My long over due ode to Dunkin' Donuts

There's an interesting piece on Dunkin' Donuts in Slate today. Kent had a Dunkin Donuts when we moved here, but now its gone. So's the Crispy Creme. The Donut situation out here in the midwest is pretty bleak, even bleaker than the bagel situation.

Of course, this is probably a good thing. Donuts, and the Dunkin variety in particular, are among the least healthy things one can eat. (Though I would gather that a ball of fat rolled in sugar is probably pretty low carb.)

When I lived in Worcester MA, you navigated by the Dunkin Donuts. My son once told a playmate that to get to his house you had to go right at Dunkin Donuts and up the hill. His playmate was shocked, "so do I!".

The reason challenge is to find any place in Worcester that isn't up hill from a Dunkin Donuts. In Worcester, Dunkin Donuts are a measure of distance. For instance, depending on route, it took 6 to 8 Dunkin Donuts to get to my inlaws house.

Then, there's the Dunkin' Donuts in the Government Center Green Line station. Not a full restaurant, but was largely responsible for my meeting my life-time top weight. When I decided to loose the weight, I still had to change trains at Government Center, so I had to stand in front of that Dunkin Donuts, every morning, after riding a bus-train combination from Brockton (don't ask how many from Brockton to Boston, that would be like asking how many fire hydrants there were on the route.) The craving was unbelievable.

Finally, I also spent a year living in Somerville, home town for this particular chain. A city in which you are usually able to smell the nearest Dunkin Donuts, I seem to remember the chains in the Cambridge-Somerville area as being heavier on the sugar than outlets in other areas. These stores were among the few places I've ever been were you could get a second-hand sugar rush.