While traveling recently to Nashville, Tenn., for a conference, I stopped in Paducah, Ky., to attend the highly acclaimed Barbecue on the River event, a wild, free-wheeling music and food festival held in “Lowertown,” a new entrepreneurial cultural development in one of Kentucky’s most charming river towns. I happened on a book of Paducah lore in one of the area’s book shops. Among the many tales, including the haunted CC Cohen Restaurant and the story of the old Brown Shoe factory, I learned an amazing thing: Krispy Kreme doughnuts were born in Paducah. I’m not sure why that surprised me, but it did.

For some reason, the river-heavy air in Paducah didn’t seem conducive to the delicate Krispy Kremes. Then I remembered that these artery-clogging dandies are best known for their heavy quality, intensified by a generous slathering of frosting. Warm from the oven, there are very few things in life that equal their satisfying comfort. But their beginnings are largely unknown.

The story goes that a French chef named Joseph Gibbs LeBeouf relocated to Paducah in 1930 to work for the Army Corps of Engineers. It was the dawn of the Depression, and times being what they were, LeBeouf needed a job. Needing to stay somewhat true to his culinary roots, entrepreneur LeBeouf also opened a small doughnut shop on Broad Street, which he subsequently sold to Ishmael Anderson, a local grocer. Along with the brick and mortar, LeBeouf also sold his secret doughnut formula. (more…)