Salad Bar (1937); Doughnut Holes; Bagels

[James A. Landau]

re: "Doughnut holes"

In the 1950's my father gave me the following riddle:

Q.  What do ghosts eat for breakfast?
A.  Ghost Toasties and evaporated milk, with doughnut holes for dessert

>From this I suspect that "doughnut hole" was a long-standing metaphor for something that did not exist, and this metaphor was in existence before someone (perhaps inspired by the metaphor) actually produced a pastry called a "doughnut hole."

The only place I can suggest to locate this metaphor, if it existed, is in old collections of Paul Bunyan tales.

             - Jim Landau