chef and opened in Winston-Salem in 1937.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "the-south", "name": "The American South", "state": null } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The style it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "The schedule the hot donut fell out of.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "The two words.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "Bought the recipe, picked the town for a cigarette company.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "Sold hot donuts to the people awake at 2 a.m.", "rel": "person" }, { "from": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "Who started it.", "rel": "person" } ] }, { "id": "b-and-h-distributors", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "B & H Bakery Distributors", "aliases": [], "said": "The supplier is the part of the trade nobody photographs." }, "region": [ "socal", "cambodian-american" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open" }, "text": { "what": "A Cambodian-American bakery supply business serving California donut shops.", "story": "Dorothy Chow told KQED that her father, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, built the business \"to help our own people\". Suppliers like it are how a shop opens in a week: flour, mix, boxes, fryer parts, and the knowledge of who is selling a shop.", "today": "A distributor is the piece of infrastructure that makes an independent trade behave like a network." }, "kin": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The shops it supplies.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The same reporting.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "pink-box", "as": "Who sells the boxes.", "rel": "art" } ], "sources": [ "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Cambodian-American bakery supply business serving California donut shops.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "cambodian-american", "name": "Cambodian America", "state": null, "note": "Long Beach, Stockton, Lowell, Houston; a community, not a place — and the single largest owner group in independent donuts" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The shops it supplies.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The same reporting.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "Who sells the boxes.", "rel": "art" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "Who supplies the shops.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Daylight Donuts", "aliases": [ "Daylight Donut Flour Company" ], "said": "A flour company first. The shops came after, and they are not its shops." }, "region": [ "us", "texas" ], "facets": { "state": "OK", "status": "open", "founded": 1954 }, "text": { "what": "The Tulsa company that sells donut mix and a sign to roughly 950 independently owned shops in 13 countries.", "story": "Tommy and Lucille Day started in 1954, making mix in the mornings and selling it to shops in the afternoons, mostly out of the trunk of their car. The company they named — Daylight Donuts Flour Co. — was a supplier before it was a brand. Each Daylight Donuts store is independently owned and operated.", "today": "A Daylight sign tells you whose flour is inside and nothing about who owns the shop." }, "kin": [ { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "as": "The kind of business it makes possible.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "mom-and-pop", "as": "Why the sign is not the test.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "as": "What comes out of the bag.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-daylight-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "daylight-donuts/daylight-donuts-fort-findlay-doughnut-shop.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Fort Findlay Doughnut Shop.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Fort_Findlay_Doughnut_Shop.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFort_Findlay_Doughnut_Shop.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Mbrickn", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "The Fort Findlay Doughnut Shop", "date": "2019-06-07 15:56:08", "primary": true, "sha256": "6183616fb5985dcc3b89dccdbce8581825b1fc7f46516960687aa6c9bd7720c3" } ], "blurb": "The Tulsa company that sells donut mix and a sign to roughly 950 independently owned shops in 13 countries.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" }, { "key": "texas", "name": "Texas", "state": "TX", "note": "Houston, Dallas, San Antonio; kolaches, klobasniky, and Cambodian- and Vietnamese-American counters" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "The kind of business it makes possible.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "mom-and-pop", "type": "term", "name": "Mom-and-pop", "as": "Why the sign is not the test.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "What comes out of the bag.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Daylight Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "daylight-donuts/daylight-donuts-fort-findlay-doughnut-shop.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Fort Findlay Doughnut Shop.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Fort_Findlay_Doughnut_Shop.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AFort_Findlay_Doughnut_Shop.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Mbrickn", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "The Fort Findlay Doughnut Shop", "date": "2019-06-07 15:56:08", "primary": true, "sha256": "6183616fb5985dcc3b89dccdbce8581825b1fc7f46516960687aa6c9bd7720c3" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "The Tulsa flour company and its 950 signs.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "mom-and-pop", "type": "term", "name": "Mom-and-pop", "as": "950 signs, 950 owners.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "type": "story", "name": "The franchise that vanished", "as": "The one still running.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "950 signs, 950 owners.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "aliases": [ "DCA" ], "said": "Sold the machine, the mix, and the idea that liking donuts was a club." }, "region": [ "nyc", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "NY", "status": "closed" }, "text": { "what": "Adolph Levitt's company: donut machines, mixes, the Mayflower shop in Times Square, and the National Dunking Association.", "story": "Levitt built the first automated donut machine in New York in 1920 and founded the corporation around it. It opened the Mayflower donut shop in Times Square in 1931 and started the National Dunking Association in the 1930s. At the 1933–34 Chicago World's Fair the machine was billed as the food hit of the Century of Progress. The company may have sold the first commercial cider donut — a \"sweet cider doughnut\" — in 1951.", "today": "The machines outlived the company in thousands of small shops." }, "kin": [ { "to": "adolph-levitt", "as": "Who built it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "national-dunking-association", "as": "Its membership stunt.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cider-donut", "as": "A product it commercialised.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "as": "The process it sold.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "s:wp-national-dunking-association", "s:wp-cider-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Adolph Levitt's company: donut machines, mixes, the Mayflower shop in Times Square, and the National Dunking Association.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "Who built it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "national-dunking-association", "type": "org", "name": "National Dunking Association", "as": "Its membership stunt.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "A product it commercialised.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "The process it sold.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut shop — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_shop", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-national-dunking-association", "kind": "web", "title": "National Dunking Association — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Dunking_Association", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cider-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cider doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "Sold the first commercial version, and the machines.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "The company he built.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "national-dunking-association", "type": "org", "name": "National Dunking Association", "as": "Who ran it.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "dunking", "type": "term", "name": "Dunking", "as": "Who set it up, and why.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "dunkin", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Dunkin'", "aliases": [ "Dunkin' Donuts" ], "said": "Dropped Donuts from the name in 2019 and kept the donuts." }, "region": [ "new-england", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "MA", "status": "open", "founded": 1948 }, "text": { "what": "The Quincy, Massachusetts chain that paired coffee and donuts nationally, and the oldest surviving company using the short spelling.", "story": "Bill Rosenberg opened the Open Kettle in 1948 and renamed it Dunkin' Donuts in May 1950. Franchising started in 1955. Allied Lyons, Baskin-Robbins' holding company, acquired the chain in 1990; its purchase of Mister Donut — founded by Rosenberg's former partner Harry Winokur — and the conversion of those shops drove North American growth the same year. Dawn Donuts went the same way.", "today": "New England independents compete on frying on site, which is the difference the chain's scale cannot copy shop by shop." }, "kin": [ { "to": "dunkin-country", "as": "The region it defines.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "bill-rosenberg", "as": "Who built it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "donut-spelling", "as": "The spelling it carried.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "mister-donut", "as": "The rival it absorbed.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The Quincy, Massachusetts chain that paired coffee and donuts nationally, and the oldest surviving company using the short spelling.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The region it defines.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "bill-rosenberg", "type": "person", "name": "Bill Rosenberg", "as": "Who built it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "donut-spelling", "type": "term", "name": "Donut / doughnut", "as": "The spelling it carried.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "mister-donut", "type": "org", "name": "Mister Donut", "as": "The rival it absorbed.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Dunkin' Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin%27_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "bill-rosenberg", "type": "person", "name": "Bill Rosenberg", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "mister-donut", "type": "org", "name": "Mister Donut", "as": "The chain that absorbed it.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "donut-spelling", "type": "term", "name": "Donut / doughnut", "as": "The company that carried the short spelling.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "mr-spudnut", "type": "art", "name": "Mr. Spudnut and the mascots", "as": "The other mascot's company.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Krispy Kreme", "aliases": [ "Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc." ], "said": "The name is a deliberate misspelling of crispy cream, and it has been for ninety years." }, "region": [ "the-south", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "NC", "status": "open", "founded": 1937 }, "text": { "what": "The Winston-Salem company built on a bought yeast-raised recipe, a window you can watch the line through, and a lit sign.", "story": "Vernon Rudolph bought the recipe from a New Orleans chef and rented a building in 1937 in what is now historic Old Salem. Steady growth ran to an expansion as a public company between 2000 and 2016 that proved unprofitable; JAB Holding took it private in 2016; it listed again on the Nasdaq in July 2021. Headquarters moved to Charlotte in December 2017, with most operations left in Winston-Salem. A group of franchisees had bought the company back from Beatrice Foods in 1982, ten years after Beatrice acquired it.", "today": "The early-2010s tunnel-oven shops keep the hot sign lit all day, which is a different promise from the one the sign made in 1937." }, "kin": [ { "to": "southern-hot-now", "as": "The style it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "vernon-rudolph", "as": "Who started it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "hot-now", "as": "The sign.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "as": "The race students run at it.", "rel": "event" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-krispy-kreme" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The Winston-Salem company built on a bought yeast-raised recipe, a window you can watch the line through, and a lit sign.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "the-south", "name": "The American South", "state": null }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The style it built.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "as": "Who started it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "The sign.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "type": "event", "name": "Krispy Kreme Challenge", "as": "The race students run at it.", "rel": "event" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The company that built the window.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "as": "The company.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "type": "event", "name": "Krispy Kreme Challenge", "as": "The shop at the turnaround.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "Whose sign it is.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "mister-donut", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Mister Donut", "aliases": [], "said": "Gone in America, enormous in Japan." }, "region": [ "new-england", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "MA", "status": "open", "founded": 1956 }, "text": { "what": "The chain founded by Harry Winokur, Bill Rosenberg's former partner, absorbed into Dunkin' in the United States and still large in Asia.", "story": "Dunkin's parent bought Mister Donut in 1990 and converted the American shops. In 2003 the Japanese Mister Donut launched pon de ring, the eight-ball chewy donut named after Brazilian pão de queijo, which travelled to Hawaii and then to the mainland as the mochi donut.", "today": "The American chain disappeared into its rival; the Japanese one exported a new shape back." }, "kin": [ { "to": "dunkin", "as": "The chain that absorbed it.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "mochi-donut", "as": "The shape its Japanese arm launched.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "mochinut", "as": "The chain that carried the shape into American strip malls.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-mister-donut", "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "s:wp-mochi-donut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mister-donut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The chain founded by Harry Winokur, Bill Rosenberg's former partner, absorbed into Dunkin' in the United States and still large in Asia.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The chain that absorbed it.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Mochi donut", "as": "The shape its Japanese arm launched.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "mochinut", "type": "org", "name": "Mochinut", "as": "The chain that carried the shape into American strip malls.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-mister-donut", "kind": "web", "title": "Mister Donut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Donut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Dunkin' Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin%27_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-mochi-donut", "kind": "web", "title": "Mochi donut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi_donut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mister-donut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mister-donut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mister-donut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The rival it absorbed.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "mochinut", "type": "org", "name": "Mochinut", "as": "Where the shape came from.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "mochinut", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Mochinut", "aliases": [], "said": "Mochi donut, Korean hot dog, one counter." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "status": "open" }, "text": { "what": "A franchise selling mochi donuts and Korean corn dogs that spread rapidly across American strip malls in the 2020s.", "story": "Mochinut built on the pon de ring shape that Mister Donut Japan launched in 2003 and that reached the mainland through Hawaii.", "today": "The newest counter in the trade runs the same play as the oldest: a sweet item and a savoury one from one fryer." }, "kin": [ { "to": "mochi-donut", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The play.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "mister-donut", "as": "Where the shape came from.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-mochinut", "s:wp-mochi-donut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochinut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A franchise selling mochi donuts and Korean corn dogs that spread rapidly across American strip malls in the 2020s.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Mochi donut", "as": "The item.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The play.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "mister-donut", "type": "org", "name": "Mister Donut", "as": "Where the shape came from.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-mochinut", "kind": "web", "title": "Mochinut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochinut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-mochi-donut", "kind": "web", "title": "Mochi donut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochi_donut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochinut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochinut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-mochinut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "mochi-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Mochi donut", "as": "The chain that put the shape in strip malls nationwide.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "mister-donut", "type": "org", "name": "Mister Donut", "as": "The chain that carried the shape into American strip malls.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "national-dunking-association", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "National Dunking Association", "aliases": [], "said": "Jimmy Durante was president. So was Johnny Carson." }, "region": [ "nyc", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "NY", "status": "closed" }, "text": { "what": "A membership organisation started by the Doughnut Corporation of America in the 1930s to popularise donuts in North America.", "story": "At its peak it claimed millions of members across more than 300 chapters — actors, athletes, politicians and ordinary members — with Official Dunking Rules treating dunking as a sport: break the donut in half, then swish it rhythmically in coffee, cocoa, tea or milk. It held an annual convention in New York. Presidents included Jimmy Durante, Jack Lemmon, Red Skelton, Joey Bishop and Johnny Carson; Bert Nevins was vice president.", "today": "A trade association for a gesture, which is a thing the twentieth century could do and this one cannot." }, "kin": [ { "to": "dunking", "as": "The gesture.