THING 87: Plain Doughnut from Bob's Coffee and Doughnuts

The first thing I chose out of the 99 things I must eat before I die was a no-brainer. Bob's Doughnuts is pretty much a regular destination, since my husband has a love for doughnuts like no other except perhaps Homer Simpson. But even though I've had many of Bob's delicious doughnuts, I have never yet had a plain one.

While this first choice of "thing" was in many ways the easiest, it still contained an element of challenge, which was to face up to all of those frosted, glazed and sprinkled donuts and absolutely turn my back on them in favor of a doughnut that is utterly and completely nude. I hope you won't be too harsh on me when I admit that I purchased two donuts - one plain and one one sprinkle. I hope Jonathan Gold can forgive for diluting the purity of his 87th thing.

But this blog post is not about a sprinkle doughnut, so what transpired between the sprinkle doughnut and I will forever be a mystery as far as you are concerned. I am here to talk about it's fancy-free brother, the plain doughnut.

Although I will probably stick to frosting in the future, I have to say I'm glad I took this opportunity to try a perfectly plain doughnut. Michael Pollan would advocate that everyone take to the farm or the forest to connect with exactly where their meal came from, so as not to become to disconnected from exactly what it is we're eating. Perhaps in a similar vein, we should also go for a plain doughnut every once in a while to remind ourselves that what we are eating is not cake or a mere pastry, but that what we are eating is in fact a fried product. It a pastry multiplied by more fat and it's probably best that we don't forget that.

And that is basically what eating a plain doughnut is like. It is a big reminder of what a doughnut actually is and where it comes from (the fryer). That's not to say it's gross - of course it's not! It's a fried thing, which by law must be delicious. It just allows you to reflect more clearly on the fact that a doughnut is delicious not just because of the rich flavor that the fat introduces, but also the texture - the slight crunch on the outside contrasted with the moist soft cake inside is something you will not get from any cupcake, now matter how big it is baked nor how much frosting is piled atop it.