Forcing Donuts to Become Healthy

Donuts have proven a popular topic here before, so I can hardly ignore the latest donut news. Krispy Kreme started selling a whole wheat donut this week. I haven't been by there to taste it yet (and I suppose I should've before writing this post, but oh, well), but I must admit that I'm having a hard time imagining its appeal. This AP report says that the donut will carry a caramel flavoring, because I guess a little whole wheat flour mixed with sugar wouldn't get you very far. You also have to wonder about the texture of the donut. It's a yeast donut rather than a cake donut, which is what I would've expected. I can imagine what the taste and texture of a whole wheat cake donut would be, but I wonder if the whole wheat yeast donut would end up with the same kind of mouth feel as the regular Krispy Kreme yeast has. It also only has 20 fewer calories than the normal donut (180 to 200), so unless there's barely any difference in taste and feel or the whole wheat donut is appealing on its face, there's hardly any reason to eat it. I'm willing to lose some flavor or other appeal in food if the health benefits are substantial, but 20 calories hardly seems like a good trade off for a significantly lesser sensory experience.

Of course, I could go out and try one. The Krispy Kreme Website says the new donut is only available at "participating stores," so I can only hope that some store in the Chicago area has agreed to participate.

Since we're on the subject of donuts already, I'll link to this article in the latest Atlantic Monthly (although only the first paragraph is available without a paid subscription). It appears that the biggest casualty to New York City's recent ban of trans fats will be cake donuts. The full Atlantic article (which I'm invoking from memory because I don't have it on hand) reported that donut shops have eighteen months to comply with the ban, and some donut shops are concerned that they won't be able to come up with a viable alternative. There are apparently a number of factors that have to be taken into consideration--frying the donuts in different kinds of fat will affect both taste and texture, and so far, at least, the donut shops haven't been able to make appealing cake donuts without the trans fats. Fortunately, the Atlantic also reports that yeast donuts (by far my donut preference--I can take or leave cake donuts) can be made without trans fats with far less problem. But if donut makers can't pull off this new challenge, will Krispy Kremes and Dunkin Donuts become luxury items in New York?