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "as": "Who ran it.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "as": "The other half.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-national-dunking-association" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A membership organisation started by the Doughnut Corporation of America in the 1930s to popularise donuts in North America.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "dunking", "type": "term", "name": "Dunking", "as": "The gesture.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "Who ran it.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "The other half.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-national-dunking-association", "kind": "web", "title": "National Dunking Association — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Dunking_Association", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "The membership stunt his company ran.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "Its membership stunt.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "dunking", "type": "term", "name": "Dunking", "as": "The organisation.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "salvation-army-lassies", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "The Salvation Army doughnut huts", "aliases": [ "Donut Girls", "Doughnut Lassies" ], "said": "\"Today I made 22 pies, 300 donuts, 700 cups of coffee.\"" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "status": "closed" }, "text": { "what": "The World War I canteens where Salvation Army volunteers fried donuts for American soldiers in France — and the reason there is a National Donut Day.", "story": "After the United States entered the war in 1917 the Salvation Army sent a fact-finding mission to France, which concluded that enlisted men's needs could be met by canteens — \"huts\" — serving baked goods and providing writing supplies, stamps and mending. About 250 volunteers went. Baking was hard in abandoned buildings near the front, so two volunteers, Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance, turned to donuts. They were an instant hit. Sheldon wrote of one day: \"Today I made 22 pies, 300 donuts, 700 cups of coffee.\"\n\nThe women became known to the servicemen as Donut Girls. A misconception ties the donuts to the word doughboy; the term was in use decades earlier.", "today": "National Donut Day, first Friday in June, began in 1938 as a Chicago Salvation Army fundraiser honouring them." }, "kin": [ { "to": "national-donut-day", "as": "The day it produced.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "salvation-army", "as": "The organisation.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-national-donut-day" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "salvation-army-lassies/salvation-army-lassies-a-red-cross-girls-carrying-fresh-doughnuts-from-an-i-bcbec62.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:A Red Cross girls carrying fresh doughnuts from an improvised kitchen 8d40597v.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/A_Red_Cross_girls_carrying_fresh_doughnuts_from_an_improvised_kitchen_8d40597v.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AA_Red_Cross_girls_carrying_fresh_doughnuts_from_an_improvised_kitchen_8d40597v.jpg", "license": "Public domain", "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain", "author": "Marjory Collins", "credit": "This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID fsa.8d40597.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached w", "alt": "Constantine (vicinity), Algeria. A Red Cross girls carrying fresh doughnuts from an improvised kitchen to waiting clubmobile units which will carry doughnuts and coffee out to for bombers' crews who h", "date": "1943 June?", "primary": true, "sha256": "7f7580ebebe8b94b357f37e44fdda18852840dea75710165f35c01b94d409a61" } ], "blurb": "The World War I canteens where Salvation Army volunteers fried donuts for American soldiers in France — and the reason there is a National Donut Day.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "national-donut-day", "type": "event", "name": "National Donut Day", "as": "The day it produced.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "salvation-army", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army", "as": "The organisation.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-national-donut-day", "kind": "web", "title": "National Donut Day — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Donut_Day", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "salvation-army-lassies/salvation-army-lassies-a-red-cross-girls-carrying-fresh-doughnuts-from-an-i-bcbec62.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:A Red Cross girls carrying fresh doughnuts from an improvised kitchen 8d40597v.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/A_Red_Cross_girls_carrying_fresh_doughnuts_from_an_improvised_kitchen_8d40597v.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AA_Red_Cross_girls_carrying_fresh_doughnuts_from_an_improvised_kitchen_8d40597v.jpg", "license": "Public domain", "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain", "author": "Marjory Collins", "credit": "This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division under the digital ID fsa.8d40597.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached w", "alt": "Constantine (vicinity), Algeria. A Red Cross girls carrying fresh doughnuts from an improvised kitchen to waiting clubmobile units which will carry doughnuts and coffee out to for bombers' crews who h", "date": "1943 June?", "primary": true, "sha256": "7f7580ebebe8b94b357f37e44fdda18852840dea75710165f35c01b94d409a61" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "salvation-army", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army", "as": "The huts in France.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "national-donut-day", "type": "event", "name": "National Donut Day", "as": "Whom the day honours.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "salvation-army", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "The Salvation Army", "aliases": [], "said": "The charity that put the donut in the war, and the war in the donut." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "status": "open" }, "text": { "what": "The Christian charitable organisation whose World War I canteens fried donuts for American soldiers, and whose Chicago branch created National Donut Day in 1938.", "story": "The 1938 day was a Depression fundraiser: money for people in need, and recognition for the Lassies of 1917 and 1918.", "today": "Donut shops across the country still give donuts away on the first Friday in June, mostly without mentioning the fundraiser." }, "kin": [ { "to": "salvation-army-lassies", "as": "The huts in France.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "national-donut-day", "as": "The day.", "rel": "event" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-national-donut-day", "s:wp-salvation-army" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The Christian charitable organisation whose World War I canteens fried donuts for American soldiers, and whose Chicago branch created National Donut Day in 1938.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "salvation-army-lassies", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army doughnut huts", "as": "The huts in France.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "national-donut-day", "type": "event", "name": "National Donut Day", "as": "The day.", "rel": "event" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-national-donut-day", "kind": "web", "title": "National Donut Day — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Donut_Day", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-salvation-army", "kind": "web", "title": "Salvation Army — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation_Army", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "salvation-army-lassies", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army doughnut huts", "as": "The organisation.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "national-donut-day", "type": "event", "name": "National Donut Day", "as": "Who created it.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "winchells", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "aliases": [ "Winchell's" ], "said": "The chain that taught the trade to the people who went on to compete with it." }, "region": [ "socal", "us" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open", "founded": 1948 }, "text": { "what": "The Temple City, California chain founded by Verne Winchell on 8 October 1948.", "story": "Under Canadian owner Shato Holdings there were 293 Winchell's locations in the western United States in 1999. By 2004, when Yum Yum Donut Shops bought it, the count was near 200; by 2025 it was about 100 shops in six states, plus Guam and Saipan. Franchises have also operated in Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia.\n\nAn affirmative-action hiring programme at Winchell's trained Ted Ngoy, who managed a store in Newport Beach before buying his own shop — which is how a chain's training programme seeded a generation of independents.", "today": "The chain shrank while the shops its training produced multiplied." }, "kin": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "Learned the trade here.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The independents that followed.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "yum-yum-donuts", "as": "The competitor that bought it.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts", "s:wp-ted-ngoy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The Temple City, California chain founded by Verne Winchell on 8 October 1948.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "Learned the trade here.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The independents that followed.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "yum-yum-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Yum Yum Donut Shops", "as": "The competitor that bought it.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Winchell's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchell%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "kind": "web", "title": "Ted Ngoy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Ngoy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "Where the trade got taught, by a chain, to a refugee.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "Where he learned the trade.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "yum-yum-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Yum Yum Donut Shops", "as": "The chain it bought.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "Where he learned.", "rel": "org" }, { "from": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "The chain that shrank.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "yum-yum-donuts", "type": "org", "names": { "name": "Yum Yum Donut Shops", "aliases": [ "Yum Yum Donuts" ], "said": "A Los Angeles chain most of the country has never heard of." }, "region": [ "socal" ], "facets": { "state": "CA", "status": "open" }, "text": { "what": "A Southern California donut chain, and since 2004 the owner of Winchell's.", "story": "Yum Yum Donut Shops, Inc. bought Winchell's in 2004, putting two of the West's older chains under one owner.", "today": "Two chains, one company, in a region where most shops belong to families." }, "kin": [ { "to": "winchells", "as": "The chain it bought.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "What it competes with.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-yum-yum-donuts", "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-yum-yum-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A Southern California donut chain, and since 2004 the owner of Winchell's.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "The chain it bought.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "What it competes with.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-yum-yum-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Yum-Yum Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yum-Yum_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Winchell's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchell%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-yum-yum-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-yum-yum-donuts" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-yum-yum-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "The competitor that bought it.", "rel": "org" } ] }, { "id": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "names": { "name": "Fastnacht Day", "aliases": [ "Fasnacht Day", "Shrove Tuesday" ], "said": "In Lancaster County, Tuesday has a different name." }, "region": [ "pennsylvania-dutch" ], "facets": { "when": "Shrove Tuesday", "status": "open", "state": "PA" }, "text": { "what": "Shrove Tuesday in Pennsylvania Dutch country, named after the donut rather than the fast.", "story": "Fasnachts were made to empty the pantry of lard, sugar, fat and butter before Lent. Lancaster, York, Lebanon and Berks counties keep the day; most chain supermarkets in eastern Pennsylvania carry the donuts for it. Parts of Maryland call them kinklings or kuechles and bakeries there sell them only on that Tuesday.", "today": "Churches and fire halls take orders by the dozen and stop when the batch is gone." }, "kin": [ { "to": "fastnacht", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "paczki-day", "as": "The Polish observance on the same day.", "rel": "event" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "geo": { "lat": 40.0379, "lon": -76.3055, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Lancaster", "county": "Lancaster", "state": "PA" }, "blurb": "Shrove Tuesday in Pennsylvania Dutch country, named after the donut rather than the fast.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "pennsylvania-dutch", "name": "Pennsylvania Dutch country", "state": "PA", "note": "fastnachts the day before Lent; potato dough" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "paczki-day", "type": "event", "name": "Paczki Day", "as": "The Polish observance on the same day.", "rel": "event" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Fasnacht (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasnacht_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "pennsylvania-fastnacht", "type": "style", "name": "Fastnacht Day in the Dutch counties", "as": "The day.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "fastnacht", "type": "donut", "name": "Fastnacht", "as": "The Tuesday it is for.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "name": "Malasada Day", "as": "The same Tuesday, a different pantry.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "paczki-day", "type": "event", "name": "Paczki Day", "as": "The other tradition on the same Tuesday.", "rel": "event" } ] }, { "id": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "type": "event", "names": { "name": "Krispy Kreme Challenge", "aliases": [], "said": "Five miles, twelve donuts, one hour. 2,400 calories and 144 grams of fat, and they print the numbers." }, "region": [ "the-south" ], "facets": { "when": "February", "status": "open", "state": "NC", "founded": 2004 }, "text": { "what": "An annual charity run in Raleigh: 2.5 miles to a Krispy Kreme, a dozen donuts, and 2.5 miles back, inside an hour.", "story": "It began in December 2004 with about a dozen friends and is planned and run by Park Scholars at North Carolina State University. Profits go to the North Carolina Children's Hospital; the 2023 race brought total donations past $2.1 million. The event is not affiliated with the Krispy Kreme company.", "today": "The published calorie and fat figures are the only per-dozen nutrition numbers in this directory that a race gave out rather than a label." }, "kin": [ { "to": "krispy-kreme", "as": "The shop at the turnaround.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-dozen", "as": "The unit being eaten.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "as": "The regional habit it parodies and honours.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "geo": { "lat": 35.7796, "lon": -78.6382, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Raleigh", "county": "Wake", "state": "NC" }, "blurb": "An annual charity run in Raleigh: 2.5 miles to a Krispy Kreme, a dozen donuts, and 2.5 miles back, inside an hour.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "the-south", "name": "The American South", "state": null } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "The shop at the turnaround.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "name": "The dozen", "as": "The unit being eaten.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The regional habit it parodies and honours.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme Challenge — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme_Challenge", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "The race students run at it.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "The published dozen.", "rel": "event" } ] }, { "id": "malasada-day", "type": "event", "names": { "name": "Malasada Day", "aliases": [ "Terça-feira Gorda" ], "said": "Shrove Tuesday, Portuguese-Hawaiian style: the queue starts at the bakery door." }, "region": [ "hawaii" ], "facets": { "when": "Shrove Tuesday", "status": "open", "state": "HI" }, "text": { "what": "The Hawaiian observance of Shrove Tuesday, kept by eating malasadas.", "story": "The malasada came to Hawaii with Portuguese labourers from Madeira and the Azores, where the pastry belongs to Carnival. In the islands it is eaten year round and the Tuesday remains its day.\n\nThis project has not found a published history of when Malasada Day itself became a fixed Hawaiian observance, and does not date it.", "today": "Bakeries run extra shifts; the wagons park where the lines will be." }, "kin": [ { "to": "malasada", "as": "The pastry.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "leonards-bakery", "as": "The bakery most associated with it.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "fastnacht-day", "as": "The same Tuesday, a different pantry.", "rel": "event" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-malassada" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "needs_verification": true, "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "geo": { "lat": 21.3069, "lon": -157.8583, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Honolulu", "county": "Honolulu", "state": "HI" }, "blurb": "The Hawaiian observance of Shrove Tuesday, kept by eating malasadas.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "hawaii", "name": "Hawaii", "state": "HI", "note": "malasadas, no hole, rolled in sugar" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "The pastry.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "leonards-bakery", "type": "place", "name": "Leonard's Bakery", "as": "The bakery most associated with it.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "name": "Fastnacht Day", "as": "The same Tuesday, a different pantry.", "rel": "event" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-malassada", "kind": "web", "title": "Malassada — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malassada", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-malassada" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "hawaii-malasada", "type": "style", "name": "The malasada counter", "as": "The day the lines get long.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "malasada", "type": "donut", "name": "Malasada", "as": "The Tuesday it gets its own line out the door.