Dreaming of Donuts
Story by Aja Goare
Photography by Hugo Martinez
Few confections are as comforting as a glazed donut. The perfectly fluffy interior encased in a flaky shell of fried and frosted dough makes even the earliest mornings tolerable. While donuts, or doughnuts as they’re sometimes called, are commonplace in every city in America and on TV screens — any fans of The Simpsons? — the origin of their popularity and proliferation in California is distinctly Cambodian.
When Cambodian refugees who survived the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s fled to the U.S., they sought a cost-effective enterprise to make a living. The relatively low cost of entry to the world of fried dough led to an explosion of donut shops that overtook the existing Winchell’s Donuts franchise. A study published at Brown University estimated between 80 and 90 percent of the first donut businesses in the Los Angeles area were at that time Cambodian owned. Reporting by Food & Wine in 2018 attributes the booming industry’s sudden expansion to Cambodian refugee Ted Ngoy, who created a donut institution after opening a store called Christy’s Donuts. Ted is credited with helping countless other Cambodian refugees learn the ins and outs of a family-owned donut business. By cheaply crafting an already popular American treat, Cambodians established an empire.
San Luis Obispo staple SLODoCo is owned by husband-and-wife duo, Jacob and Jesse Pickering. Jesse, who is Cambodian, grew up in a family with a long history of donut making. What began in 2010 as a small operation has since grown into two shops — one in San Luis Obispo, another in Atascadero — that sell over 100 varieties of donuts. From the traditional glazed rounds that were sold during the advent of donut sales in the U.S. to eccentric options like ones topped with circus animal crackers, stuffed with cookie dough or styled after crème brûlée, the sky’s the limit.
Today, the sinfully sweet treats are the stars of social media and can often be found on the counters of office break rooms. There are donuts to satisfy vegan, keto or gluten-free diets and ones assembled around burgers, ice cream and other unusual pairings. Though the major names associated with donuts today — Dunkin’, Krispy Kreme and Tim Hortons — are not Cambodian owned, the influence of Southeast Asian entrepreneurs on America’s donut culture today is unmistakable.
