WEBVTT - 9 Very Important Facts About Donuts 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.479 You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:07.640 and iHeartRadio. 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:14.400 Guess what Will? What's that Mango? 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:17.880 So you know what I think is completely underrated, like 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.520 criminally underrated, is Intimen's Donuts. 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:23.160 Oh heck, yeah, I'm with John. 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:26.000 I mean, when I was a kid, I loved Intimate 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:28.400 so much, and today I feel like you only see 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:30.920 occasional references to them. You know, you might see him 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:33.720 on Seinfeld or sometimes on thirty Rock episodes where Tina 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:37.000 fags them a shoutout. But as a kid, I loved 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.320 anytime my mom brought home those powdered donuts or or 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.360 even the chocolate covered ones as a tree. And you know, 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:45.360 I just thought mister and missus Edemon must have been 0:00:45.400 --> 0:00:47.159 like the luckiest person in the world because they could 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:50.720 just snag donuts whenever they wanted. But it turns out 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.040 there actually was an actual mister Entemen and a whole 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:58.080 family of Entemens. They started with a bakery in Brooklyn 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:01.120 and then they moved out to Breezy Bay, Shore Long Island, 0:01:01.640 --> 0:01:03.560 and they were kind of a big deal. Like they 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:06.080 used to sell cakes to franksin Natra. Did you know 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.959 that I did not know this. No, yeah, it's pretty amazing. 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.840 And then eventually they started selling straight to grocery stores 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.720 across the country. But I actually had no idea how 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:18.839 big their operation was. They ran a fourteen acre pastream 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:23.160 factory turning out delicious donuts along with crumbcakes and other 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.120 treats that I'm sure everyone knows about. But that's like 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:29.560 twelve football fields lined up just for delicious doughnuts. 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:31.600 And that would have been a dream as a kid, 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.959 you know. And I throw in as a kid so 0:01:35.040 --> 0:01:37.360 as not tap to embarrass myself by saying, it's actually 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:39.279 a dream now to just be able to go stand 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:42.200 around that many donuts. That's wild, I know, I know. 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:44.839 But when the longest serving entimen, Charles, died a couple 0:01:44.840 --> 0:01:47.360 of years ago at the healthy age of ninety two, 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:49.000 do you know what his sun revealed? 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:51.080 What's that that he. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:54.520 Never ate the treats? His son said, he just wasn't 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:56.120 a dessert guy. Is that insane? 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.680 That is ridiculous and one of the saddest things I've 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:00.160 ever heard. 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:03.040 I know, But it's just one of nine facts you 0:02:03.160 --> 0:02:05.000 absolutely have to know about donuts. 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:28.400 So let's dig in. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:31.079 Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.360 joined by my good friend Mangesh hot Ticketter and on 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.760 the other side of the soundproof glass. Oh, this is 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:39.000 an interesting one, Mango. Dylan has this big sign and 0:02:39.040 --> 0:02:43.640 it says no donut left behind. Yeah, he's looking really 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:45.320 serious about this, and he's got a whole bunch of 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.520 pastries out on the table. I think he's got some Zeppees, 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:52.000 some Cruilers, some Munchkins, the whole variety here. I think 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:55.160 there's actually some Berliners in there. So apparently he wants 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.239 to shed some light on the varieties of donuts without 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:59.920 holes and give them their due. You know, Dylan is 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.840 just so considerate, he really is. That's our friend and 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.400 producer of course, and Fagan. So, Mango, are you a 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.280 big donut guy? I mean I like donuts. I find 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:10.519 them delightful with coffee. 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.639 We've got a donut plant nearros so we go out 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:15.519 to donuts occasionally, but they're not generally something I crave 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:17.880 these days. You know, when I'm around them, I definitely 0:03:17.919 --> 0:03:21.519 eat too many. But weirdly, my biggest memory with donuts 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:24.520 is from when I was a kid. Our pediatric dentist 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:28.239 was right next to a Dunkin Donuts, and every time 0:03:28.280 --> 0:03:30.240 I was done with an appointment, we would go get 0:03:30.240 --> 0:03:30.720 a donut. 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:32.000 And it just feels so. 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.160 I get a sugar retreat after, you know, take care 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:38.560 of your teeth and get fluoride on them or whatever. 