Lost the Handle

Vintage

It took quite a few years after my spell as a Dunkin' Donuts finisher/counterboy before I could face the product (coffee, yes; donuts, no). When I did come out of the cold, it was for the original "dunkin' donut," the plain (or "old fashioned") cake donut with a handle to hold as you dunked it into your coffee. Why? Value. You got an extra quarter of a donut, I argued. (Don't actually remember saying this, but I'm assured by Providence friends that I did. On more than one occasion.)

What's your poison?

Try as you might, you won't find it on the helpful donut-identification chart (right). According to an article in Slate, DD dropped the signature dunkin' donut (after 50 years!) in 2003. And yet the "Boston Kreme" hangs on?

(In fact, even in my days behind the counter, few people bought the "dunkin' donut." We would lay them out flat in the wire baskets in the display cases, only a dozen at a time. The identically constituted, minus the handle, "old-fashioned" donuts would be lined up vertically, a couple of dozen to a basket.) Go figure.