It's National Donut Day! But sadly, not in Canada

It's National Donut Day! But sadly, not in Canada, the world’s trendsetter in doughy cuisine.

Yes, the tasty deep-fried treats are often described (only half-jokingly) as our national food. We have the most doughnut shops on the planet, per capita, and Saturday mornings typically feature drive-through lines at the local Tim Hortons outlets stretching right into traffic.

But so far at least, Canada hasn't adopted the popular U.S. holiday.

Still, that isn't stopping some doughnut aficionados from celebrating here at home.

Krispy Kreme -- a U.S. company that has expanded into Canada with its waistline-expanding delicacies -- is offering Canucks a free doughnut on June 7, no purchase necessary.

And earlier this week, some locations of The Salvation Army distributed free doughnuts. Wait, why would The Salvation Army celebrate National Donut Day? We're glad you asked! Here are five facts you probably didn't know about National Donut Day:

• National Donut Day falls on the first Friday of June in honour of the Salvation Army women, known as "Doughnut Girls" or "Doughnut Dollies" who distributed the treats to frontline U.S. soldiers during the First World War. The Salvation Army website says: "Doughnut Day recognizes the doughnut as a long-standing symbol of the services The Salvation Army continues to provide, and encourages people to consider giving back to support their local communities.
• The first National Donut Day was held in 1938 as a fundraiser for Chicago's branch of the Sally Ann. The goal was to help the needy during the Great Depression and to honour the young ladies who had risked their lives to deliver doughnuts to troops.
• The Salvation Army sent approximately 250 volunteers to France during the First World War, mostly women who set up huts where they could serve baked goods, provide letter-writing supplies and mend clothes for soldiers. According to Wikipedia, Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance came up with the idea of serving doughnuts, since it was difficult to bake fancier treats with the limited supplies available at the front. This is how Sheldon described one busy day: "Today I made 22 pies, 300 doughnuts, 700 cups of coffee."
• There are at least three other doughnut-themed holidays on record -- International Jelly-Filled Doughnut Day on June 8 or 9, National Cream-Filled Doughnut Day on September 14, and, Buy a Doughnut Day on October 30.
• Unrelated but awesome: The Guinness World record for doughnut eating is held by John Haight, who consumed 29 doughnuts in just over six minutes. In the U.S., more than 10 billion doughnuts are made each year. And the largest doughnut ever made was a jelly-filled jumbo treat that was five metres in diameter and weighed 1.7 tons.