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:40.840 That makes me like your parents that much more. Mango, 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:41.680 that's pretty awesome. 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:43.840 And my dentist was also awesome. So like, the whole 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:46.560 experience was wonderful. But are you a donutut? 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.400 I love donuts, Mango, and I actually you were talking 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:53.680 about Intemen's earlier. So there's another variety called donuts. I 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:55.840 don't know if you call them donuts or donuts what 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.840 I'm really sure they come in the little bags. And 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:00.680 so you know this. There's a g people that I 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.200 get together every year. We go to a different place 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:05.720 around the country and we make up our own race 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:07.880 somewhere in the woods. And every year, and I'm not 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.200 making this up, we always bring bags of chocolate and 0:04:11.240 --> 0:04:15.080 white powdered donuts and everybody gets one and you hold 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:16.680 it up in the air for a photo and then 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:18.840 you eat it because it gives you that TurboPower to 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.560 run the race. I don't know where the science is 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:23.520 behind that, but we do that every year. But there's 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.080 a lot of signs behind that, so much science behind 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:28.280 it. It helps you run super great in the woods. It's 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.160 specifically the woods. A donut helps you run. But anyway, 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:33.880 we should eventually get into this episode, So why don't 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:35.520 you start by giving us just a little bit of 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:39.400 donut background on why we're doing this show on donuts. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.719 Yeah. So one of the interesting things about donuts is 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.640 that they're just about every culture in some form, Like 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.880 the Smithsonian says that there are fossils of fried dough 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.720 on ancient indigenous settlements in the Southwest, And of course 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.320 you can still eat like incredibly yummy fried dough and 0:04:55.400 --> 0:05:00.200 fry bread and soapapias from indigenous bakers there today. And 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.120 I don't think you can overstate just how much donuts 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.359 actually tie the world together. At least three of the 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.840 world's major religions have traditions of fried dough for key celebrations, 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:14.160 including Hanukkah, Ramadan and Bennet's for like Fat Tuesday and Carnival. 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:17.320 And with over ten billion donuts made in the US 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:21.080 each year, Americans really can't get enough. So with today's episode, 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:23.200 we thought, you know, maybe we could bring the whole 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.839 world together with something delicious and celebrate the donuts many 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:28.560 gifts to modern mankind. 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.479 So what fact do you want to kick off with today? 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.880 I just got chill bumps with you, say, bit, that's 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.200 pretty great. Well, you know my fondness for maritime history, 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.680 so naturally my first fact comes from the sea. So 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.840 without a sailor and a bunch of queasy stomachs at sea, 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:47.680 we might not have the standard donut shape that we're 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.119 all super familiar with. And it goes back to about 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:53.680 eighteen forty seven. There was a sailor named Hanson Gregory 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.599 and he was making his way up the maritime corporate ladder. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.359 He was actually only sixteen years old, which I guess 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:04.240 at that point that wasn't super young, but still that's impressive. Exactly, So, 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.760 Gregory was working on ships in the lime trade, and 0:06:06.800 --> 0:06:09.320 this was off the coast of his native state of Maine. 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:12.200 So his mother, like any good mother, would pack donuts 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:14.440 to see with him. And these aren't just to send 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.200 him like a taste of home, but apparently also as 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:18.960 a way to word off scurvy. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:22.039 Now I don't normally think of donuts as like a 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.400 way to ward off scurvy, So what was special about 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:25.040 these donuts? 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.240 I did not either, but miss Gregory might have because 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.520 she put lemon rind into her cakes. At that point 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:34.000 in time, in the early US, donuts were just big 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.640 lumps of dough that were fried in animal fat. Now, 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:38.960 on the upside, they were supposed to keep well, which 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.640 is why she prepared her spiced and lemon scented cake 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:45.000 that way. But on the downside, Hanson said that the 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.400 donuts were so greasy. In fact, the donuts would often 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:50.800 just sort of sit in his fellow sailors tummies and 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:52.960 it would give them aches and pains and just make 0:06:53.000 --> 0:06:56.720 them pretty uncomfortable. So why is that Well, part of 0:06:56.760 --> 0:06:59.760 the reason is that they often weren't cooked through completely. