Sweet Tradition Cookie tables serve family favorites
Recent bride Allyson Grossman (née Zukowski) continued a long, peculiarly West Pennsylvania tradition at her Nov. 2 wedding.
“Yes, I had a cookie table,” the Butler woman said. “Everybody in my family has had cookie tables in the past, and it was kind of in the tradition.”
Weddings in Pittsburgh and the surrounding area often have a cookie table at the reception filled with batch after batch of homemade delights.
“Before the wedding, members of our families told us which ones (cookies) they were going to make and how many,” Grossman said.
She said guests brought the sweet treats to the reception at Nick's Place in Edinboro and the staff set up the cookie table.
While no one is really sure when the cookie table tradition began, Traci Manning, curator of education at the Mahoning Valley Historical Society in Youngstown, Ohio, said immigrants started it out of necessity.
“Years ago, we did a wedding exhibit. We did a lot of research on the history of the cookie table,” Manning said.
The historical society said the tradition began with Southern and Eastern European immigrants who arrived in the United States at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries to work in the steel mills that dotted the area from Cleveland to Pittsburgh.
“They brought their traditions of ethnic food and cookies with them,” Manning said.
Moving into the 20th century and especially during the Great Depression, weddings became increasingly expensive.
“The idea of having family and friends provide the treats for the reception was both a way to save money and celebrate their ethnic foods and treats,” she said.
The tradition lives on in the areas that were once the Steel Belt: Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania.
“It stretches from Cleveland to Pittsburgh with Youngstown in the middle,” Manning said.
She doesn't see the tradition fading anytime soon. If anything, the cookie table is becoming present at events other than wedding receptions.
“We rent ballroom space at the Arms Family Museum (in Youngstown, Ohio) for celebrations. We've seen cookie tables at birthdays, graduation parties and engagement parties. It's definitely not just for weddings,” she said.
In fact, the Mahoning Valley Historical Society's biggest fundraiser is called Cookie Tables and Cocktails and features a massive table filled with the creations of 80 to 90 bakers.
Even today a well-laden cookie table can take the place of a traditional cake.Like at the reception following the wedding of Samantha Bachman and Tanner Master of Butler in November.Master's mother, Joyce Master of Butler, said her new daughter-in-law decided against a cake to spend more time with her guests.“There was no bridal dance, no cutting the cake, no garter, no bouquet,” she said.Christine Coughenour, coordinator for the wedding venues of The Atrium in Prospect and Pinehall at Eisler Farms in Connoquenessing Township, said, “We did have one bride bring in an ice cream cake for the groom because that is the only kind of cake he likes.”But mostly she noticed in the 60-some wedding receptions she's worked on in 2018 is a trend toward smaller cakes.“Sometimes it's just a cutting cake,” she said. “The guests have cupcakes or pieces of pie. There's been a lot of pie this year.”There is another twist on the wedding reception dessert that is standing out.“The big cookie displays are still very popular. But the doughnut wall was very popular this year, too,” Coughenour said. “Doughnuts are displayed on a peg board and the guests can just take one off the board, it's very popular.”