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "leonards-bakery", "type": "place", "name": "Leonard's Bakery", "as": "The day the queue goes around the block.", "rel": "event" } ] }, { "id": "national-donut-day", "type": "event", "names": { "name": "National Donut Day", "aliases": [ "National Doughnut Day" ], "said": "Free donut, first Friday in June, and almost nobody knows it is a war memorial." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "when": "first Friday in June", "status": "open", "founded": 1938 }, "text": { "what": "An American observance on the first Friday of June, with free donuts at many shops.", "story": "It started in 1938 as a fundraiser for the Chicago Salvation Army: money for people in need during the Depression, and recognition for the Salvation Army Lassies who served donuts to American soldiers in France in the First World War.\n\nAbout 250 volunteers went to France after the United States entered the war in 1917. Baking in abandoned buildings near the front was difficult, so Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance turned to donuts. The men called the women Donut Girls. The idea that this is where the word doughboy comes from is a misconception; the term was in use as early as the Mexican–American War.", "today": "The giveaway is now a marketing day for chains. The fundraiser it came from is rarely mentioned on the poster." }, "kin": [ { "to": "salvation-army-lassies", "as": "Whom the day honours.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "salvation-army", "as": "Who created it.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What gets given away.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-national-donut-day" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "geo": { "lat": 41.8781, "lon": -87.6298, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Chicago", "county": "Cook", "state": "IL" }, "blurb": "An American observance on the first Friday of June, with free donuts at many shops.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "salvation-army-lassies", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army doughnut huts", "as": "Whom the day honours.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "salvation-army", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army", "as": "Who created it.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What gets given away.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-national-donut-day", "kind": "web", "title": "National Donut Day — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Donut_Day", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-donut-day" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "salvation-army-lassies", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army doughnut huts", "as": "The day it produced.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "salvation-army", "type": "org", "name": "The Salvation Army", "as": "The day.", "rel": "event" } ] }, { "id": "orchard-season", "type": "event", "names": { "name": "Cider donut season", "aliases": [ "harvest season", "apple picking" ], "said": "September to the first hard frost, and then the machine goes quiet." }, "region": [ "new-england", "upstate-ny", "upper-midwest" ], "facets": { "when": "September to November or December", "status": "seasonal" }, "text": { "what": "The weeks when orchards and cider mills in the Northeast and Midwest run donut machines for the people who came to pick apples.", "story": "Cider donut season runs with the apple harvest: September through November or December. Grocery stores put them out as early as August. Food & Wine has pointed out that a year-round cider donut is unlikely to contain fresh-pressed cider.\n\nDonuts were autumn food long before this: the slaughter season produced the surplus fat to fry them in.", "today": "Leaf-peeping traffic and the donut window are the same business for six weeks a year." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cider-donut", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "new-england-cider", "as": "The counter.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "as": "Whose machine made it a roadside trade.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cider-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The weeks when orchards and cider mills in the Northeast and Midwest run donut machines for the people who came to pick apples.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "new-england", "name": "New England", "state": null, "note": "cider donuts at the orchard, and the chain that started in Quincy" }, { "key": "upstate-ny", "name": "Upstate New York", "state": "NY", "note": "cider mills, the county fair" }, { "key": "upper-midwest", "name": "The Upper Midwest", "state": null, "note": "Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas; bismarcks, long johns, church-basement fry" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "The counter.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "adolph-levitt", "type": "person", "name": "Adolph Levitt", "as": "Whose machine made it a roadside trade.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cider-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cider doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cider_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cider-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "new-england-cider", "type": "style", "name": "The orchard window", "as": "The weeks it runs.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "cider-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cider donut", "as": "The weeks it exists in.", "rel": "event" } ] }, { "id": "paczki-day", "type": "event", "names": { "name": "Paczki Day", "aliases": [ "Fat Tuesday", "Shrove Tuesday" ], "said": "Bakeries post a limit per customer and mean it." }, "region": [ "chicago", "detroit" ], "facets": { "when": "Shrove Tuesday", "status": "open", "state": "MI" }, "text": { "what": "The Tuesday before Lent, kept in Polish-American cities — Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Windsor — as a day for eating pączki.", "story": "Pączki are traditionally eaten in Poland on the Thursday before Lent. In Polish communities in the United States the observance moved to Fasnacht Day — the Tuesday — which puts Polish and Pennsylvania Dutch traditions on the same morning.\n\nHamtramck, Michigan, a city surrounded by Detroit with deep Polish roots, is the best-known American centre of the day.", "today": "Lines start before dawn; bakeries fry all night ahead of it and sell until the dough runs out." }, "kin": [ { "to": "paczki", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "chicago-polish-bakery", "as": "The counter.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "fastnacht-day", "as": "The other tradition on the same Tuesday.", "rel": "event" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-p-czki", "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut", "s:wp-hamtramck-michigan" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "geo": { "lat": 42.3928, "lon": -83.0497, "precision": "town", "source": "s:osm-nominatim" }, "address": { "street": "", "city": "Hamtramck", "county": "Wayne", "state": "MI" }, "blurb": "The Tuesday before Lent, kept in Polish-American cities — Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Windsor — as a day for eating pączki.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "chicago", "name": "Chicago", "state": "IL", "note": "Polish bakeries, paczki, the long john" }, { "key": "detroit", "name": "Detroit", "state": "MI", "note": "Hamtramck on Paczki Day" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "chicago-polish-bakery", "type": "style", "name": "The Polish bakery counter", "as": "The counter.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "name": "Fastnacht Day", "as": "The other tradition on the same Tuesday.", "rel": "event" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-p-czki", "kind": "web", "title": "Pączki — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C4%85czki", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-fasnacht-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Fasnacht (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fasnacht_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-hamtramck-michigan", "kind": "web", "title": "Hamtramck, Michigan — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamtramck,_Michigan", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" }, "text.today": { "tier": "tradition" }, "geo": { "tier": "harvested", "source": "s:osm-nominatim", "note": "the town the day is most associated with, not a venue" }, "address": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-p-czki" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "chicago-polish-bakery", "type": "style", "name": "The Polish bakery counter", "as": "The Tuesday.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "paczki", "type": "donut", "name": "Pączki", "as": "The one Tuesday the whole thing turns on.", "rel": "event" }, { "from": "fastnacht-day", "type": "event", "name": "Fastnacht Day", "as": "The Polish observance on the same day.", "rel": "event" } ] }, { "id": "bar", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Bar", "aliases": [ "long john", "finger doughnut", "cream stick", "éclair (as sold)" ], "said": "Say bar in California, Long John in Iowa, éclair in Baltimore, and you will be handed the same pastry." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "B", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "A rectangular raised donut, glazed or iced, sometimes filled.", "story": "Names for it are regional. Long John runs through the Midwest, Canada and Texas; the Mid-Atlantic and central Canada market it as an éclair, though an éclair is choux and this is yeast; the West Coast says bar, and specifies: maple bar, chocolate bar, filled bar. Parts of the Midwest say finger doughnut, or cream stick when filled." }, "kin": [ { "to": "long-john", "as": "The record for the pastry.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "maple-bar", "as": "The West Coast's version.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bar-or-long-john", "as": "The map of the word.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "the shape: a bar of dough, cut rectangular rather than rung", "first_attested": "", "note": "Long John, éclair, finger doughnut and cream stick name the same pastry in other regions.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "blurb": "A rectangular raised donut, glazed or iced, sometimes filled.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "The record for the pastry.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "The West Coast's version.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "The map of the word.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Long John (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "The word.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "cruller-word", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Cruller", "aliases": [ "kruller", "crulla" ], "said": "One word, three pastries, and no authority to appeal to." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "C", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "In North America: either a small loaf- or stick-shaped cake donut, or the choux ring sold as a French cruller.", "story": "From the Dutch kruller, from krullen, to curl. Pennsylvania Dutch settlers brought it in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In Europe the shape is a twist or a plaited rectangle pulled through itself; northern Germany calls those Hirschhörner, deer horns, and Scandinavia makes them at Christmas — klejner in Danish, klenäter in Swedish.\n\nMilwaukee's cruller is a glazed loaf-shaped cake donut with a crunchy shell. The Aberdeen crulla is Scottish, first attested in Edinburgh in 1829 and thought to copy the American cruller. Youtiao and mahua both get called Chinese crullers in English." }, "kin": [ { "to": "french-cruller", "as": "The choux one.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fry-cake", "as": "The other contested word.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cruller" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "Dutch kruller, from krullen, to curl", "first_attested": "late 18th to early 19th century in the United States, with Pennsylvania Dutch settlers", "note": "The Aberdeen crulla is first attested in Edinburgh in 1829 and is thought by the Scottish National Dictionary to copy the American word.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "blurb": "In North America: either a small loaf- or stick-shaped cake donut, or the choux ring sold as a French cruller.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "name": "French cruller", "as": "The choux one.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "fry-cake", "type": "term", "name": "Fry cake", "as": "The other contested word.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cruller", "kind": "web", "title": "Cruller — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruller", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cruller" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "french-cruller", "type": "donut", "name": "French cruller", "as": "Dutch for curl, and what it came to mean here.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "fry-cake", "type": "term", "name": "Fry cake", "as": "The other word in the same argument.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "day-old", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Day-old", "aliases": [ "yesterday's", "seconds" ], "said": "Not a complaint. A price." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "D", "part_of_speech": "adjective" }, "text": { "what": "Yesterday's donuts, sold cheap.", "story": "*Tradition holds —* a donut is a one-morning product, so the rack exists in nearly every independent shop and is priced to clear. Raised rings stale fastest." }, "kin": [ { "to": "day-old-rack", "as": "Where they sit.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "Which ones go first.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:this-project" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "tradition" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "plain description: a donut a day old", "first_attested": "", "note": "A trade usage rather than a dialect word; the rack is named after the age of what is on it.", "tier": "tradition", "source": "s:this-project" }, "blurb": "Yesterday's donuts, sold cheap.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "day-old-rack", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Day-old", "as": "Where they sit.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Which ones go first.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:this-project", "kind": "web", "title": "Pink Box — this project's own reasoning", "publisher": "Pink Box", "url": "" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "tradition" }, "etymology": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "bavarian-cream", "type": "donut", "name": "Bavarian cream", "as": "What a filled donut is not sold as.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "day-old-rack", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Day-old", "as": "The word.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "filling-injector", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The filler", "as": "What filled donuts are not sold as.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "donut-spelling", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Donut / doughnut", "aliases": [ "donut", "doughnut" ], "said": "Both are correct and people still write in about it." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "D", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "Two spellings of the same word. Doughnut is the older form and still dominates in print; donut is American, shorter, and on more signs.", "story": "The first known printed use of donut is in George W. Peck's Peck's Bad Boy and his Pa, 1900: a character drinks a cup of coffee and eats a donut. John T. Edge writes that the short spelling was invented in the 1920s by the New York-based Display Doughnut Machine Corporation, which cut the word to make it easier for the foreign buyers it hoped would buy its machines. A Los Angeles Times piece of 10 August 1929 has Bailey Millard complaining he cannot swallow \"the 'wel-dun donut'\".\n\nThe two ran side by side for decades: The New York Times used both across a series of \"National Donut Week\" articles covering the 1939 World's Fair. Dunkin' — Open Kettle in 1948, renamed in 1950 — is the oldest surviving company using the short form. Krispy Kreme, per Oxford, is the notable exception that keeps the long one." }, "kin": [ { "to": "hole", "as": "The other thing everyone argues about.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "dunkin", "as": "The company that carried the short spelling.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "dough + nut, where nut carries the older sense of a small rounded cake or cookie, as in ginger nut", "first_attested": "1809 (dough-nut, Washington Irving); 1900 (donut, George W. Peck)", "note": "John T. Edge attributes the short spelling to the Display Doughnut Machine Corporation in the 1920s, shortened so foreign buyers of its machines could pronounce it.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "blurb": "Two spellings of the same word. Doughnut is the older form and still dominates in print; donut is American, shorter, and on more signs.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "The other thing everyone argues about.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The company that carried the short spelling.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The spelling it carried.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "dunking", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Dunking", "aliases": [ "dunk" ], "said": "Break it in half first. There were rules, and a president of them." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "D", "part_of_speech": "verb" }, "text": { "what": "Putting a donut in coffee. For twenty-odd years, an organised pastime with officers.", "story": "The Doughnut Corporation of America started the National Dunking Association in the 1930s to popularise donuts in North America. At its peak it claimed millions of members across more than 300 chapters, with Official Dunking Rules that treated dunking as a sport and told members to break the donut in half before swishing it rhythmically in coffee, cocoa, tea or milk. There was an annual convention in New York.\n\nIts presidents included Jimmy Durante, Jack Lemmon, Red Skelton, Joey Bishop and Johnny Carson. Bert Nevins was vice president." }, "kin": [ { "to": "national-dunking-association", "as": "The organisation.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "as": "What you dunk into.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "as": "Who set it up, and why.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-national-dunking-association" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "dunk, from Pennsylvania German dunke, to dip, from Middle High German dunken", "first_attested": "", "note": "The National Dunking Association turned the verb into a membership in the 1930s.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" }, "blurb": "Putting a donut in coffee. For twenty-odd years, an organised pastime with officers.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "national-dunking-association", "type": "org", "name": "National Dunking Association", "as": "The organisation.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "What you dunk into.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "doughnut-corporation-of-america", "type": "org", "name": "Doughnut Corporation of America", "as": "Who set it up, and why.