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.560 But Gregory had a solution to this. So the way 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:04.680 he tells it, and this is actually reported in the 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.400 Washington Post back in nineteen sixteen, when Gregory was back 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.280 on land in the town of Quincy, Massachusetts, he took 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.080 a tin cap to a pepper jar and started cutting 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:17.720 out the oily undercook centers of these donuts. And then 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:19.880 later on one of his short leaves. He had a 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.080 tinsmith make him this cutter that would help make that 0:07:23.120 --> 0:07:24.840 hole in the center, and he left it with his 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:27.520 mother to make new donuts with this hole taken out, 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.360 and she started selling them around home and they just 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:34.560 kind of took off. So fried dough without the greasy center, 0:07:34.760 --> 0:07:36.040 what's not to like about this? 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:40.600 So, I mean, obviously, like you're taking out this disgusting 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:43.760 middle part that isn't cooked through, Like, does he end 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:46.560 up copyriting this ten like, you know, he's improved the 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:47.480 donut in a major way. 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:50.480 Now, Yeah, it's a really good question. So Hanson actually 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.280 told the Post, I don't suppose Perry could patent the 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.400 North Pole or Columbus could pat in America. Instead, he 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.000 let the world have his delicious innovation. But that didn't 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:01.920 keep him from bragging about what he brought to the 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:02.560 table here. 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.720 So I'm guessing he doesn't get a piece of like 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.600 this multi billion dollar donut industry. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.960 All of which really has him to think, Yeah, it's 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.600 really wild. If he knew what was eventually coming, he 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:14.440 might have wanted more of a piece of it, but 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:17.480 he certainly kept the bragging rights, and wildly enough, he 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.120 told the Post that story from a sailor's retirement home 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.600 in Quincy, Massachusetts, which is also the home of the 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:27.880 original Dunkin Donuts just thirty five years later. Anyway, I 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:29.600 thought that was pretty interesting. So what he got next 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:29.920 to mego? 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:32.960 So the next fact I have is that donuts were 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:36.360 named in the nineteen thirty four Chicago World's Fair, which 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.199 was referred to as the Century of Progress Fair, and 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.120 they were declared the food hit of the century. Now, 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.559 oddly enough, donuts were supposed to be a vision of 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:47.960 the future, and the reason kind of goes back to 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:50.440 the same issue Henson Gregory was trying to solve for. 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:54.800 So donuts cooked in vats of lard were super, super greasy. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.320 In fact, the original Dutch name for that kind of 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.440 donut that became really popular in New York and up 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.520 and down the Eastern Seaboard was oily cake, which you know, 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:04.000 doesn't sound so appetizing. 0:09:04.000 --> 0:09:04.959 It's not great branding. 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:09.000 But more than that, doughnuts were also really really stinky, 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:12.080 Like they had this foul smell that theatergoers in New 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:16.080 York City actually like complained about because these stale oily 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:19.120 aromas were just waffed through the air. And so there 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.280 was this theater in New York. There's a Russian Jewish 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.480 immigrant named Adolph Levitt, and he was frying up donuts 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:27.240 the traditional way. But then he comes up with something 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.160 in genius and he invents a way to keep all 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:33.559 that funk and closed with a donut machine. 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:35.760 Well that's a brilliant move. So how did he do that? 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:38.760 Was it maybe a little less hog fat or what? Yeah, 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:39.560 I mean that's part of it. 