For dessert, we span the globe in search of fried dough – and discover that it’s a sweet sticky treat enjoyed by millions around the world – everyone just calls it something different!
The fun fried dough folks at Oso-Ono have compiled a history of the dessert – “From No Hole to Hole and Back” – highlighting the variations of dough that have evolved over centuries. Beginning in the Portuguese Azores and Madeira islands in 1445, fried dough – called malassada, is traced through the years.
With or without a hole, many ethnic communities lay claim to some form of fried dough: beignet (France), churro (Spain/Mexico), zeppole (Italy), poori (India) or paa thong koh (Thailand) – just to name a few. Here are photos, descriptions and sources for all the research done by this California company on 35 different types of delicious worldwide fried dough desserts. Yum.