Just 35 minutes north of UC Santa Barbara is Buellton — a small, sleepy city famously nicknamed “Home of Split Pea Soup.” Buellton is located in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, with rolling hills, big ranches and friendly people. Some refer to this space in California as “God’s Country”; for the Ollenburger and Minus families, the Santa Ynez Valley was just that. Since 2018, they have owned “God’s Country Provisions,” a popular local doughnut shop.

Jill Ridens / Daily Nexus

The shop is small, quaint and aesthetically pleasing. Subway tiles line the walls, and a beautiful glass case displays the many different doughnut options. Their menu does not disappoint! It consists of cake doughnuts, raised doughnuts, old-fashioned doughnuts, filled doughnuts, fritters and other specialties. They even have gluten-free doughnuts for those with dietary restrictions! I was so surprised to see the variety of flavors as well, with a range of classic doughnuts to fun holiday-edition ones.

My roommates and I made a fun road trip out of visiting this shop; it was a beautiful drive up the 101 to enjoy yummy treats! Unsurprisingly, a few other groups had the same doughnut plan, but the service was speedy and personable. We purchased the dark-chocolate orange, crumb, apple cider, glazed, chocolate-glazed and gluten-free options. Our personal favorites were the crumb and dark-chocolate orange! They were the perfect size, and incredibly fluffy and sweet. UCSB junior Summer Horton, who was also present at the store, said that this was “the best gluten-free donut I’ve had. It tastes like a normal donut!” Jillian Kreifels, another UCSB junior and recent customer, said that it was “so fluffy and rich in flavor. It felt like I was biting into heaven.” 

UCSB students: Don’t pass up this opportunity! God’s Country Provisions is a must-try! This is also a perfect place to take your aesthetically pleasing food posts! (Check out @godscountryprovisions on Instagram for some mouth-watering samples). God’s Country Provisions is so unique and different from anything else I’ve experienced. They take classic doughnuts to the next level with fun flavors, designs and toppings. They even have a cereal doughnut, which contains icing topped with dry cereal! I will be making outings with other small groups of friends and roommates here in the near future, especially since this provides a fun and COVID-safe activity.