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The high price of food nostalgia

We did our weekly shop at Tesco this afternoon (we did our weekly shop, and unusually it was at Tesco. We don’t shop at Tesco weekly. We dasn’t like Tesco, nasty hobitssesss). They had a display of genu-wine Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

I come from deep in the heart of Krispy Kreme territory, you may recall. The appeal of our local KK was less the doughnuts than the fact it was the only thing open on 21st Avenue at two in the morning, and the whole back of the shop was glass. Doughnuts in various stages of doneness bobbled down conveyor belts being dunked, filled, baked, packaged and otherwise given birth to.

To the stoned, it was magic.

When I went to art school in Providence, I worked at a Dunkin’ Donuts for a couple of years. Which I liked very much. I like menial jobs, which probably doesn’t do me much credit. By and large, I preferred the doughnuts, too — except nothing really replaces a klassik Krispy Kreme glazed doughnut.

So, get this — the ones on display in the South of England today were (working from memory here) £1.40 ($2.24) for one, £4.20 ($6.72) for three and £8.80 ($14.08) for a dozen. Holy shit! I know my doughnut days are in the distant past, but is it just us? How the hell much does a box of doughnuts cost over there now?

Yes, I bought three. They were awesome.

Comments


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 18, 2015, 10:06 pm

For a dozen simple glazed Krispy Kreme here in San Antonio—$8.29, but 99¢ for a single. Just has some the first week of February, a rare treat to kick off my birthday.


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: February 18, 2015, 10:32 pm

Good grief! Did I really pay that much?!

Coulda had real food for half that much 😉


Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: February 18, 2015, 10:35 pm

The nearest Krispy Kreme to me is in Lone Tree, Colorado [south end of Metro Denver] although I have heard there is one on Fort Carson itself in Colorado Springs. Online I found out that the original glazed are $9.19 a dozen. Somehow I suspect that the higher costs of food in Britain combined with taxes make up most of the difference rather than a novelty or quality premium.

The newest thing in the doughnut field here is a branch of Voodoo Doughnuts out of Portland, Oregon that opened in Denver.

http://www.voodoodoughnut.com/doughnuts.php

The bacon-maple bar [*maple bar with two slices of bacon!*] costs $3.25 and a significant portion of your soul. Arguably worth the ectoplasmic component of the price, according to one of my daughters who was visiting the big city. I expect that the Brit Health and Safety people’s response would ban it because it would be enjoyed, and that “The Religion That Must Not Be Named” would ban it for other reasons.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: February 18, 2015, 11:43 pm

Let’s see, last time I bought a dozen was at Jolly Pirate in Columbus O-I-H-O (thanx, Bammy!), & I think it was about $8.00. So I can’t see how shipping the damned things 3000 miles after frying them could be much cheaper.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: February 18, 2015, 11:44 pm

Also, I think that Kripsy Kum donuts taste like hot shit off a tranny’s dick, so don’t take my word for much.


Comment from surly
Time: February 18, 2015, 11:50 pm

Has no one mentioned the Krispy Kreme Klub ooopsie yet?


Comment from Feynmangroupie
Time: February 19, 2015, 12:18 am

I grew up with my mother making homemade fried cakes on special occasions, so I’m a cake donut person, and have never eaten a KK.


Comment from Spad13
Time: February 19, 2015, 12:47 am

On Saturday’s, when I hate myself for going to work, I stop at DD and get 3 sour cream’s and a large coffee for about 5.50.

I’m still mad they don’t make the dunkin’ donut any more.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 19, 2015, 12:54 am

Feynmangroupie—My mother had a deep fryer when I was a youngster. Mostly she used it to fry fish and hush puppies, but on rare occasions she would make a batch of buttermilk cake donuts. MMMMMM. Of course, the hush puppies were just as delicious as the donuts!


Comment from BJM
Time: February 19, 2015, 12:58 am

@Subotai – The bacon-maple bar [*maple bar with two slices of bacon!*]

Oh. my. word.

I am so stealing their concept and topping our local donut shoppe’s excellent maple bars with some crispy bacon.

KK’s are like potato chips…you can’t just eat one, or two…three is about right.


Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: February 19, 2015, 1:30 am

Comment from surly
Time: February 18, 2015, 11:50 pm

Has no one mentioned the Krispy Kreme Klub ooopsie yet?

I saw it on Drudge and clicked through. And promptly dismissed it. It took place at a Krispy Kreme in Hull, England and the “KKK” was an abbreviation on a flier listing the week’s events for school half term break. The “KKK” is the “Krispy Kreme Klub” a children’s group. Other day’s activities include balloons, colouring, and board games. To be honest, the Ku Klux Klan in Hull, England is about as relevant in conversation as the infamous spotted dick is in the US. I have a list of descriptions of the PC Pajama Boys and Girls who are part of the legion of the perpetually offended. But I will refrain to avoid shocking Madame Sweasel.