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:41.839 But it took him from nineteen twenty when he had 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.439 this idea to nineteen thirty one when he debuted this 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:48.840 spectacular machine in the window of his Mayflower Donuts in Harlem, 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.199 New York. It was the same machine he took to 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.880 the nineteen thirty four World Spare and that he sold 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:56.880 through catalogs to bakeries around the country. The machine used 0:09:56.920 --> 0:10:00.160 forty percent less oil than traditional methods, but even better 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:02.800 than all of that, he used blowers to get rid 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.760 of the smell, and I enclosed the whole process and 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:09.320 glass which you kept in the odor. But most importantly, 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:11.560 donuts became entertainment. 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:14.480 Oh wow, that long ago. So when I think of 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:17.960 this whole thing, like watching donuts go across the conveyor belt. 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.640 That whole bit. I associate that with Krispy Kreme, like 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:22.760 my kids used to love going to those stores. In 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.080 two hundreds pro sets the belt that forever and ever. 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:26.320 Is this the precursor to that? 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:26.600 Or what? 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:27.640 Yeah? Totally is. 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.160 So his machine drew crowds to the windows. In fact, 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:31.960 the New Yorker covered it for Talk of the Town 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:36.160 and they wrote, quote, doughnuts float dreamily through a grease 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:40.000 canal and a glass enclosed machine, walk dreamily up a 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.520 moving ramp, and tumble dreamily into an outgoing basket. 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:44.439 It is. 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.920 And for all of that dreaminess, it was an efficient machine. 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:52.360 It actually cranked out twelve hundred doughnuts every hour. And 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:54.360 that meant that not only could he draw people in 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.760 with the excitement of watching this automated process, which felt 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.480 like watching the future, but he could all also sell 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.760 them fresh. People could get hot doughnuts by the dozens, 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.240 and it no longer bothered neighbors because the problem with 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:09.679 the smell was completely dealt with. So mister Levitt that 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:13.720 first year he cleared twenty five million dollars, which is 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.720 about a half billion dollars today. And Levitt's business partner 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:19.520 made it sound like God's work. He said that the 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.760 machine quote has taken the donut out of the mire 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.520 of prejudice that surrounded the heavy, grease soaked product of 0:11:26.559 --> 0:11:29.600 the old oaken bucket and made it into a light, 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.040 puffy product of a machine. It's so amazing that all 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.360 of this is documented. But one last thing about Levitt 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:38.520 and his machine. Arthur Levitt was an avowed optimist, and 0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:41.640 all around his Mayflower Donuts he had printed quote, as 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:43.800 you go through life, make this your goal. 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:48.080 Wash the donut, not the hole. That's pretty awesome. I mean, 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.360 I don't know exactly what it means, but it has 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.439 no meaning, but it's also pretty great. I love it, 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.280 and I can only imagine that kind of optimism is 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.880 what got Fred the Baker into the donut business. Do 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.400 you remember Fred the Baker? Mango, of course, time to 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.360 make the donuts. Yes, he sounded a little weary and 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.360 didn't sound super optimistic about it, but he's the subject 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.439 of our next fact. So for younger listeners, Fred the 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:12.360 Baker was an iconic character in the Duncan Donuts ads 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.720 from nineteen eighty one all the way up till nineteen 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.160 ninety seven. So you'd see him clocking at the store 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:19.800 before dawn, heading back to make the donuts. And the 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.400 whole idea was to show that these donuts were always 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:26.200 being made fresh right there at Duncan, unlike supermarkets, which 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:29.199 I guess is where everybody else was buying donuts. Anyway. 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.200 It was played by a character actor and named Michael Vale, 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:35.000 who had a poor man's Tom Selleck stash about him, 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:38.760 and the ad campaign was this huge hit. People loved 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.840 Fred the Baker. But after about fifteen years, Duncan was 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:44.240 ready to move on to a new campaign. Sure, but 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.360 they worried what might happen given just how much everybody 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:50.520 loved Fred. So Duncan decided to do their due diligence 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:52.880 and they asked customers what they would think if Fred 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.760 the Baker just kind of stopped showing up in commercials, 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.280 maybe moved off to a farm somewhere. And guess what 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.480 they said. I mean, I'd expect people to argue for 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:07.199 his job. Almost they actually argued for him to get retirement. 