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-national-dunking-association", "kind": "web", "title": "National Dunking Association — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Dunking_Association", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-national-dunking-association" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "national-dunking-association", "type": "org", "name": "National Dunking Association", "as": "The gesture.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "fry-cake", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Fry cake", "aliases": [ "fried cake" ], "said": "An old word on an old sign." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "F", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "An older American name for the cake donut, still on some signs and menus.", "story": "Historically the terms doughnut, cruller and fry cake were used loosely and argued over. In the older usage a doughnut was raised dough, risen and dropped into fat, while crullers and fried cakes were leavened with baking powder — soda, in colonial times — rolled out and cut with a smaller circle taken from the middle. By that usage it was the fried cake that had the hole." }, "kin": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "What it means now.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "as": "The cake ring that kept the old shape.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cruller-word", "as": "The other word in the same argument.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "fried + cake: a cake cooked in fat rather than an oven", "first_attested": "", "note": "In older American usage a doughnut was raised dough and a fried cake was the baking-powder ring — and it was the fried cake that had the hole.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" }, "blurb": "An older American name for the cake donut, still on some signs and menus.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "What it means now.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "The cake ring that kept the old shape.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cruller-word", "type": "term", "name": "Cruller", "as": "The other word in the same argument.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Old-fashioned doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-fashioned_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "What the older counters called it.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "The older name for it.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "cruller-word", "type": "term", "name": "Cruller", "as": "The other contested word.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "hole", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "The hole", "aliases": [ "the middle", "the ring" ], "said": "Sold by the bag, named for the part that is missing." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "T", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "The absence in the middle of a ring donut, and the argument about who first made one.", "story": "Hanson Gregory, an American sailor, claimed he invented the ring in 1847 aboard a lime-trading ship at sixteen, punching the middle out with the ship's tin pepper box because he disliked greasy dough and raw centres, and teaching his mother the trick. The Smithsonian has his mother, Elizabeth Gregory, making a deep-fried dough that used his spice cargo — nutmeg, cinnamon, lemon rind.\n\nOther readings compete. Michael Krondl suggests the ring came off recipes calling for a jumble, a ring-shaped cookie already in use. Linda Civitello writes the hole was invented because it let the donut cook faster. By 1870 a two-circle cutter was in production and the question became academic." }, "kin": [ { "to": "donut-holes", "as": "What the missing part is sold as.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hanson-gregory", "as": "Who claimed it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "olykoek", "as": "What it was before.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "the ordinary English word, applied to the absence and then sold as the piece removed", "first_attested": "ring doughnut claimed by Hanson Gregory for 1847; two-circle cutters in production by 1870", "note": "The thing sold as a donut hole is the dough taken out, not the space left.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "blurb": "The absence in the middle of a ring donut, and the argument about who first made one.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "donut-holes", "type": "donut", "name": "Donut holes", "as": "What the missing part is sold as.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "hanson-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Hanson Gregory", "as": "Who claimed it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "olykoek", "type": "term", "name": "Olykoek", "as": "What it was before.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "donut-holes", "type": "donut", "name": "Donut holes", "as": "The word, and the argument about who punched the first one.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The part that isn't there, and the part they sell you in a bag.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "elizabeth-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Elizabeth Gregory", "as": "The argument.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "hanson-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Hanson Gregory", "as": "The claim itself.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "donut-spelling", "type": "term", "name": "Donut / doughnut", "as": "The other thing everyone argues about.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "olykoek", "type": "term", "name": "Olykoek", "as": "What got punched in it.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "hot-now", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Hot now", "aliases": [ "hot light", "hot doughnuts now" ], "said": "Two words, lit up, and the parking lot fills." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "H", "part_of_speech": "phrase" }, "text": { "what": "A lit sign saying donuts are coming out of the fryer at that moment.", "story": "The practice predates the sign. Vernon Rudolph's Winston-Salem shop ran production from midnight to four in the morning for its wholesale trade and sold hot donuts to individual customers who turned up during it. In the early 2010s Krispy Kreme began building shops with tunnel ovens so the hot sign could stay on all day.\n\n*Inference —* the sign changed what it means. Lit at 3 a.m. it reports a shift; lit at 2 p.m. it reports a piece of equipment." }, "kin": [ { "to": "southern-hot-now", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "krispy-kreme", "as": "Whose sign it is.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "as": "What it used to point at.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-krispy-kreme" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "two words on a lit sign; plain description turned into a signal", "first_attested": "", "note": "The practice predates the sign: Krispy Kreme sold hot donuts during the midnight-to-four production run from 1937.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "blurb": "A lit sign saying donuts are coming out of the fryer at that moment.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The style around it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "Whose sign it is.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "the-2am-shift", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The night shift", "as": "What it used to point at.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "southern-hot-now", "type": "style", "name": "The hot light", "as": "The two words as a term of art.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What a chain built out of glazing this exact donut in front of you.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "vernon-rudolph", "type": "person", "name": "Vernon Rudolph", "as": "The two words.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "krispy-kreme", "type": "org", "name": "Krispy Kreme", "as": "The sign.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "as": "The two words.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "jimmies", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Jimmies", "aliases": [ "sprinkles", "hundreds and thousands", "nonpareils" ], "said": "Boston and Philadelphia say jimmies. Say it in Los Angeles and you get a blank look." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "J", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "The long rod-shaped sprinkles, above all the chocolate ones. The tiny balls are nonpareils.", "story": "Jimmies is the most popular term for chocolate sprinkles in Boston, Philadelphia and New England. The origin is uncertain; it is first documented in 1930, as a cake topping. The Just Born Candy Company of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, says it invented the product and named them after an employee.\n\nA second story credits Sidney Farber's Jimmy Fund and Brigham's ice cream, which charged a penny extra for chocolate sprinkles to benefit it — but the fund started in 1948, well after the word is first recorded. Nonpareils go back to at least the late eighteenth century, as decoration for pièces montées." }, "kin": [ { "to": "sprinkle-and-dip", "as": "What happens with them.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "dunkin-country", "as": "The region the word belongs to.", "rel": "style" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-sprinkles" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "uncertain; Just Born Candy Company says it named them after an employee", "first_attested": "1930, as a cake topping", "note": "The Jimmy Fund story postdates the first record by eighteen years.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" }, "blurb": "The long rod-shaped sprinkles, above all the chocolate ones. The tiny balls are nonpareils.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "sprinkle-and-dip", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Dipping and sprinkles", "as": "What happens with them.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The region the word belongs to.", "rel": "style" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-sprinkles", "kind": "web", "title": "Sprinkles — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprinkles", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-sprinkles" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "sprinkle-and-dip", "type": "kitchen", "name": "Dipping and sprinkles", "as": "The word, and where it stops.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "name": "Bar or Long John", "as": "Another regional word.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "mom-and-pop", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Mom-and-pop", "aliases": [ "independent", "family shop" ], "said": "Two people and a lease. The rest is detail." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "M", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "A shop owned and worked by the family that runs it, as against a franchise or a company-owned store.", "story": "The line is blurrier than the phrase suggests. A shop can buy its mix from a national flour company, carry a franchised name on the window, and still be owned outright by the family inside it — every Daylight Donuts store is independently owned and operated, and there are roughly 950 of them. A Spudnut sign may outlive the franchise that sold it. And a single family may hold three shops and run them all itself.\n\nThis project counts a shop as independent when no company owns it; the sign on the window is not the test." }, "kin": [ { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "as": "The shops that complicate it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "as": "Where this project draws the line.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "daylight-donuts", "as": "950 signs, 950 owners.", "rel": "org" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "s:wp-spudnut-shops" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the last paragraph states this project's own rule, not a trade definition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "American English for a business run by a married couple or a family", "first_attested": "", "note": "Used here for a shop no company owns, whatever name is on the window.", "tier": "tradition", "source": "s:this-project" }, "blurb": "A shop owned and worked by the family that runs it, as against a franchise or a company-owned store.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "The shops that complicate it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "Where this project draws the line.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Daylight Donuts", "as": "950 signs, 950 owners.", "rel": "org" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Daylight Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the last paragraph states this project's own rule, not a trade definition" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Daylight Donuts", "as": "Why the sign is not the test.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "Why the sign is not the test.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "The term.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "olykoek", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Olykoek", "aliases": [ "oly koek", "oliekoek", "oil cake" ], "said": "The word survives because Washington Irving wrote it down." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "O", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "The Dutch fried dough ball that came to New Amsterdam, and the American donut's direct ancestor: sweetened dough fried in fat, with no hole.", "story": "Dutch settlers brought olykoek — oil cake — to New York in the early eighteenth century. Washington Irving put it in print in his 1809 History of New York: \"an enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called dough-nuts, or oly koeks: a delicious kind of cake, at present scarce known in this city, excepting in genuine Dutch families.\"\n\nThe centres of those balls were the problem the ring solved. Elizabeth Gregory, by the Smithsonian's account, put hazelnuts or walnuts in the middle where the dough might not cook through — which is one reading of where the nut in doughnut comes from." }, "kin": [ { "to": "hole", "as": "What got punched in it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "What it became.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "Dutch oliekoek, oil cake", "first_attested": "1809, in Washington Irving's A History of New York", "note": "Irving gives it as the Dutch-family name for balls of sweetened dough fried in hog's fat.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "blurb": "The Dutch fried dough ball that came to New Amsterdam, and the American donut's direct ancestor: sweetened dough fried in fat, with no hole.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "What got punched in it.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "What it became.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "elizabeth-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Elizabeth Gregory", "as": "What she was frying a version of.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "hanson-gregory", "type": "person", "name": "Hanson Gregory", "as": "What came before it.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "hole", "type": "term", "name": "The hole", "as": "What it was before.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "powdered-sugar", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "Powdered sugar", "aliases": [ "confectioner's sugar", "icing sugar", "10X" ], "said": "It goes everywhere. That is not a flaw in the product." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "P", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "Sugar ground fine and cut with a little starch to stop it caking. The base of every glaze and the finish on beignets, malasadas and pączki.", "story": "Confectioner's sugar is graded by fineness — 10X is the finest common grade — and usually carries around 3 percent cornstarch as an anti-caking agent, which is why a glaze made from it sets opaque rather than clear." }, "kin": [ { "to": "glaze-table", "as": "Where it is used by the bucket.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "beignet", "as": "Buried in it.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-powdered-sugar" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-powdered-sugar" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "sugar ground to a powder; confectioner's sugar in the trade, icing sugar in Britain", "first_attested": "", "note": "Graded by fineness — 10X is the finest common grade — and cut with starch against caking.", "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-powdered-sugar" }, "blurb": "Sugar ground fine and cut with a little starch to stop it caking. The base of every glaze and the finish on beignets, malasadas and pączki.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "Where it is used by the bucket.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "Buried in it.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-powdered-sugar", "kind": "web", "title": "Powdered sugar — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powdered_sugar", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-powdered-sugar" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-powdered-sugar" }, "etymology": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-powdered-sugar" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "beignet", "type": "donut", "name": "Beignet", "as": "What it is buried in.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "glaze-table", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The glaze table", "as": "What it is made of.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "names": { "name": "The dozen", "aliases": [ "a dozen", "half dozen", "baker's dozen" ], "said": "You do not buy one. You buy twelve and eat two in the car." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "letter": "T", "part_of_speech": "noun" }, "text": { "what": "The unit donuts are sold in, and the reason for the box.", "story": "*Tradition holds —* the dozen is the trade's unit because a box holds twelve in a single layer without crushing, and because a shop prices twelve below twelve times one to move the tray. A baker's dozen is thirteen, an old trade practice of adding one to be safe against a short weight.\n\nThis project has not found a published history of donut dozen pricing in the United States and does not invent one." }, "kin": [ { "to": "pink-box", "as": "What a dozen goes into.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-case", "as": "Where it comes from.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "as": "What it costs, with dates.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:this-project" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "tradition" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "etymology": { "root": "from Old French dozeine, twelve; a baker's dozen is thirteen", "first_attested": "", "note": "The extra one is an old trade practice against selling short weight.", "tier": "tradition", "source": "s:this-project" }, "blurb": "The unit donuts are sold in, and the reason for the box.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "What a dozen goes into.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-case", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The case", "as": "Where it comes from.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "What it costs, with dates.