In an 1897 issue of Saturday Night, the rise of the doughnut (and ice-water) is cited as evidence of American cultural domination.

So just when did doughnuts become so Canadian?

Penfold traces it to the 1980s, saying it was a result of a few things: a frustration with endless constitutional debates; a void in national identity and iconography and a simultaneous proliferation of doughnut shops.