Suffice it to say that I think it is ridiculous to complain about a company in England not being PC in American terms. We can each speak our own variant of English in our own country without any obligation to grovel to the complainers in another.


Comment from Nina
Time: February 19, 2015, 1:30 am

The only KK in my neighborhood closed up, to be replaced by a Chik-fil-a, and I’m not about to drive 30 to 45 minutes across town to the next county to get one. So I have no idea what they cost. I buy donuts so seldom I don’t really even know how much they cost at my favorite local place, either.

But now I do want a donut!


Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: February 19, 2015, 1:56 am

I am still in shock over a pound of hamburger costing $7(USD) at Walmart. I didn’t buy any, as a matter of principle.

I am living on macaroni and cheese powder in my dotage.


Comment from MauserMedic
Time: February 19, 2015, 2:01 am

My wife picked up a dozen hot ones today in Salisbury NC. Little less $8.


Comment from bds
Time: February 19, 2015, 5:38 am

I love me some sour cream donuts (called ‘old fashioneds’ around these parts). Daylight Donuts are the best after homemade, followed closely by Shipley’s (a regional chain). Krispy Kreme are way down the list; their dough is just too sweet for my taste.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 19, 2015, 6:37 am

@bds: the H.E.B. grocery stores in Texas have bakeries that sell absolutely divine “sour cream old-fashioned” donuts. Cracked open and crispy on the outside (like tiny little pound cakes), dense and tender on the inside, with a wonderful velvety crumb, covered in a not-too-sweet glaze. Oh yeah … they are the greatest. The grocery store makes a chocolate sour cream that will blow your mind—I swear I could founder on them. The great, terrible irony is that I never met a donut I didn’t like, and I rarely get to eat them! 🙁

@Uncle Badger. Consider the return and value on a sweetened, happy and contented Weasel …


Comment from P2
Time: February 19, 2015, 6:50 am

The only way we get KK donuts here in the frozen freakin north is…well, frozen. Usually thru some fundraising boondoggle by one of the schools. Last I saw, about 3 years ago, it’s was 25 bucks a dozen. I remember hitting the KK in myrtle beach when I was stationed there in the very early 80’s…. Not as good as drunkin donuts….


Comment from drew458
Time: February 19, 2015, 8:33 am

Drat, and here I was, thinking we had just about everything in my little corner of the world. Except a movie theater. Or a fried chicken place. Now I have to add “or a donut shop”. Drat.

I like the deep fried kind, especially the ‘heavy solid lump of dough with berry bits in’ variety. Cooked properly, slathered in glaze, and left to mature and harden, they can revitalize and absorb nearly half a cup of stale coffee each. Genuine cop donuts/trucker donuts, they’ll get you through the day.


Comment from Timothy S. Carlson
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:47 am

p399 per dozen here in Manila – about $9.

And yes, I buy them every time I’m at Mall Of Asia (MOA).

A whole dozen. And how many do _I_ get? One.

Effectively $9 for a single stinkin’ donut. From a ‘Me’-centric perspective.

Worth _every_ peso…


Comment from Timothy S. Carlson
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:52 am

Subotai: we have KKK here in the Philippines, too. But it’s spelled “K.K.K.” and refers to some freedom/liberation something-or-other in Filipino history.

That doesn’t stop my less worldly-minded associates from freaking out when I post a picture of the “KKK Memorial” statue near Divisoria/Quiapo. I take a picture of it every time I pass it and post it on FB, just to watch how many heads explode. Very entertaining.


Comment from Wolfus Aurelius
Time: February 19, 2015, 3:46 pm

Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: February 18, 2015, 10:35 pm

The nearest Krispy Kreme to me is in Lone Tree, Colorado [south end of Metro Denver] although I have heard there is one on Fort Carson itself in Colorado Springs. Online I found out that the original glazed are $9.19 a dozen.
*
*
I was living in Denver when the Krispy Kreme franchise opened. You’d have thought they were giving donuts away. There were reports of people sitting in their cars in line for an hour to buy a dozen donuts. Insane. Whether it was because there were no good donut shops in town, or because people were bored and had no other outlet, I don’t know.

The Voodoo Doughnuts location in Denver is in the heart of East Colfax, an area that scared me in 1997 (and I’m from Noo Awlins!). Maybe the neighborhood has improved?


Comment from thefritz
Time: February 19, 2015, 6:12 pm

Wish I could tell you what a dozen cost here in the Palm Beaches. Sadly we lost all of the franchised stores when they went bankrupt 10 years ago. Guess who the franchise owner was??? Jimmy Buffett. Seems he can write songs but can’t sell doughnuts.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 19, 2015, 8:39 pm

My favorite donut was a blueberry cake from Dunkin. It was quite unusual — not every shop had them — but I loved ’em to bits.

