Q 01/05

Which settlers brought 'olykoeks', or oil cakes, to New York and helped start America's love of donuts?

A) The Spanish

B) The Dutch

C) The Irish

D) The Chinese

Answer · why

B) The Dutch

Olykoek means 'oil cake', and they arrived in what was then called New Amsterdam in the early 1700s.

Q 02/05

Which famous author wrote about 'dough-nuts' as balls of sweet dough fried in fat, way back in 1809?

A) Washington Irving

B) Mark Twain

C) Charles Dickens

D) Louisa May Alcott

Answer · why

A) Washington Irving

It appears in his comic book A History of New York, and those little 'nuts' of dough are what we would now call donut holes.

Q 03/05

Hanson Gregory claimed he invented the ring-shaped donut in 1847 while working where?

A) In a bakery

B) On a ship

C) On a farm

D) In a school kitchen

Answer · why

B) On a ship

He said he was 16 and aboard a lime-trading ship at the time; the middle of a donut is the hardest part to cook through.

Q 04/05

Why was the short spelling 'donut' invented in the 1920s?

A) To fit the word on a tiny shop sign

B) To make it easier for foreigners to say

C) Because of a typo in a big newspaper

D) To save ink when printing paper menus

Answer · why

B) To make it easier for foreigners to say

A New York company that sold automatic donut machines shortened the word to help sell them overseas.

Q 05/05

What are the two most common types of donut?

A) Square and round

B) Baked and boiled

C) Big and mini

D) Ring and filled

Answer · why

D) Ring and filled

Filled donuts are injected with jelly, cream or custard after frying.