The Hole Story of the Doughnut

Before 1847, sailors commonly ate small fried cakes whose greasy centers made them heavy. Hanson Gregory, a sixteen-year-old cook’s assistant on a schooner, listened to complaints about these “sinkers” and cut out their centers with the top of a pepper shaker before frying them. The changed cakes proved popular. When Hanson returned home, his mother made the new holey cakes to sell on the docks, and other ships’ cooks began making them as well. The narrative also includes later tall tales about the doughnut’s invention.