A few days ago I was in central Bangkok for a bit of shopping and as I exited Siam Paragon I noticed a long, long queue snaking out of the department store, onto the street where it doubled back on itself twice, constrained by barriers and then trailing as far as I could see. Hundreds and hundreds of people patiently waiting – but what could they be waiting for? Tickets for a movie premier or some sporting event? To catch a glimpse of some celebrity? No. They were queueing to buy doughnuts.

A new store had opened a few days ago – a Krispy Kreme. (KK’s an American purveyor of doughnuts – or perhaps I should write “donuts” – of extraordinarily high calorific value.)

Such mania will quickly die down. There was a similar palaver when a Singaporean bun shop opened in Bangkok a couple of years ago.

That said, the Thailand Krispy Kreme franchisee (the daughter of a very wealthy family) did a pretty good job of publicising the launch, with loads of coverage in the newspapers, magazines, on the radio (and possibly on TV, but I rarely watch Thai TV).

I must confess that a few months after the launch of Krispy Kreme in the UK I did try one of their offerings – I was a tad curious after all the media hype. The doughnut was vile, sickly sweet – almost as bad as a cupcake. They probably don’t say “life’s too short to glaze a doughnut”. I don’t know about that, but my life will never be so long that I will ever want to eat another Krispy Kreme.

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