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:this-project", "kind": "web", "title": "Pink Box — this project's own reasoning", "publisher": "Pink Box", "url": "" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.story": { "tier": "tradition" }, "etymology": { "tier": "tradition" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-case", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The case", "as": "How it gets sold.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "type": "event", "name": "Krispy Kreme Challenge", "as": "The unit being eaten.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "What goes inside.", "rel": "term" }, { "from": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "The unit.", "rel": "term" } ] }, { "id": "anthora-cup", "type": "art", "names": { "name": "The Anthora cup", "aliases": [ "We Are Happy To Serve You", "the Greek cup" ], "said": "Blue and white, a Greek key, and a paper cup that became a New York object." }, "region": [ "nyc" ], "facets": { "kind": "print", "state": "NY" }, "text": { "what": "The blue-and-white paper coffee cup with a Greek meander border and the words \"We Are Happy To Serve You\", designed for New York's Greek-run coffee shops.", "story": "Greek immigrants ran a large share of the city's coffee shops and diners, and the cup was made for that trade. It has since been treated as a piece of New York design rather than as packaging.", "today": "The cup appears in films set in New York more reliably than any donut does." }, "kin": [ { "to": "nyc-bodega-donut", "as": "The counter it belongs to.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "as": "What it comes with.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "as": "What is in it.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-anthora", "s:wp-greek-americans" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-anthora" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The blue-and-white paper coffee cup with a Greek meander border and the words \"We Are Happy To Serve You\", designed for New York's Greek-run coffee shops.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "nyc", "name": "New York City", "state": "NY", "note": "the Greek coffee shop, the bodega, the corner cart" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "name": "The New York corner counter", "as": "The counter it belongs to.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "as": "What it comes with.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-pot-of-coffee", "type": "dish", "name": "The pot of coffee", "as": "What is in it.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-anthora", "kind": "web", "title": "Anthora — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthora", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-greek-americans", "kind": "web", "title": "Greek Americans — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Americans", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-anthora" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-anthora" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "name": "The New York corner counter", "as": "The cup the coffee comes in.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "as": "What the coffee comes in.", "rel": "art" } ] }, { "id": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "names": { "name": "The donut on the roof", "aliases": [ "big donut", "programmatic architecture" ], "said": "Twenty-two feet of plaster ring, and it still works." }, "region": [ "socal" ], "facets": { "kind": "sign", "state": "CA" }, "text": { "what": "Oversize donuts built on or around Southern California shops to catch drivers: roadside novelty architecture, most of it from the decade after the Second World War.", "story": "Randy's, beside the 405 near LAX, is the best known of four surviving big donuts built by Russell C. Wendell, who started the Big Do-Nut Drive-In chain in the 1940s. A fifth was converted into a bagel. At one point there were ten Do-Nut Drive-Ins with 22-foot rings — or thirty feet high, depending on the account. The first opened in December 1949 with clowns, jugglers, magicians, free coffee and a trapeze artist swinging from the middle of the hole.\n\nMrs. Chapman's Angel Food Donuts ran about twenty stores with slightly smaller rings. The Donut Hole in La Puente, a drive-through you enter and leave through the holes of two giant donuts, is described as a distant cousin of the rooftop kind.\n\nOne critic called the giant donuts part of a Los Angeles that \"bordered on pop art, celebrating the effusiveness of life in the years after World War II\" — the same city that gave America an orange juice stand shaped like an orange.", "today": "Municipal construction codes now generally prohibit oversize object-shaped buildings, so the survivors cannot be replaced, only kept." }, "kin": [ { "to": "randys-donuts", "as": "The most photographed one.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-donut-hole", "as": "The one you drive through.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "russell-wendell", "as": "Who built them.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "neon-donut", "as": "The other thing on the roofline.", "rel": "art" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california", "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "s:wp-the-donut-hole" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "giant-donut-roof/giant-donut-roof-bellflower-bagels-formerly-a-big-donut-bellflower-lo-14dcf31.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Bellflower Bagels formerly a big donut - Bellflower Los Angeles County California.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Bellflower_Bagels_formerly_a_big_donut_-_Bellflower_Los_Angeles_County_California.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABellflower_Bagels_formerly_a_big_donut_-_Bellflower_Los_Angeles_County_California.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Jengod", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Bellflower Bagels", "date": "2025-02-24 09:18:46", "primary": true, "sha256": "25994f4ec98c31324c00396e7cf30b8ba2461ba15ec80788e426f5f47c666a19" }, { "file": "giant-donut-roof/giant-donut-roof-big-do-nut-drive-in-inglewood-california-lccn2017709532.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Big Do-Nut Drive-in, Inglewood, California LCCN2017709532.tif", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Big_Do-Nut_Drive-in%2C_Inglewood%2C_California_LCCN2017709532.tif?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABig_Do-Nut_Drive-in%2C_Inglewood%2C_California_LCCN2017709532.tif", "license": "Public domain", "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain", "author": "John Margolies", "credit": "Library of Congress\n\nCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/2017709532\nImage download: https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/mrg/07400/07440a.tif\nOriginal url: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/mrg.07440", "alt": "Title: Big Do-Nut Drive-in, Inglewood, California\nPhysical description: 1 photograph : color transparency ; 35 mm (slide format).\n\nNotes: Forms part of: John Margolies Roadside America photograph arc", "date": "1976", "primary": false, "sha256": "486af171b0c26cb55f0dbb16887c2ea248670a004df31ff6c432e0633bdac8b1" } ], "blurb": "Oversize donuts built on or around Southern California shops to catch drivers: roadside novelty architecture, most of it from the decade after the Second World War.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "The most photographed one.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-donut-hole", "type": "place", "name": "The Donut Hole", "as": "The one you drive through.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "russell-wendell", "type": "person", "name": "Russell C. Wendell", "as": "Who built them.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "as": "The other thing on the roofline.", "rel": "art" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california", "kind": "web", "title": "Big donuts of Southern California — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_donuts_of_Southern_California", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Randy's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-the-donut-hole", "kind": "web", "title": "The Donut Hole — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Donut_Hole", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" }, "text.today": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-big-donuts-of-southern-california" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "giant-donut-roof/giant-donut-roof-bellflower-bagels-formerly-a-big-donut-bellflower-lo-14dcf31.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Bellflower Bagels formerly a big donut - Bellflower Los Angeles County California.jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Bellflower_Bagels_formerly_a_big_donut_-_Bellflower_Los_Angeles_County_California.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABellflower_Bagels_formerly_a_big_donut_-_Bellflower_Los_Angeles_County_California.jpg", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/", "author": "Jengod", "credit": "Own work", "alt": "Bellflower Bagels", "date": "2025-02-24 09:18:46", "primary": true, "sha256": "25994f4ec98c31324c00396e7cf30b8ba2461ba15ec80788e426f5f47c666a19" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "The best-known example of the form.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "the-donut-hole", "type": "place", "name": "The Donut Hole", "as": "Programmatic architecture, and the one you drive through.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "russell-wendell", "type": "person", "name": "Russell C. Wendell", "as": "The form.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "as": "The daylight version.", "rel": "art" } ] }, { "id": "hand-lettered-board", "type": "art", "names": { "name": "The hand-lettered board", "aliases": [ "the menu board", "marker on card" ], "said": "Prices in marker, taped over the last prices." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "sign" }, "text": { "what": "The menu written by hand — on card, on a whiteboard, on the glass — and updated by writing over it.", "story": "*Inference —* a hand-lettered board is the tell of a shop that changes what it sells faster than it can order signage: the egg rolls, the boba, the burrito and the kolache arrive on card taped beneath the printed donut list. This project reads boards this way; it is not a cited finding.\n\nThe printed panel above usually carries what the shop has always sold, and the card below carries what is keeping it open.", "today": "The board is where a directory should look first for what a shop actually does now." }, "kin": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "What tends to be written on the card.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The shops it is found in.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-case", "as": "What the board describes.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "sources": [ "s:this-project" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" } } }, "confidence": "medium", "schema": 1, "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The menu written by hand — on card, on a whiteboard, on the glass — and updated by writing over it.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "What tends to be written on the card.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The shops it is found in.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "the-case", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The case", "as": "What the board describes.", "rel": "kitchen" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:this-project", "kind": "web", "title": "Pink Box — this project's own reasoning", "publisher": "Pink Box", "url": "" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" }, "text.story": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [] }, { "id": "mr-spudnut", "type": "art", "names": { "name": "Mr. Spudnut and the mascots", "aliases": [ "Dunkie", "Mr. Spudnut" ], "said": "A potato in a chef's hat, in a parade, in 1949." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "mascot" }, "text": { "what": "The cartoon characters donut companies used to sell themselves in the middle of the twentieth century.", "story": "Spudnut Shops advertised with a cartoon Mr. Spudnut, who turned up in advertisements, in restaurants and in parades, under the slogan \"Coast to coast… Alaska to Mexico\". Dunkin' Donuts introduced its own mascot, Dunkie, in 1954, a year after its first logo.", "today": "The mascots are gone and the signs are not, which is why a surviving sign reads as older than it is." }, "kin": [ { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "dunkin", "as": "The other mascot's company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "neon-donut", "as": "What outlasted them.", "rel": "art" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "s:wp-dunkin-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "The cartoon characters donut companies used to sell themselves in the middle of the twentieth century.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "dunkin", "type": "org", "name": "Dunkin'", "as": "The other mascot's company.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "as": "What outlasted them.", "rel": "art" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-dunkin-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Dunkin' Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin%27_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "type": "story", "name": "The franchise that vanished", "as": "The mascot.", "rel": "art" } ] }, { "id": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "names": { "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "aliases": [ "the hot sign", "the neon ring" ], "said": "The sign is on before anything else in the building is." }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "neon" }, "text": { "what": "Signs that advertise by light: a neon ring, a lit arrow, a plastic panel with DONUTS in red, and the hot sign that says the fryer is going.", "story": "Krispy Kreme's hot sign has an origin in the schedule rather than in advertising — Vernon Rudolph sold hot donuts to people who turned up during the midnight-to-four production run. Tunnel-oven shops from the early 2010s keep it lit all day.\n\nSpudnut signs are a different kind of survivor: the franchise that sold them reached more than 300 shops in 38 states by 1954 and then vanished, leaving the signs on independent shops.", "today": "A shop's sign is usually older than its owners, and reads as the shop's real name whatever the paperwork says." }, "kin": [ { "to": "hot-now", "as": "The two words.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The vanished franchise on the sign.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "as": "What that does to a directory.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "as": "The daylight version.", "rel": "art" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "s:wp-spudnut-shops" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "tradition" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "neon-donut/neon-donut-donut-shop-neon-sign-on-santa-monica-boulevard-in-we-fdd247d.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California LCCN2013631566.tif", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Donut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADonut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif", "license": "Public domain", "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain", "author": "Carol M. Highsmith", "credit": "Library of Congress\n\nCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/2013631566\nImage download: https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/highsm/24300/24388a.tif\nOriginal url: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.24388", "alt": "Title: Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California\nPhysical description: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.\nNotes: Title, date, and keywords provided by the pho", "date": "Taken on 3 January 2013, 20:51 (accordin", "primary": true, "sha256": "3390c5d3167a850e9641868d8abf7817d15a9a631b33d3d0496ba148e9099f62" }, { "file": "neon-donut/neon-donut-the-donut-pub-lower-west-side-manhattan-nyc-3879206573.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:The Donut Pub, Lower West Side, Manhattan, NYC (3879206573).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/The_Donut_Pub%2C_Lower_West_Side%2C_Manhattan%2C_NYC_%283879206573%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AThe_Donut_Pub%2C_Lower_West_Side%2C_Manhattan%2C_NYC_%283879206573%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/", "author": "Jazz Guy from New Jersey, United States", "credit": "The Donut Pub, Lower West Side, Manhattan, NYC", "alt": "Great neon sign. They have great donuts too!", "date": "Taken on 30 August 2009, 21:12", "primary": false, "sha256": "43080e1ec1351eb0c0e43cd3815b50a2b7813153011afe0acb880134a1278be6" } ], "blurb": "Signs that advertise by light: a neon ring, a lit arrow, a plastic panel with DONUTS in red, and the hot sign that says the fryer is going.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "hot-now", "type": "term", "name": "Hot now", "as": "The two words.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The vanished franchise on the sign.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "What that does to a directory.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "The daylight version.", "rel": "art" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-krispy-kreme" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "neon-donut/neon-donut-donut-shop-neon-sign-on-santa-monica-boulevard-in-we-fdd247d.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California LCCN2013631566.tif", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Donut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADonut_shop_neon_sign_on_Santa_Monica_Boulevard_in_West_Hollywood%2C_California_LCCN2013631566.tif", "license": "Public domain", "license_url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain", "author": "Carol M. Highsmith", "credit": "Library of Congress\n\nCatalog: http://lccn.loc.gov/2013631566\nImage download: https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/highsm/24300/24388a.tif\nOriginal url: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/highsm.24388", "alt": "Title: Donut shop neon sign on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California\nPhysical description: 1 photograph : digital, tiff file, color.\nNotes: Title, date, and keywords provided by the pho", "date": "Taken on 3 January 2013, 20:51 (accordin", "primary": true, "sha256": "3390c5d3167a850e9641868d8abf7817d15a9a631b33d3d0496ba148e9099f62" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "Spudnut signs are half the reason those signs get photographed.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "giant-donut-roof", "type": "art", "name": "The donut on the roof", "as": "The other thing on the roofline.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "mr-spudnut", "type": "art", "name": "Mr. Spudnut and the mascots", "as": "What outlasted them.", "rel": "art" } ] }, { "id": "pink-box", "type": "art", "names": { "name": "The pink box", "aliases": [ "the box", "1-dozen pink" ], "said": "\"Good things come in pink boxes\" is a slogan somebody else wrote about somebody else's box." }, "region": [ "socal", "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "box", "state": "CA" }, "text": { "what": "The matte pink paperboard box a dozen donuts go into: the most recognisable object in the American trade, and the cheapest.", "story": "The pink boxes that Southern California shops pack donuts in are attributed to Ted Ngoy and Ning Yen, who were setting other Cambodian families up in shops. Pink stock was cheaper than the glossy white box the trade used.