Before I left the States, Dunkin had already stopped the in-store bakeries. They’re cooked in a central location and driven to the shops now. Very sad.


Comment from Anonymous
Time: February 19, 2015, 8:54 pm

They only went out of business, thefritz, because people kept complaining about the lawn clippings in the donuts, and management refused to do anything about it…
}:-]


Comment from Subotai Bahadur
Time: February 19, 2015, 9:07 pm

Comment from Wolfus Aurelius
Time: February 19, 2015, 3:46 pm

I haven’t lived in Denver since 1980, but still have family there. Yeah, that stretch of East Colfax is still dangerous, but OK if you are out and about during daylight hours. The stretch of 18th north of Voodoo Doughnuts has some good, upscale restaurants but is sketchy. Colfax north to 18th is just sketchy with no redeeming features. To the south of Colfax is the Cheeseman Park/Botanic Gardens neighborhood. Upscale, remodeled houses and dangerous parks. As in during the late-1970’s my wife, two of my kids, and I had to take cover behind a berm because a gang gunfight broke out on the other side of the bamboo boundary fence at the Gardens. It has not gotten any better.
To the east is East High School, a gangbanger heaven with a Lefty PC faculty. Between the two used to be a full block of porn shops and theaters. Don’t know if that block is still like that. They gotta be really good doughnuts.

If you happen to go back, while you were there the 16th Street Mall downtown was the new upscale retail street. Not now. Various ethnic gangs engaging in the beatdown game with no interference from the police who are under PC guidelines. I know business owners there who paid top dollar for what once was prime retail space who are moving out because their customers are not safe. Which is not encouraging as I have to go down there for a Chieftains/Colorado Symphony concert next month.


Comment from thefritz
Time: February 19, 2015, 9:10 pm

lawn clippings or ‘grass’ clippings?


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: February 19, 2015, 9:12 pm

Daylight Donuts are the best after homemade, followed closely by Shipley’s (a regional chain)

Yeah, for chain donuts, Daylight are hard to beat. John’s Space Age Donuts in Overland Park are pretty good too.


Comment from thefritz
Time: February 19, 2015, 9:31 pm

I have an off topic question: How do you post here using fancy features like bold, highlighted, italicized,inserted hyperlinks and the like?
When I create a post in Word with any of those extras they lose format when I post them here. Thank you anyone.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:10 pm

Its straight HTML, so you put the appropriate tag in angle brackets. Like so:

<b>Bold</b>

A list of tags is here.

From that list, though, the creation of a link is not obvious. The format is:

<a href=”http://www.yourwebsite.com”>the clicky text you want underlined</a>

Hope that makes sense. Feel free to practice in this thread. I’ll even biff your failures, if you ask 😉


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:33 pm

c:\Program\ Files\users\joebiden\Pictures\transvestites\withbigolhooters\


Comment from Anonymous
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:46 pm

ok…I know all about html…too much of a pain in the ass.
I was hoping for an easy-peasy way. Guess ya’ll have to settle for plain format from Fritz.


Comment from Anonymous
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:48 pm

Why would Jimmy have anything to do with “grass” clippings, thefritz?
}:-]


Comment from thefritz
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:50 pm

Anonymous! I know who I am…


Comment from thefritz
Time: February 19, 2015, 10:57 pm

This is starting to look like the “who’s on first” routine…

To Anonymous: I have no idea what your ‘lawn clipping’ comment meant so I tried to be funny with a response.

the rumor on why his Krispy Kreme franchise folded was a falling out with his partners and the fact he built several stores in really bad locations.


Comment from Stark Dickflüssig
Time: February 19, 2015, 11:12 pm

the rumor on why his Krispy Kreme franchise folded was a falling out with his partners and the fact he built several stores in really bad locations.

He’s a fucking typical idiot millionaire “musician” who tries to solve problems in the Real World™ by throwing money at them?

Enter Lackey with walkie-talkie in hand: “Sirrah! The San Luis Obsipo Cheeseburger In Paradise location is doing poorly!”

Buffet: “Fire the darkies & hire more messicans!”

Lackey (into walkie-talkie): “He wants us to hire more hispanics.”

Voice from offstage: “Bzzrt glurble bog bog bzzt!?”

Lackey: “Yes, spend more money on hispanics, & put up a menu in Swahili, too.”

Buffet: “How about we just pay the other restaurants to lock all their doors during lunch?”

Lackey: “Great idea, sir, I’ll get right on it!”


Comment from Anonymous
Time: February 20, 2015, 1:16 am

My response was intended to indicate that what ELSE could it be, thefritz. What with Jimmy’s reputation and all that…

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