Saturday, October 2, 2010

Donuts & Apples


Last week at work, someone brought in two boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts. A week or so later, someone else brought us a bowl of apples.

The contrast in everyone's reactions was truly striking. The donuts triggered a very intense reaction--interestingly, mostly negative. The most common response was, "Oh no! Donuts!", followed by much discussion, longing, craving, giving-in or not giving-in, and just a big brouhaha in general. Despite the proclaimed negative response, those donuts disappeared fast.

It reminded me of when Deebo sees a squirrel or bird outside the window. He reacts with a mixture of horror and aversion, and intense attraction.

On the other end of the spectrum, the poor bowl of apples elicited exactly no reaction whatsoever. They were the Ralph Ellison of the food world. A few people apathetically gazed at them, said something like, "Oh. Apples..." and then walked right past. A few people did eat them, but not with anywhere near the same fanfare generated by the donuts.

Interestingly, a couple of people actively disliked Krispy Kremes, deeming them "too sweet" and expressing a preference for other kinds of donuts. And I found out that two of my co-workers are allergic to uncooked fruit, which is an allergy I had never even heard of before.

In conclusion, apples: respectable but somewhat dull, like Jackie Kennedy. Donuts: exciting but dangerous, like Marilyn Monroe.

4 comments:

  1. I would pass on both. Krispy Kremes seem too sweet to me, too; we've had Dunkin' Donuts out here in Philly longer. KK might operate in a few suburban locations here, but mostly it's DD territory here. Donuts aren't my weak point anyway.

    (Now cheesecake, chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, maybe even a fruit pie - ack! you got me or my sweet teeth, lol.)

    I like to pick my own apples. Leftover fear from my Halloween-turned-dangerous youth that somebody might stick a razor in the apple ;-D

    ReplyDelete
  2. Say, which did you enthuse over, if you did over either?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like both Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts!

    I was definitely more interested in the Krispy Kremes than the apples. I wish I liked fruit more. If it's really good, really ripe fruit, I love it, but it's usually pretty bland when I get it...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh now between pastry-cakey things and fresh fruit, the pastry-cakey things win out for me, too, LOL. Unless we're talking ripe but a little firm cantaloupe and honeydew melons in the summer. Or sweet but moderately firm strawberries anytime. Organic fruit might taste better - I usually stick with the "regular" aka cheaper kind - but they often don't look pretty.

    And yes, the fresh fruit I get over here in Philly usually tastes bland, too. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete