Earlier today, Prince William and commoner Kate, now Catherine Duchess of Cambridge, Middleton exchanged their vows in Westminster Abbey in London. Millions of people internationally tuned in to the live coverage of, what some people say, the wedding of the century. In honor of the wedding, Dunkin’ Donuts sold a limited edition Royal Wedding Doughnut this week at participating stores. Apparently, the owner of the Dunkin’ Donuts company is British. Do you care about the Royal Wedding? Let us know by commenting or taking our homepage poll!
Five NWN staff members taste tested the Royal Doughnut, and here’s what they had to say about it:
The Royal Wedding Doughnut is nothing spectacular. I was expecting something English, fancy, and expensive that screamed royalty. I have half ready to see it resting on a dollie. Even though “America runs on Dunkin,” the royal English doughnut bore the same resemblance to the same old boring stereotypical American doughnut. Aw, it’s in the shape of the heart. Just like at Valentine’s Day. The sugary frosting, colorful red and pink sprinkles, and dough is the same you get any other old day of the year. There was a single strip of chocolate icing on top. Woo-hoo. The unidentifiable strawberry &/ raspberry filling would not be served at Buckingham Palace. This doughnut isn’t even about to roused the Palace guards. If I had closed my eyes, I wouldn’t have known this was a “special” or “limited edition” doughnut. I wouldn’t have imagined myself in London with William and Kate.
By Morgan Gstalter
Everyone loves Dunkin’ Donuts, it’s what America runs on. So naturally, when they announce that they’re coming out with a doughnut to honor Prince William’s wedding, we can’t help by anticipate something great. Unfortunately, my expectations were too high. If you were to close your eyes while sinking your teeth into it, you would think that you’re eating just another jelly-filled doughnut with some frosting plastered on the top. It was very carelessly made, and the taste wasn’t original at all. The doughnut may look royal with its heart shaped casting and intricate designs, but it tastes like any other doughnut.
By Alyssa Guzman
The Royal Wedding doughnut is more novelty than anything. The doughnut is heart-shaped, with white and black stripes of frosting, and a raspberry jelly filling. The color of the jelly might symbolize love, but I instead thought of a bleeding heart. The Royal Wedding doughnut is exactly like Dunkin’ Donuts’ jelly-filled doughnut, but with frosting in lieu of its usual sticky sugar coating, and is in a heart shape instead. While a great “souvenir” for American fans of the royals, it’s basically the same as all other doughnut and can be passed over without much regret.
By Ali Toth
While the doughnut, the epic Royal Wedding Doughnut, is quite delectable, it does not appeal as anything different from the other Dunkin’ Donuts’ doughnuts. Actually, it is not different at all. Sure, the doughnut looks different, being heart-shaped, but the white, vanilla frosting and the chocolate drizzle does not taste different from the other vanilla and chocolate frosting on other doughnuts. Even the strawberry jelly filling doesn’t taste any different. Basically, the Royal Wedding Doughnut was tasty, but nothing special.
By Fatima Farha
From the fancy exterior of the Royal Wedding doughnut, you would think that Dunkin’ Donuts actually did something differently to the recipe. WRONG. Although the doughnut is heart-shaped, white frosted, and has strawberry jelly inside, it still tastes like any other Dunkin’ Donuts’ pastry. The only thing that differentiates the Royal Wedding doughnut from any other doughnut is its appearance. While a regular jelly doughnut has granulated sugar coating its exterior, the Royal Wedding doughnut has white frosting with a few thin chocolate stripes. Seriously, if you blindfolded someone and fed them the Royal Wedding doughnut, followed by a regular jelly doughnut with frosting, the person will find absolutely NO difference between the two. If you are looking for a pretty doughnut, buy the Royal Wedding doughnut, but if you want taste, go elsewhere because the Royal Wedding doughnut has nothing extraordinary.
By Rebecca Yun
Liam • Apr 30, 2011 at 9:23 PM
@Okay then… Yes, we Americans do waste plenty of money of things, but at our own choosing (unless your referring to the bank bailouts, which is a completely different issue). The problem with tax pays being required to pay for the wedding is what is ridiculous, and in fact, makes the royal family ridiculous. 40 million GBP in taxes are paid ANNUALY by the British public to maintain the royal family- an expense they cannot avoid or choose not to pay. Having said that, is it really fair to maintain a family who considers itself a higher class and god ordained, contributes nothing to the lawmaking of a nation, and requires millions of dollars in taxes just to maintain itself? I think not. And my thoughts are not just my own. The Republican party in England want to do away with the monarchy altogether. And in all honesty, I can see why.
Also, addressing your comment about “an article on royal doughnuts just isn’t the place [to address the conflict of the royal wedding?]”. To quote the above article: “Do you care about the Royal Wedding? Let us know by commenting or taking our homepage poll!”. So I think this commentary was more than appropriate.
And addressing your third comment. I’m more than aware that the royal wedding was an occasion of significance to people and that it has historical significance. All I’m saying is that when it comes down to it, the royal wedding, and indeed the royal family, hurts the British public more than it helps.
Liam • Apr 29, 2011 at 11:45 AM
Frankly, while I’m as happy as anyone that Prince William and Kate Middleton are getting married, I think the magnitude of their wedding is absurd. The royal family is not a functioning part of the British government, they hold no sway over the passing of laws or resolutions in parliament, yet they still are recognized as sovereign and have the ability to spend millions of dollars in tax payer money for their parties and weddings. All the royal family does in honesty is stand about and look pretty. Which is of course to say that general public of Britain might enjoy watching these rich good looking people frolic around (we do the same here in the US with Hollywood stars). Yet, the question everybody should be asking is: Why, if the royal family contributes nothing productive to the county, do they get to spend the general publics money? The simple response is this: they shouldn’t. Recently in parliament, a resolution to raise tuition for university-bound students by thousands of pounds was passed (source:http://www.guardian.co.uk) . Massive protests and violence in London soon erupted in London and across the country against the newly passed resolution, yet the resolution was not revoked. How is it then that the royal family can spend MILLIONS of pounds but the government sees the need to RAISE thousands of pounds for students? What one can infer from all this is that the royal family should not have the power in Britain that they do. And if I may be so bold, that perhaps their should be no royal family.
Wow • Apr 29, 2011 at 3:23 PM
^^ just chill out and eat a doughnut
🙂
Okay then... • Apr 29, 2011 at 7:44 PM
All valid points… sorta. I mean, on some level I kinda have to agree with you. Spending millions on weddings and parties DOES seem absolutely frivolous… But this isn’t just a problem with British Royalty. We waste money all the time in every country.
It probably is a problem that needs to be addressed but really… an article on royal doughnuts just isn’t the place to do it…
Besides, I don’t think it’s fair to call it a total waste. Silly as you might call it, the wedding that took place between those two meant something to a lot of people. It does have some historic significance.
On a note about the actual article: what were you expecting? It’s Dunkin’ Doughnuts. It’s a chain. It’s not high quality or anything like that. I mean, I appreciate the article and I think approaching the wedding through something like this is very clever, original, and funny. But I think the way you all wrote your reviews made it seem like you were taking the doughnuts way too seriously. That’s just how it came across to me at least.
Really original idea though!
Rebecca Yun • Apr 30, 2011 at 2:32 PM
We did the review because we are currently doing a unit on reviews in journalism class. Ms. Lauer (my teacher and the NWN advisor) brought the doughnuts in for us to review. We got the idea after a field trip to the Chicago Tribune last week, when the food critic for the tribune (whose name escapes me) told us about the Royal Wedding doughnut.
We sound so serious because we are. Who wouldn’t be serious about free food? 🙂 We didn’t mean to sound all uptight about food, but it was an assignment that we were graded on, so we were required to take it seriously. Thanks for commenting, though. 🙂