Constellations // A Pierogi Story
Soft pillows of sustenance and history from a formerly fiery town
by Diana Lu
EXCERPT //
In Pittsburgh, the humble pierogi is next to godliness. Its intention is uncomplicated and pure: to transport you to its home, to impart Eastern European heritage and memories, and to feed you, like the steel workers, with a deeply filling meal for very little money.
Forged in church basements and ingrained in the city’s culture and pride, pierogies dot the city’s geography like stars on a clear night. There is no question in Pittsburgh—the hand that made the lion and the lamb most certainly made the pierogi. And now, each day, the skilled hands of grandmothers produce thousands of crescent-shaped pillows filled with potato or sauerkraut for the city and nation, and they are to be revered.
Polish history and culture in Pittsburgh are intertwined with steel. Young men from Eastern Europe came for work in the steel mills and coal mines in the mid-1800s.
“They brought with them simple food, pierogies...it was an everyday staple,” explains Helen Mannarino, owner of Pierogies Plus, one of the oldest shops in the region and mothership of pierogies ‘in the wild’ that one finds at local bars, hotels, and grocery stores. //
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