When one thinks of Jewish (ashkenzic) food with their ethnic names still intact, latkes, kugel, challah, tzimmes, and rugelach are some that come immediately to mind.
As I have discovered since launching The Rugelach Man, people of different faiths/ethnicities have eaten my rugelach and swore that this is what their grandmothers made, using recipes handed down from the old country.
The Polish call their version "rogaliki". Croats, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians all have their similar names for rugelach: "roszke" (RRAWSH-kee) and the spellings include roski, rozky, roscici, among others. There is a town in Hungary named Roszke, so perhaps they may have originated there, even though Hungarians call these "kifli". Go figure.
Regardless of the names the pastry go by, it has an aura that evokes strong emotional memories of family ties. Remembering them coming out of the oven in grandma's kitchen, having her either sneak one to you or swat your little paw as you tried to steal one at holiday times, one or two generations ago.
Albeit, the countries are all eastern European and had Jewish citizens throughout their respective borders, but to claim "rugelach" as one's own would be just as false as to claim the hot dog as a US entity. The hot dog, or as known by it's formal name, the frankfurter, originated and was mastered in Germany. It was not taken on as a staple food until it reached the shores of the US, and today the hot dog is the ultimate American icon.
No matter how you pronounce this delicious eastern European pastry of many names, it is delicious.
I guess I need to go and reserve a bunch of domain names now!
All the best!
The Rugelach Man
The Rogaliki Man
The Roszke Man
The Roscici Man
The Kifli Man
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