\n\nIt travelled. Kenneth Pogson of Voodoo Doughnut adopted the box, and the slogan \"Good things come in pink boxes\", after a trip to California where he saw the boxes in use.", "today": "A pink box in a film or on a desk signals donuts without a logo, which is a thing very few products manage." }, "kin": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "Credited with it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "as": "Credited with it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The style named for it here.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "voodoo-doughnut", "as": "Carried it north.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-dozen", "as": "What goes inside.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cambodian-americans" }, "fields": { "names.said": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "images": [ { "file": "pink-box/pink-box-american-donuts-in-red-box-closeup-49818859171.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:American donuts in red box closeup. (49818859171).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/American_donuts_in_red_box_closeup._%2849818859171%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAmerican_donuts_in_red_box_closeup._%2849818859171%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/", "author": "Nenad Stojkovic", "credit": "American donuts in red box closeup.", "alt": "American donuts in red box closeup.", "date": "2020-04-25 15:57", "primary": true, "sha256": "eac10c9b77d47e439f41622c862d0753c44da80a4f3ef6d262bb671d5ff7f443" } ], "blurb": "The matte pink paperboard box a dozen donuts go into: the most recognisable object in the American trade, and the cheapest.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "Credited with it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "name": "Ning Yen", "as": "Credited with it.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The style named for it here.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "voodoo-doughnut", "type": "place", "name": "Voodoo Doughnut", "as": "Carried it north.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "name": "The dozen", "as": "What goes inside.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "kind": "web", "title": "Cambodian Americans — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Americans", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-voodoo-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Voodoo Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cambodian-americans" }, "text.story": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-cambodian-americans" }, "text.today": { "tier": "inference" } }, "primary_image": { "file": "pink-box/pink-box-american-donuts-in-red-box-closeup-49818859171.jpg", "source": "commons", "title": "File:American donuts in red box closeup. (49818859171).jpg", "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/American_donuts_in_red_box_closeup._%2849818859171%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original", "page_url": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAmerican_donuts_in_red_box_closeup._%2849818859171%29.jpg", "license": "CC BY 2.0", "license_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/", "author": "Nenad Stojkovic", "credit": "American donuts in red box closeup.", "alt": "American donuts in red box closeup.", "date": "2020-04-25 15:57", "primary": true, "sha256": "eac10c9b77d47e439f41622c862d0753c44da80a4f3ef6d262bb671d5ff7f443" }, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The object the style is named for here.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "voodoo-doughnut", "type": "place", "name": "Voodoo Doughnut", "as": "Took the box east and made it a brand.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "name": "Ning Yen", "as": "The object.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "The object credited to him.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "b-and-h-distributors", "type": "org", "name": "B & H Bakery Distributors", "as": "Who sells the boxes.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "name": "The dozen", "as": "What a dozen goes into.", "rel": "art" }, { "from": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "The object.", "rel": "art" } ] }, { "id": "bar-or-long-john", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "Bar or Long John", "aliases": [ "what to call it", "the word map" ], "sort": "bar or long john" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "map" }, "text": { "what": "One rectangular raised donut, at least five names, and a map of the country hiding inside a bakery case." }, "sections": [ { "h": "The words", "text": "— **Long John** — the Midwest, Canada and Texas.\n— **Bar** — the West Coast: maple bar, chocolate bar, filled bar.\n— **Éclair** — the Mid-Atlantic and central Canada, where it is marketed that way even though an éclair is choux pastry with fondant and a Long John is yeast dough.\n— **Finger doughnut**, and **cream stick** when filled — parts of the Midwest.\n— **Maple creamstick**, **maple bismarck**, **maple-glazed Long John** — the same pastry again, named by its icing." }, { "h": "Other words that move", "text": "**Bismarck** for a filled round holds in the Upper Midwest, where a case label will say it and nothing else; elsewhere it is a jelly donut. **Fry cake** for a cake donut survives on older signs. **Jimmies** for chocolate sprinkles belongs to Boston, Philadelphia and New England and is first recorded in 1930. **Bear claw** is Western American English, first attested in a Sacramento bakery advertisement on 13 March 1914. **Kolache** in Texas usually means a klobasnek, which Czech Texans will tell you is a different thing." }, { "h": "Why this matters to a directory", "text": "A search that only matches the word a shop happens to print will miss half the country. This site's search carries the synonym groups above, so a search for one name returns shops and pages using the others." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "bar", "as": "The word.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "long-john", "as": "The pastry.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "maple-bar", "as": "The coast's version.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bismarck", "as": "The filled round with a regional name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "jimmies", "as": "Another regional word.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "bear-claw", "as": "A Western word with a date.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-long-john-doughnut", "s:wp-sprinkles", "s:wp-bear-claw", "s:wp-klob-sn-k" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "One rectangular raised donut, at least five names, and a map of the country hiding inside a bakery case.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "bar", "type": "term", "name": "Bar", "as": "The word.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "The pastry.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "The coast's version.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "bismarck", "type": "donut", "name": "Bismarck", "as": "The filled round with a regional name.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "jimmies", "type": "term", "name": "Jimmies", "as": "Another regional word.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "bear-claw", "type": "donut", "name": "Bear claw", "as": "A Western word with a date.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Long John (doughnut) — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_John_(doughnut)", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-sprinkles", "kind": "web", "title": "Sprinkles — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprinkles", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-bear-claw", "kind": "web", "title": "Bear claw — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_claw", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "kind": "web", "title": "Klobásník — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klob%C3%A1sn%C3%ADk", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-long-john-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "long-john", "type": "donut", "name": "Long John", "as": "The map of what to call it.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "maple-bar", "type": "donut", "name": "Maple bar", "as": "Where the country changes the word.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "bar", "type": "term", "name": "Bar", "as": "The map of the word.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "cake-against-raised", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "Cake against raised", "aliases": [ "cake vs yeast", "the two doughs" ], "sort": "cake against raised" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "essay" }, "text": { "what": "Two doughs, one kettle, and an argument every shop settles twice a day. Raised dough is lifted by yeast and takes about 150 seconds at 182 to 190 °C; cake batter is lifted by baking powder or soda and takes about 90 seconds at 190 to 198 °C. Yeast rings average 38 grams, cake rings 24 to 28. The fat numbers are where the published accounts stop agreeing, and this page lays both out rather than picking one." }, "sections": [ { "h": "What actually differs", "text": "Yeast and cake donuts share most of their ingredients. What separates them is the flour and the lift. Cake donuts use cake flour, around 7 to 8 percent protein, which crumbs rather than pulls, and they rise on baking powder or baking soda. Raised donuts use a stronger dough and baker's yeast, and they need time.\n\nThat difference sets everything downstream: how long the dough occupies the shop, how the ring is formed, how long it sits in the fat, how much fat it takes up, how big it comes out, and how long it is worth selling." }, { "h": "The numbers, as published", "text": "Yeast-raised rings fry about 150 seconds at 182 to 190 °C and average 38 grams. Cake rings fry about 90 seconds at 190 to 198 °C, turning once, and weigh 24 to 28 grams.\n\nOn oil, the published accounts diverge. One says yeast-raised donuts contain about 25 percent oil by weight and cake donuts around 20 percent, with extra fat mixed into the batter before frying. Another says cake runs 20 to 25 percent and yeast 25 to 35, and that commercial cake rings fry for 30 to 45 seconds at 191 °C.\n\nNeither cites a laboratory. Both agree on the direction — the raised ring spends longer in the fat and carries more of it out — and disagree on the size of the gap. This project prints both." }, { "h": "Why the machines chose cake", "text": "When donut shops industrialised in the 1920s and 1930s, the raised dough was at a disadvantage: it needs time to rise and it is harder to handle. Baking soda was predictable and easy to automate, so most bakers went the cake route. The cake ring also appeared in American cookbooks a century earlier, in the 1830s, once pearlash was easy to buy.\n\nThe raised ring survived anyway, because a glazed raised donut is what most people mean by the word." }, { "h": "What it means at the counter", "text": "*Inference —* a shop that runs both doughs well is running two processes with different clocks in one small kitchen, which is most of the work in a mom-and-pop donut shop and none of the work in a shop that buys its donuts in.\n\nWhich side of the case carries the flavours is a reading, not a count: cider, buttermilk, sour cream, blueberry and chocolate sit on the cake side, and the raised side holds glazed, bars, fritters and filled." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "as": "The raised side.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "as": "The cake side.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "as": "Where the difference is settled.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "yeast-raise", "as": "What costs the time.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "as": "What a machine could learn.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "as": "The cake ring people name.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut", "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" }, "fields": { "sections[3].text": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Two doughs, one kettle, and an argument every shop settles twice a day.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "The raised side.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The cake side.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "Where the difference is settled.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "yeast-raise", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The raise", "as": "What costs the time.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "cake-batter", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The batter and the depositor", "as": "What a machine could learn.", "rel": "kitchen" }, { "to": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "The cake ring people name.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-cake-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Cake doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-old-fashioned-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Old-fashioned doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-fashioned_doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "cake-donut", "type": "donut", "name": "Cake donut", "as": "The argument, and what the numbers underneath it actually say.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "chocolate-cake", "type": "donut", "name": "Chocolate cake", "as": "Where its numbers sit.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "glazed-raised", "type": "donut", "name": "Glazed raised", "as": "Why the two doughs split the case, and the numbers underneath.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "old-fashioned", "type": "donut", "name": "Old-fashioned", "as": "The argument this one anchors.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "frying-fat", "type": "kitchen", "name": "What is in the kettle", "as": "How much of it each dough takes up.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "the-fryer", "type": "kitchen", "name": "The kettle", "as": "The numbers, side by side.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "Where the shops actually are", "aliases": [ "donuts per capita", "the density map" ], "sort": "where shops actually are" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "map" }, "text": { "what": "Donut shops are not spread evenly, and the places with the most of them are not the places with the most famous ones." }, "sections": [ { "h": "The one published American figure", "text": "The Providence metropolitan area has been cited as having the most donut shops per capita in the United States: 25.3 shops per 100,000 people, as of 13 January 2010. Rhode Island is 48th by area among the states.\n\nCanada has the highest concentration of donut shops per capita in the world and eats the most donuts per head; Japan is second by concentration. Over 4,600 Tim Hortons locations do most of that work." }, { "h": "What this site can count, and what it cannot", "text": "This directory counts what OpenStreetMap records, on the date it was fetched, plus the shops written up here. That is a count of a map, not a census of a trade. Shops open and close faster than any map keeps up with, and a shop that nobody has added to OpenStreetMap is invisible to it.\n\nThe number to compare against — an actual national count of independent donut shops — does not exist in a form this project can cite. KQED's 2021 figure of more than 5,000 independent shops in California alone is the largest sourced number here, and it is one state." }, { "h": "The map", "text": "/places/ draws every row on one map. /numbers/ counts them by state and by distance. Chains are marked as chains, because OpenStreetMap records a brand when a place has one, and can be taken off the map in a click." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "the-counter", "as": "What those shops sell besides donuts.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "dunkin-country", "as": "The region that drives the New England number.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The 5,000-shop state.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "as": "What is being counted.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "s:wp-doughnut" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" }, "fields": { "sections[1].text": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the limits of a map-derived count are this project's statement about its own data" }, "sections[2].text": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Donut shops are not spread evenly, and the places with the most of them are not the places with the most famous ones.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "What those shops sell besides donuts.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "The region that drives the New England number.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The 5,000-shop state.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "What is being counted.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-doughnut-shop", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut shop — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut_shop", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-doughnut-shop" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "dunkin-country", "type": "style", "name": "Dunkin' country", "as": "Where the shops actually are, counted.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "allies-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Allie's Donuts", "as": "Rhode Island's density, counted.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "free-to-use", "type": "story", "name": "Where all of this came from", "as": "What the counts can and cannot say.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "free-to-use", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "Where all of this came from", "aliases": [ "sources", "resources" ], "sort": "where all of this came from" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "resources" }, "text": { "what": "What this site is built from, what each thing is licensed under, and what it does not cover." }, "sections": [ { "h": "The records", "text": "Every record here is hand-written JSON, one file per node, and every field carries a provenance tier: cited (a named source), harvested (a tool fetched it from an open dataset), tradition (general knowledge of the trade, hedged in the prose), inference (this project reasoning from the above, and saying so), field (somebody stood there — nothing carries it yet).\n\nThe records are licensed CC BY 4.0." }, { "h": "The text sources", "text": "The bulk of the cited material is Wikipedia, fetched as plain text on 16 September 2026 and listed article by article on the sources page, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Where a fact came from reporting instead — KQED on why California donut shops sell Chinese food, PBS Independent Lens on The Donut King — the record names the outlet, the writer and the date.\n\nA fact this project could not source is either hedged in the prose and marked, or left out." }, { "h": "The places", "text": "Place points come from OpenStreetMap contributors under ODbL 1.0, fetched state by state on the date the coverage page names, plus addresses geocoded through Nominatim. An absence in that data means the place was not in OpenStreetMap on the fetch date or has not been written up here. It is not a claim that a shop does not exist." }, { "h": "The pictures", "text": "Pictures come from Wikimedia Commons, each with its licence, author and link beside it. Only CC0, public domain, CC BY, CC BY-SA and FAL are accepted." }, { "h": "What is not here", "text": "Field observations. Menu prices with dates for most shops. Photographs for most records. Per-piece weights for shop donuts, which almost nobody publishes. Most towns. The coverage page keeps the current list." