"Glazed America: The History of the Doughnut"

The doughnut isn't as simple as you'd think. In "Glazed America: The History of the Doughnut", Paul Mullins uses the baked good as a lens onto North American culture and society. Both a breakfast staple and a snack to eat any time of day or night, doughnuts cross lines of gender, class, and race like no other food item. Favorite doughnut shops that were once neighborhood institutions remain unchanged -- even as their surrounding neighborhoods have morphed into strip clubs, empty lots, and abandoned housing. Blending solid scholarship with humorous insights, Mullins offers a look into doughnut production, marketing, and consumption. He confronts head-on the question of why we often paint doughnuts in moral terms, and shows how the seemingly simple food reveals deep and complex social conflicts over body image and class structure.

His presentation takes place at 11:30 a.m. 11 February in the Faculty Club, University Place Conference Center, 900 West Michigan Street, Indianapolis. For information, contact Gail Williamson. Registration for the presentation is online.