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:09.920 Apparently they said Fred could leave if he were treated 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:13.360 like an honored friend and employee. So Duncan Donuts gave 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.000 him a big retirement party including a parade in Boston 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:20.240 and free donuts to over six million customers on his 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:24.160 retirement day. This was September twenty second, nineteen ninety seven, 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:27.079 and it's a sad little coda. Four years later, actor 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:30.400 Michael Vale actually died about the same exact time that 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:34.199 Duncan stopped making their donuts in store. No more Fred 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.920 Baker in all the senses. That's really interesting. 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:40.000 You know, I kind of want to see that survey 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:42.840 because it feels like, you know, if the options are 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.520 Firefred or give him a big retirement party including a parade, 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:48.480 like of course. 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.520 People are going to choose that. Yeah, yeah, which which 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:52.240 ones of these would you choose? 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.920 So? Yeah, okay, Well, the s fifth fact is about 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.640 a man named Ted Nagoy and he's actually the reason 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.000 that four out of five donut shops in southern California 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:05.840 are owned by Cambodian refugees and their families. 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.120 I've actually always thought that was fascinating. So how did 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.040 Cambodians get so involved in US donut culture? 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:14.680 So Ted came to the US in nineteen seventy five. 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.160 This was with a wave of nearly half a million 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.120 refugees from Cambodia, where at the time the dictator Polpod 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.760 and the Khmer Rouge had taken over, and those immigrants 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.200 by and large came to the US through Camp Pendleton, 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:29.320 which is south of Orange County. 0:14:29.640 --> 0:14:29.800 Now. 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:31.880 Eventually, Ted got a job as a janitor in a 0:14:31.960 --> 0:14:34.680 church in the OC and another job as a gas 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:38.120 station attendant overnight. And while he was working at this 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:40.800 gas station, he saw what a great business the donut 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:43.640 shop next door was. Eventually he was tempted to go 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:46.040 over to try a donut on one of his breaks, 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:48.720 and he found out that donuts were not only delicious, 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.360 it actually felt kind of familiar. So numb Kong is 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:55.680 this treat from Cambodia that was fried dough made in 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.600 a ring shape, you know, just like donuts, except numb 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.480 kong were made out of rice flour. And he really 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.520 loved these donuts. He became a regular and he thought 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:07.640 about selling them himself. So he asked a woman at 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.520 the counter, was there any hope for him to own 0:15:10.520 --> 0:15:13.640 a shop like this, and they actually suggested he applied 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.520 to the management program for their donut chain, which was Winchel's. Now, 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:19.560 he convinced the pastor at his church where he was 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:23.040 janitor to sponsor him, and the pastor obliged, and he 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.520 became the first Southeast Asian to go through this program. Now, 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:28.200 of course, he made a big change when he started 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:31.560 managing his own shop. He put his wife, Sangatini and 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:35.760 his kids to work. He barely slept. But you know, 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:38.520 in actually not that long, he had enough to buy 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:42.480 a local donut shop called Christie's. Now, what's interesting about 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.000 Ted is he didn't change the name or the donuts 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.160 they sold. He just made them around the clock, like 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.400 these really fresh and really tasty donuts. Thanks to his 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.720 and his family's tirelessness, within a year, he bought three 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.400 more shops. By nineteen eighty, just five years after arriving 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.800 in the US, he owned twenty shops, and even crazier, 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.560 he didn't change the names in any way or show 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.360 that they were connected. He really wasn't building a brand. 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.800 He was just keeping these mom and pop donut shops going. 