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "as": "How the scope is drawn.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "donuts-per-capita", "as": "What the counts can and cannot say.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "as": "Why prices are thin here.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:this-project", "s:wp-doughnut", "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "What this site is built from, what each thing is licensed under, and what it does not cover.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "as": "How the scope is drawn.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "name": "Where the shops actually are", "as": "What the counts can and cannot say.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "name": "The price of a dozen", "as": "Why prices are thin here.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:this-project", "kind": "web", "title": "Pink Box — this project's own reasoning", "publisher": "Pink Box", "url": "" }, { "id": "s:wp-doughnut", "kind": "web", "title": "Doughnut — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doughnut", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "inference", "source": "s:this-project" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [] }, { "id": "the-counter", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "The counter", "aliases": [ "what else is in the case" ], "sort": "counter" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "map" }, "text": { "what": "What a donut shop sells besides donuts, region by region, and what this project can show evidence for. Egg rolls in Southern California, klobasniky in Texas, breakfast burritos in New Mexico, bacon egg and cheese in New York, biscuits and gravy in the South, boba almost anywhere after 2015." }, "sections": [ { "h": "How a shop gets tagged here", "text": "A shop carries a counter tag when a source says so: its own menu, a photograph of the board, or a press piece that names the item. The tag says which. A shop with no counter tag has not been read, which is a fact about this project and not about the shop.\n\nThe national map is coarser, and says which kind of evidence it is using. OpenStreetMap rows are tagged from what the map itself records — the shop's name and its cuisine tags — so a place called \"Donut & Burrito\" lands on the burrito layer because it says so on the sign." }, { "h": "The regional shape", "text": "— **Southern California and the Central Valley**: egg rolls, chow mein, fried rice, croissant sandwiches. Cambodian-American and Chinese-American ownership, a hot case beside the donut case.\n— **Texas**: kolaches and klobasniky, from gas stations to dedicated shops, statewide and well past the Czech counties.\n— **New Mexico, Arizona, west Texas**: breakfast burritos, foil-wrapped, chile by name.\n— **New York and New Jersey**: bacon egg and cheese on a kaiser roll, mostly at delis and bodegas rather than donut shops.\n— **The South**: biscuits and gravy, and fried chicken in shops that lean that way.\n— **Hawaii**: malasadas as the main event, with the rest of the case around them.\n— **Everywhere, lately**: boba, and Korean corn dogs beside mochi donuts." }, { "h": "What the pattern is not", "text": "It is not fusion and it is not a gimmick. It is a second sale to the same customer at the same hour, in a business whose own product stops selling by mid-morning. The shop owners say this plainly when anyone asks them." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "The argument in full.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "egg-roll", "as": "California.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "klobasnek", "as": "Texas.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "breakfast-burrito", "as": "The Southwest.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "as": "New York.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "biscuits-and-gravy", "as": "The South.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "boba", "as": "The recent one.", "rel": "dish" } ], "sources": [ "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "s:wp-breakfast-burrito", "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" }, "fields": { "sections[1].text": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the regional summary draws on the cited pages for each item; the arrangement is this project's" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "What a donut shop sells besides donuts, region by region, and what this project can show evidence for.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The argument in full.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "California.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "Texas.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "breakfast-burrito", "type": "dish", "name": "Breakfast burrito", "as": "The Southwest.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "as": "New York.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "biscuits-and-gravy", "type": "dish", "name": "Biscuits and gravy", "as": "The South.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "boba", "type": "dish", "name": "Boba", "as": "The recent one.", "rel": "dish" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" }, { "id": "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "kind": "web", "title": "Klobásník — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klob%C3%A1sn%C3%ADk", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito", "kind": "web", "title": "Breakfast burrito — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_burrito", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-bacon-egg-and-cheese-sandwich", "kind": "web", "title": "Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon,_egg_and_cheese_sandwich", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "new-mexico-burrito-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Southwest burrito counter", "as": "The map of what else is in the case.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "nyc-bodega-donut", "type": "style", "name": "The New York corner counter", "as": "What else is in the case, by region.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "What else is in the case, state by state.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "as": "What else is in the case, by region.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "name": "Where the shops actually are", "as": "What those shops sell besides donuts.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "The map of it.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "The Donut King", "aliases": [ "Ted Ngoy's story" ], "sort": "donut king" }, "region": [ "socal", "cambodian-american" ], "facets": { "kind": "essay" }, "text": { "what": "How one man's shop in La Habra became a trade for a community, and what happened to the man. Ted Ngoy fled the Khmer Rouge in 1975, trained at a chain, bought a shop in 1977, and by the mid-1980s had leased shops to more than a hundred sponsored families. He also gambled it away." }, "sections": [ { "h": "Before the donuts", "text": "Ngoy was born in 1941 in Sisophon, near the Thai border, to a Chinese immigrant family; his mother, from Shantou, did not speak Khmer, which made getting by hard. Sent to Phnom Penh to study in 1967, he married Suganthini Khoeun, worked as a travel agent and a tour guide, and joined the military in 1970. Through his brother-in-law Sak Sutsakhan — chief of police and briefly president of Cambodia — he was made a major and military attaché in Thailand.\n\nIn 1975 he fled with his wife and three children and came through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program to Camp Pendleton." }, { "h": "The trade", "text": "He took a janitor's job at Peace Lutheran Church in Tustin and a second job at a gas station. He noticed how busy a local donut shop was and asked to learn. An affirmative-action hiring programme at Winchell's trained him, and he managed a store in Newport Beach, employing his wife and nephew.\n\nIn 1977 he bought Christy's Donuts in La Habra. It had not done well before. It did under the Ngoys, and they named every shop they bought after it. By 1979 there were more than 25." }, { "h": "The system", "text": "The part that mattered was not the shops but the leasing. Ngoy trained relatives and refugees and leased shops to them. \"I sponsored more than 100 families\", he said, and claimed each as kin on official documents. He lived out of a motor home to open new locations up and down California. By 1987 there were 32 Christy's; at the peak he reckoned 65.\n\nA family arrived, learned a trade in weeks, took a shop, and a few years later handed one to the next family. That is how a refugee community came to hold a large share of an American trade." }, { "h": "The fall", "text": "In 1977 the Ngoys went to Las Vegas and he saw Elvis. He also found the blackjack tables. He went back monthly for the shows and stayed for the cards, forged his wife's signature on cheques, borrowed from relatives who leased shops from him, and signed shops over when he could not repay. Refugees who had once come to him for help began to avoid him. Gamblers Anonymous did not take: \"I cry, everybody cry. After cry, go back gambling.\"" }, { "h": "What outlasted him", "text": "The shops. In 1985 he and his wife became citizens as Ted and Christy; the pink box is attributed to him and to Ning Yen, who were setting other families up in the trade. KQED reported in 2021 that roughly 90 percent of California's 5,000-plus independent donut shops were Cambodian-owned.\n\nAlice Gu's documentary The Donut King (2020) put the story in front of a national audience. Most people who recognise the pink box do not know either name." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "The man.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "as": "The shop.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "pink-box", "as": "The object.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "winchells", "as": "Where he learned.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "as": "What the shops sell beside donuts, and why.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "as": "The other name on the box.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "s:wp-the-donut-king" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" }, "fields": { "sections[4].text": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "How one man's shop in La Habra became a trade for a community, and what happened to the man.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "socal", "name": "Southern California", "state": "CA", "note": "Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire; the pink box and roughly a thousand independent shops" }, { "key": "cambodian-american", "name": "Cambodian America", "state": null, "note": "Long Beach, Stockton, Lowell, Houston; a community, not a place — and the single largest owner group in independent donuts" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "The man.", "rel": "person" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Christy's Donuts", "as": "The shop.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "pink-box", "type": "art", "name": "The pink box", "as": "The object.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The style.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "Where he learned.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "name": "Why the egg rolls", "as": "What the shops sell beside donuts, and why.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "ning-yen", "type": "person", "name": "Ning Yen", "as": "The other name on the box.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "kind": "web", "title": "Ted Ngoy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Ngoy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" }, { "id": "s:wp-cambodian-americans", "kind": "web", "title": "Cambodian Americans — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Americans", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-the-donut-king", "kind": "web", "title": "The Donut King — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Donut_King", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-ted-ngoy" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The long version: refugee, empire, gambling, return.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Christy's Donuts", "as": "The long version.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "seaside-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Seaside Donuts Bakery", "as": "How a family arrives at a fryer in Orange County.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "The long version.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "The franchise that vanished", "aliases": [ "Spudnut" ], "sort": "franchise that vanished" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "essay" }, "text": { "what": "Between 1940 and 1968 a Salt Lake City potato-flour company put more than three hundred shops on American streets. The company is gone. Some of the shops are not." }, "sections": [ { "h": "A dry mix is a business model", "text": "Al and Bob Pelton ate potato doughnuts in Germany and worked their way from wheat dough flavoured with potato water, through mashed potato, to a dry potato mix. The mix is the invention: it made the recipe shippable, and a shippable recipe can be franchised. They coined the word spudnut and opened in 1940." }, { "h": "The numbers", "text": "Franchising began in 1946. In 1948 a new franchisee paid $50 plus the cost of a hundred sacks of spudnut flour. By 1952 a franchise cost $1,750 plus equipment, about $5,000 all in — roughly $109,550 in 2024 dollars — and the Peltons were on the cover of Mechanix Illustrated under the headline \"Their Potatoes Make Dough\".\n\nOver 200 shops by 1948. More than 225 in 31 states by mid-1949. More than 300 in 38 states by 1954. 315 by 1968. The advertising ran \"Coast to coast… Alaska to Mexico\", with a cartoon Mr. Spudnut in parades." }, { "h": "What is left", "text": "The parent company no longer exists. Independent shops still trade under the name.\n\n*Inference —* that is the most common shape of survival in this trade. Daylight Donuts, the Tulsa mix company founded in 1954, still supplies roughly 950 independently owned shops; if it went tomorrow the signs would stay up and the shops would keep frying. The infrastructure of American donuts is mostly flour suppliers and second-hand equipment, and both outlive their companies." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "as": "The model.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "daylight-donuts", "as": "The one still running.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "mr-spudnut", "as": "The mascot.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "as": "What that leaves on the street.", "rel": "story" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "s:wp-daylight-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" }, "fields": { "sections[2].text": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Between 1940 and 1968 a Salt Lake City potato-flour company put more than three hundred shops on American streets. The company is gone. Some of the shops are not.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The donut.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "The model.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Daylight Donuts", "as": "The one still running.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "mr-spudnut", "type": "art", "name": "Mr. Spudnut and the mascots", "as": "The mascot.", "rel": "art" }, { "to": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "as": "What that leaves on the street.", "rel": "story" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Daylight Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-spudnut-shops" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "How a 300-shop system leaves independent shops behind.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "the-price-of-a-dozen", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "The price of a dozen", "aliases": [ "what donuts cost" ], "sort": "price of a dozen" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "essay" }, "text": { "what": "A price without its date is not a price. This page holds the dated ones this project can actually cite, which is not many, and says plainly what is missing." }, "sections": [ { "h": "What is on the record here", "text": "**39 cents each, 1 June 1968, North Kingstown, Rhode Island.** Frederick Alvin \"Allie\" Briggs opened Allie's Hand-Cut Do-nut Shop with about forty dollars in hand and a seven-thousand-dollar debt, and took $38 on the first day selling close to a hundred dozen.\n\n**$50 plus a hundred sacks of flour, 1948.** What a new Spudnut Shops franchisee paid to open. By 1952 a franchise cost $1,750 plus equipment — an initial investment of about $5,000, or roughly $109,550 in 2024 dollars.\n\n**2,400 calories and 144 grams of fat in a dozen, from 2004 onward.** Not a price, but the only per-dozen figure in this directory that somebody published — the Krispy Kreme Challenge prints it on the rules." }, { "h": "What is missing, and why", "text": "Menu prices with dates, for the shops written up here. A donut price changes faster than a record does, and an undated price on a directory page is worse than no price: a reader plans around it.\n\nThis project prints a price only with the date it was read and the source it came from. That leaves the page thin, and thin is the accurate state of it." }, { "h": "What a dozen costs now", "text": "Not answered here. A national average would need dated menu reads across the country, which this project has not done. *Inference —* the spread is wide: a strip-mall dozen and a made-to-order dozen at a shop like Pip's are not the same product and are not priced as if they were." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "the-dozen", "as": "The unit.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "allies-donuts", "as": "The 1968 price.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The franchise fee.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "as": "The published dozen.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "pips-original", "as": "The other end of the range.", "rel": "place" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-allie-s-donuts", "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" }, "fields": { "sections[2].text": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A price without its date is not a price. This page holds the dated ones this project can actually cite, which is not many, and says plainly what is missing.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "name": "The dozen", "as": "The unit.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "allies-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Allie's Donuts", "as": "The 1968 price.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The franchise fee.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "krispy-kreme-challenge", "type": "event", "name": "Krispy Kreme Challenge", "as": "The published dozen.", "rel": "event" }, { "to": "pips-original", "type": "place", "name": "Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai", "as": "The other end of the range.", "rel": "place" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Allie's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allie%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-krispy-kreme-challenge", "kind": "web", "title": "Krispy Kreme Challenge — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krispy_Kreme_Challenge", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-allie-s-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "novelty-donut-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The novelty shop", "as": "Where it sits on price.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "doughnut-plant", "type": "place", "name": "Doughnut Plant", "as": "Where a five-dollar donut sits.