Secretly Incredibly Fascinating Doughnuts
Feb 16, 2026
Tom Lum, digital creator and podcast host known for 'Let's Learn Everything' and 'Our Findings Show', joins to geek out about doughnuts. They trace fried-dough origins, explain why the hole exists, and connect shapes to math and cooking. Conversations cover mechanization, cultural quirks like Tim Hortons and police tropes, wartime roots of National Donut Day, and surprising marketing stories.
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Hole Solves The Frying Problem
- The modern U.S. donut's defining twist was punching a hole to ensure even frying and greater surface area.
- That change solved the raw-center problem found in fried dough balls and created the iconic ring shape.
Geometry Explains The Donut Hole
- Removing the center turns a sphere into a tube, increasing surface area so heat reaches every part during frying.
- Tom Lum and Alex Schmidt highlight this geometric reason as the key practical innovation.
Nuts In The Middle Explains 'Doughnut'
- Another historical fix was stuffing nuts into the center so an undercooked core wouldn't matter.
- This practice likely gave rise to the name 'doughnut' (dough + nut) in early usage.