Desserts for/with/after Lunch: Take Your Pick

I found out this morning from Jack, one of my faculty foodie friends, that today was National Donut Day. As was the case for this site, something didn’t seem right, as I remembered celebrating donuts during a previous autumn. Then again, why only celebrate food 25% of the year? After a brief search (and continued research for this post), I learned there’s a difference between today’s holiday and that which is celebrated on November 5th. Celebrated every first Friday of June (coincidentally, this year just after the national anniversary celebration of D-Day), National Donut Day was begun in 1938 by the Chicago Salvation Army not only as a much-needed fund raiser during the Great Depression, but as a celebration and commemoration of the “Lassies," female volunteers who brought food and morale boosts to the front line troops during WWI.  By contrast, the November 5th food holiday is National Doughnut Day (aka, Doughnut Appreciation Day), which celebrates the foodstuff (and which I think would be the more appropriate time to promote free donuts, especially if the promotion doesn't include the history; oh, the irony). Rooted in Europe and first referred to in writing in Washington Irving's 1809 text A History of New York (in which he writes of "sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat"-- no wonder I'm drawn to these), donuts were sought after by troops longing for the fried treats that were being served in France (as mentioned in the above clip). Well, whichever way you spell it and whenever you choose to neglect any sense of a diet (or perhaps even to reward yourself), fried dough is definitely something I can enjoy on any day ending in “y” and today was no exception. Thankfully, Sarah, a constant cheerleader and supporter from across the Academic Quad, was willing to join me in an extended lunchtime exploration of the local food scene, complete with donuts... and key lime pie. (All in the name of proper research, of course!)