0:16:08.960 --> 0:16:11.960 And as he went he brought his community with him. 0:16:12.040 --> 0:16:16.000 So workers, managers, shop owners themselves all came from his 0:16:16.040 --> 0:16:19.160 friends and family, and in fact, my friend Vana's family 0:16:19.200 --> 0:16:21.680 had a shop around that area too. But in addition 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.920 to the reason why, like Cambodians owned donut shops in 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:28.240 southern California. He's also responsible for why donut shops use 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:29.080 pink boxes. 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:30.960 Oh wow, so why is that? 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.800 So? When Ted was sourcing boxes for his donut shops, 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.280 he experienced, you know, serious sticker shock when he was 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:41.280 looking at the white boxes that bakeries were using, and 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:44.240 he asked like, did they have anything cheaper? And apparently 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.560 there was a bunch of leftover pink card stock from 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.880 this other client. It was much much cheaper. Also, it 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.600 was kind of reminiscent of the color red, which is 0:16:53.000 --> 0:16:57.320 so important to Asian cultures and businesses and particularly ethnically 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.840 Chinese people like his own. Anyway, before four long, donut 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.440 shops around the country had picked up on this iconic 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.359 box color. And you look at things like Voodoo Donuts 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.000 today from Portland, their logo and boxes are pink. And 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:13.080 it's all thanks to this money saving venture from this 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.160 immigrant on the hustle. Actually, though, there's one last fact. 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:20.280 When Ted's wife, Sangatini, became a US citizen, she actually 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:22.960 took the name Christie's after their first thoughbut shop. 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:25.920 So pretty sweet. That is a great story, all right, Well, 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:28.280 here's one thing that always bugged me. So you know 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.840 that famous speech by JFK at the Berlin Wall was 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:33.680 back in nineteen sixty three, and he says, I beIN 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:37.119 ein Berliner, right, And it's supposed to be this really 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.040 stirring moment where he's expressing solidarity with the people of 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.320 Berlin who now have a big wall between the Communists 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.719 and the Democratic sides. But then everyone there laughed at 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.320 it because in Germany that doesn't mean I'm a citizen 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.960 of Berlin. It means I am a jelly donut. Not 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.600 quite so stirring here, And as people know, there was 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.720 a bit of laughter in the audience, but the laughter 0:17:56.840 --> 0:18:01.119 actually wasn't immediate. It came a minute later when Kennedy said, 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.919 I appreciate my interpreter translating my German. 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.760 So clearly people there didn't take the Berliner line as 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.119 a joke. They were actually laughing at this later comment 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:12.600 by Kennedy. So how do we get the story about 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:13.359 the jelly donut. 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.280 Well, if you order a Berliner at a bakery and 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.880 the rest of Germany, you will get a jelly donut. 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:22.840 But Berliners themselves don't call jelly donuts after themselves they 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.240 call them fan Kuchen. Now, the story actually originates with 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:29.080 a British novelist, Lynn Dayton, who wrote a book with 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:32.600 an unreliable narrator who claims that ik ben ein Berliner 0:18:32.840 --> 0:18:35.560 was a joke and that German cartoonist had a field 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:37.920 day with the gaff the next day, but none of 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:40.800 that was actually true. It was part of his fictional 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.760 character's unreliability. So the New York Times repeated the story 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:46.960 in their review, and then it got repeated in American 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.760 publications for years and years. But with the advent of Wikipedia, 0:18:50.960 --> 0:18:53.800 the Germans finally put the myth to rest. So in 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:57.000 the German Wikipedia entry about the speech, it has a 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:02.560 heading labeled quote misconception of the English World. So anyway, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:03.440 it's pretty interesting. 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.119 That's amazing. I feel like you hear that joke everywhere, 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.960 from like Eddie Izard to you know, mention that it's 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:13.560 just repeated. But uh, that's funny that that's a total misconception. 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:15.800 I actually have a great fact I can't wait to 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:17.600 tell you, but we've got to hit up some ads first, 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:19.240 so don't touch that dial. 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:36.600 Welcome back to Part time Genius. We're talking about one 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:39.359 of our favorite topics donuts? All right, mango, what do 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.080 you have next? Well? 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:43.639