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "pips-original", "type": "place", "name": "Pip's Original Doughnuts & Chai", "as": "Where made-to-order sits on the price map.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "the-dozen", "type": "term", "name": "The dozen", "as": "What it costs, with dates.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "free-to-use", "type": "story", "name": "Where all of this came from", "as": "Why prices are thin here.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "the-sign-outlives-the-owner", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "The sign outlives the owner", "aliases": [ "reading a donut shop sign" ], "sort": "sign outlives owner" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "essay" }, "text": { "what": "Donut shop signs are older than the businesses behind them, which makes them unreliable evidence and excellent evidence at the same time." }, "sections": [ { "h": "Names that stayed put", "text": "Donut Wheel in Livermore was started in 1962 by Jack and Jean Weil, and got its name because a colleague heard Weil as \"wheel\". They sold in 1972. It has changed hands several times since and kept the name.\n\nRandy's Donuts was a Big Donut Drive-In until 1976, when Robert Eskow bought it and named it after his son. Eskow sold it in 1978 to Ron and Larry Weintraub, who kept it. It was sold again in 2015. There has been no Randy behind the counter for most of the sign's life.\n\nChristy's Donuts was named after Christy Ngoy. Shops trading as Christy's exist in Southern California today; this project has not established which, if any, descend from those shops." }, { "h": "Franchises that left their signs behind", "text": "Spudnut Shops numbered more than 300 in 38 states by 1954 and 315 by 1968; the parent company no longer exists, and independent shops still trade under the name. A Spudnut sign today marks a shop that outlived a system.\n\nWinchell's went from 293 shops in 1999 to about 100 in six states by 2025. The chain shrank; the independents its training seeded multiplied." }, { "h": "What this means for reading a map", "text": "*Inference —* the name on a donut shop is closer to a place name than a brand: it tells you what the corner has been called, not who is inside. A directory that treats the sign as the owner will be wrong on both counts, so this project records ownership only where a source names it." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "donut-wheel", "as": "Four owners, one name.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "as": "No Randy.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "as": "The name that spread.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The vanished franchise.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "winchells", "as": "The chain that shrank.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "mom-and-pop", "as": "Why the sign is not the test.", "rel": "term" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-donut-wheel", "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts", "s:wp-ted-ngoy" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-wheel" }, "fields": { "sections[2].text": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "Donut shop signs are older than the businesses behind them, which makes them unreliable evidence and excellent evidence at the same time.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "donut-wheel", "type": "place", "name": "Donut Wheel", "as": "Four owners, one name.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "randys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Randy's Donuts", "as": "No Randy.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "christys-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Christy's Donuts", "as": "The name that spread.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The vanished franchise.", "rel": "donut" }, { "to": "winchells", "type": "org", "name": "Winchell's Donut House", "as": "The chain that shrank.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "mom-and-pop", "type": "term", "name": "Mom-and-pop", "as": "Why the sign is not the test.", "rel": "term" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-donut-wheel", "kind": "web", "title": "Donut Wheel — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donut_Wheel", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-randy-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Randy's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-winchell-s-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Winchell's Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchell%27s_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "kind": "web", "title": "Ted Ngoy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Ngoy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-donut-wheel" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "donut-wheel", "type": "place", "name": "Donut Wheel", "as": "Why the name on the window is not the family inside.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "neon-donut", "type": "art", "name": "Neon and the lit sign", "as": "What that does to a directory.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "the-franchise-that-vanished", "type": "story", "name": "The franchise that vanished", "as": "What that leaves on the street.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "what-is-a-mom-and-pop", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "What counts as a mom-and-pop", "aliases": [ "the independence line" ], "sort": "what counts as a mom-and-pop" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "essay" }, "text": { "what": "This site is about independent donut shops, which means it needs a rule for what that is. The rule used here: a shop is independent when no company owns it. The name on the window is not the test, and neither is whose flour is in the mixer." }, "sections": [ { "h": "Why the sign is no help", "text": "Every Daylight Donuts store is independently owned and operated, and there are roughly 950 of them in 13 countries. The company in Tulsa sells mix — it started in 1954 as a flour company, with Tommy and Lucille Day making donut mix in the mornings and selling it out of the trunk of their car in the afternoons.\n\nSpudnut Shops worked the same way from 1940 with a dry potato mix: more than 300 shops in 38 states by 1954, 315 by 1968, and then the parent company disappeared. Shops still trading under the name are not a chain; they are what a chain left behind." }, { "h": "The other direction", "text": "A shop can look independent and not be. Top Pot makes donuts at two Seattle-area kitchens and trucks them to seventeen cafés, and supplies recipes to more than 7,000 Starbucks stores. Blue Star manufactures in one Portland facility and distributes to its shops rather than putting a fryer in each one.\n\nNeither is doing anything wrong. But a reader looking for a family frying at two in the morning should be told the difference." }, { "h": "The rule", "text": "A shop counts as independent here when no company owns it, whatever the sign says. Where this project knows that a shop is owned by the family working in it, the record says so and names the source. Where it does not know, the record says nothing — which is where most shops in this directory currently stand." }, { "h": "Chains in the data", "text": "The national map carries chain-owned locations too, marked as chains, because leaving them out would misrepresent what is on the ground and because OpenStreetMap records them by brand. Filtering them off is one click; pretending they are not there would be a different kind of map." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "mom-and-pop", "as": "The term.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "as": "The style that complicates it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "daylight-donuts", "as": "950 signs, 950 owners.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "top-pot-doughnuts", "as": "Central kitchen, many cafés.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "spudnut", "as": "The franchise that vanished.", "rel": "donut" } ], "sources": [ "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts", "s:wp-blue-star-donuts" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" }, "fields": { "sections[2].text": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the rule is this project's own, stated as such" }, "sections[3].text": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "This site is about independent donut shops, which means it needs a rule for what that is. The rule used here: a shop is independent when no company owns it.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "mom-and-pop", "type": "term", "name": "Mom-and-pop", "as": "The term.", "rel": "term" }, { "to": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "The style that complicates it.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "daylight-donuts", "type": "org", "name": "Daylight Donuts", "as": "950 signs, 950 owners.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "top-pot-doughnuts", "type": "place", "name": "Top Pot Doughnuts", "as": "Central kitchen, many cafés.", "rel": "place" }, { "to": "spudnut", "type": "donut", "name": "Spudnut", "as": "The franchise that vanished.", "rel": "donut" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:wp-daylight-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Daylight Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-spudnut-shops", "kind": "web", "title": "Spudnut Shops — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spudnut_Shops", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-top-pot-doughnuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Top Pot Doughnuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Pot_Doughnuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-blue-star-donuts", "kind": "web", "title": "Blue Star Donuts — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Star_Donuts", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:wp-daylight-donuts" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "tulsa-mix-shop", "type": "style", "name": "The mix-and-sign shop", "as": "Where this project draws the line, and why it is blurry.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "top-pot-doughnuts", "type": "place", "name": "Top Pot Doughnuts", "as": "Where a shop stops being one.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "mom-and-pop", "type": "term", "name": "Mom-and-pop", "as": "Where this project draws the line.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "donuts-per-capita", "type": "story", "name": "Where the shops actually are", "as": "What is being counted.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "free-to-use", "type": "story", "name": "Where all of this came from", "as": "How the scope is drawn.", "rel": "story" } ] }, { "id": "why-the-egg-rolls", "type": "story", "names": { "name": "Why the egg rolls", "aliases": [ "the second menu", "donuts and Chinese food" ], "sort": "why egg rolls" }, "region": [ "us" ], "facets": { "kind": "essay" }, "text": { "what": "A donut shop that also sells egg rolls, or breakfast burritos, or bacon egg and cheese, or kolaches, is not being eccentric. It is doing arithmetic out loud. The people running those shops have said so in print, repeatedly, and this page collects what they said." }, "sections": [ { "h": "The answer, from the people doing it", "text": "Jolly Chan opened China Express and Donut by the 24th Street BART station in San Francisco in 1993. He had come from Cambodia in 1981. Asked by KQED in 2021 why the two menus sit together, he said the combination \"came out of necessity\" — \"We have to sell more stuff to make up the rent and the expense.\" His customer base, he said, was 80 percent Latino.\n\nThat is the whole mechanism. A donut shop's trade is over by ten in the morning. The rent is not." }, { "h": "Who was in the shops", "text": "Ted Ngoy, a Cambodian refugee who reached Camp Pendleton in 1975, trained at Winchell's, bought Christy's Donuts in La Habra in 1977, and then leased shops to relatives and to refugee families he sponsored — more than a hundred, by his own account. KQED reported that roughly 90 percent of California's 5,000-plus independent donut shops were Cambodian-owned.\n\nA trade that arrives through one community carries that community's other food with it, and a fryer that is already hot does not care what goes in it." }, { "h": "The same arithmetic, different accents", "text": "The pattern repeats wherever an early-morning counter needs a second product:\n\n— Southern California: egg rolls, chow mein and fried rice in a warmer beside the case.\n— Texas: kolaches, and above all klobasniky — sausage in kolache dough — which means the shop runs an oven as well as a kettle.\n— New Mexico and the Southwest: breakfast burritos, wrapped in foil, red or green.\n— New York: the bacon, egg and cheese on a kaiser roll, at a deli or bodega where the donuts are bought in.\n— The South: biscuits and gravy.\n— The 2020s: boba, and Korean corn dogs beside mochi donuts.\n\n*Inference —* the second menu is the most reliable sign that a shop is owned by the people working in it. A company-owned store sells what the company prints." }, { "h": "Why it gets read wrong", "text": "The combination gets written up as a quirk — as a joke about America, or a listicle item. The shops are describing a cost structure. Dorothy Chow, whose father built B & H Bakery Distributors after surviving the Cambodian genocide, told KQED he started it \"to help our own people\": the supply chain behind these shops was built by the same community that runs them.\n\nThis project tags what a shop sells beside its donuts, names where the tag came from, and leaves the quirk to somebody else." } ], "kin": [ { "to": "egg-roll", "as": "The item that names the argument.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "as": "The style it belongs to.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "breakfast-burrito", "as": "The Southwestern version.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "klobasnek", "as": "The Texan version.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "as": "The New York version.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-counter", "as": "The map of it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "b-and-h-distributors", "as": "Who supplies the shops.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "ted-ngoy", "as": "How the trade arrived.", "rel": "person" } ], "sources": [ "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "s:wp-egg-roll", "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "s:wp-breakfast-burrito" ], "provenance": { "default": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" }, "fields": { "sections[2].text": { "tier": "inference", "note": "the regional list is cited item by item on its own pages; the closing reading is this project's" }, "sections[3].text": { "tier": "inference" } } }, "schema": 1, "confidence": "high", "updated": "2026-09-16", "blurb": "A donut shop that also sells egg rolls, or breakfast burritos, or bacon egg and cheese, or kolaches, is not being eccentric. It is doing arithmetic out loud.", "region_terms": [ { "key": "us", "name": "The United States", "state": null, "note": "use when a node belongs to the whole country" } ], "kin_out": [ { "to": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "The item that names the argument.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "The style it belongs to.", "rel": "style" }, { "to": "breakfast-burrito", "type": "dish", "name": "Breakfast burrito", "as": "The Southwestern version.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "klobasnek", "type": "dish", "name": "Klobasnek", "as": "The Texan version.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "bacon-egg-and-cheese", "type": "dish", "name": "Bacon, egg and cheese", "as": "The New York version.", "rel": "dish" }, { "to": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "The map of it.", "rel": "story" }, { "to": "b-and-h-distributors", "type": "org", "name": "B & H Bakery Distributors", "as": "Who supplies the shops.", "rel": "org" }, { "to": "ted-ngoy", "type": "person", "name": "Ted Ngoy", "as": "How the trade arrived.", "rel": "person" } ], "source_list": [ { "id": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese", "kind": "article", "title": "Why Donuts + Chinese Food = A Very Californian Combination", "author": "Asal Ehsanipour", "publisher": "KQED", "url": "https://www.kqed.org/news/11871915/why-donuts-chinese-food-a-very-californian-combination", "year": 2021, "accessed": "2026-09-16", "note": "published 6 May 2021, updated 1 January 2025" }, { "id": "s:wp-ted-ngoy", "kind": "web", "title": "Ted Ngoy — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Ngoy", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-egg-roll", "kind": "web", "title": "Egg roll — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_roll", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-klob-sn-k", "kind": "web", "title": "Klobásník — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klob%C3%A1sn%C3%ADk", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" }, { "id": "s:wp-breakfast-burrito", "kind": "web", "title": "Breakfast burrito — Wikipedia", "publisher": "Wikipedia", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_burrito", "accessed": "2026-09-16", "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0" } ], "tiers": { "text.what": { "tier": "cited", "source": "s:kqed-donuts-chinese" } }, "primary_image": null, "tag_facts": [], "recognition_facts": [], "acclaim": 0, "kin_in": [ { "from": "delta-grocery-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Delta grocery counter", "as": "The same arithmetic, on a different river.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "new-mexico-burrito-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Southwest burrito counter", "as": "Why any of these counters sell something savoury at all.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "socal-pink-box", "type": "style", "name": "The Southern California pink box", "as": "Rent arithmetic, told by the people who did it.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "texas-kolache-counter", "type": "style", "name": "The Texas kolache counter", "as": "The same arithmetic, a different second menu.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "biscuits-and-gravy", "type": "dish", "name": "Biscuits and gravy", "as": "The same arithmetic, in a different accent.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "breakfast-burrito", "type": "dish", "name": "Breakfast burrito", "as": "Why the savoury item is there at all.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "egg-roll", "type": "dish", "name": "Egg roll", "as": "The whole argument, told by the people running the shops.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "fried-rice", "type": "dish", "name": "Fried rice and chow mein", "as": "The argument.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "federal-donuts", "type": "place", "name": "Federal Donuts", "as": "The same two-menu logic, with a chef's name on it.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "b-and-h-distributors", "type": "org", "name": "B & H Bakery Distributors", "as": "The same reporting.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "mochinut", "type": "org", "name": "Mochinut", "as": "The play.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "hand-lettered-board", "type": "art", "name": "The hand-lettered board", "as": "What tends to be written on the card.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "the-counter", "type": "story", "name": "The counter", "as": "The argument in full.", "rel": "story" }, { "from": "the-donut-king", "type": "story", "name": "The Donut King", "as": "What the shops sell beside donuts, and why.", "rel": "story" } ] } ] }