And when in 2019 Tablet published its venerable list of the 100 Most Jewish foods, Swiss fudge cookies earned the title of “most Jewish cookie ever made.”īroad appeal, however, has not prevented Stella D’Oro from becoming a subject of controversy. The Swiss fudge variety, whose crimped circumference and inner opaque dark chocolate circle bore a whimsical resemblance to shtreimels, round fur hats worn on the Sabbath, led them to become particularly popular in the ultra- Orthodox community. The fact that Stella D’Oro cookies were devoid of butter as well as milk also led them to be an object of desire early on for devout kosher Jews-they were pareve and could therefore be eaten for dessert after a meat supper. The cookies, originally made by hand and without (gasp) butter, were immediately popular. Already successful restaurateurs, the Kresevichs further parlayed their food business savvy by creating a line of Italian-style cookies, crackers and breadsticks that appealed to other Italian immigrants missing flavors from home. Stella D’Oro, as its name might suggest, was started in 1930 by Joseph and Angela Kresevich, Italian immigrants in Brooklyn. We proceeded to dive into an appropriately sophomoric argument about whether Stella D’Oro was “more Jewish” or “more Italian,” each of us buttressing our claims with mostly anecdotal evidence and hearsay, and completely eschewing the more interesting question: What happened with these cookies that laid the foundation for such a debate in the first place? “Stella D’Oro?” he replied with a puzzled grin. While “grocery” shopping in the 7-Eleven near our dorm (hey, we didn’t have cars, OK?) with a friend who also happened to be Jewish, I came upon a package and remarked upon my personal nostalgic ties. Until my second year in college, I associated Stella D’Oro (Italian for “star of gold”) exclusively with Italian-American culture. Truth be told, my juvenile palate found the cookies too bland (i.e., insufficiently sugary), but they held a special place in my heart because they were a favorite of my beloved, sometimes salty, comparatively sweeter Pop-Pop.
My grandfather had developed a taste for them early in his youth as an immigrant from Genoa, and my grandparents’ pantry was never without at least one package. Dessert, in turn, was sometimes cannoli and poppyseed roll, but often a platter of Stella D’Oro cookies-assorted dainty corrugated rings and logs of buttery dough with almond undertones. JTA photo by The Nosher.Īs a child, visits to my maternal grandfather and grandmother (of Italian and Polish heritage, respectively) involved eating a lot of pasta and pierogi.
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