PITTSBURGH \u2014 From Heinz Ketchup to the Klondike Bar to a Primanti Brothers sandwich, Pittsburgh foods are not only Western Pennsylvania favorites. They\u2019ve become national and global sensations.<\/p>\n
Each has a rich history. Take the Pittsburgh cookie table, for example.<\/p>\n
When you step into Laura Magone\u2019s kitchen in Monongahela, it feels like you just stepped back in time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing you\u2019re gonna pick up here that\u2019s less than 50 years old usually,\u201d she said. \u201cOld school, that\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magone learned to bake from her mom, Wanda, who typed out every recipe on a typewriter.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was known as the biscotti queen,\u201d Magone said.<\/p>\n
She is the product of four Italian grandparents, immigrants who came to the US and made a living as miners and steelworkers.<\/p>\n
That is where Magone\u2019s connection to the Pittsburgh cookie table begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cookie table is about the blue-collar immigrants. That\u2019s who started the tradition,\u201d Magone said. \u201cIt\u2019s a tradition that came from the blue-collar immigrants who had nothing. But they were very generous and baked for each other and shared with each other, and I think it\u2019s a heartwarming story.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magone went on to explain that when there was a wedding in the community, everyone would pitch in for the cookie table.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t have to be asked to bake. If you heard that somebody was getting married — as soon as you heard they were engaged, you were calling and saying even if I\u2019m not invited, what can I send?\u201d Magone said.<\/p>\n
The tradition has evolved over time and expanded far beyond Western Pennsylvania. The cookie designs and table layouts have become elaborate and quite impressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can call it cradle to grave,\u201d Magone said. \u201cWhen you graduate, when you get married, when you retire, when you have an anniversary party, when you die, you know, we\u2019re baking cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Magone hopes the history and meaning is not lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about the love and the generosity that go into the baking. That\u2019s what it\u2019s about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In 2015, she started The Wedding Cookie Table Community<\/a> page on Facebook. She was not prepared for how quickly it would grow or how popular it would become.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then it took off. It was like a match got lit,\u201d Magone said.<\/p>\n The page now boasts more than 410,000 members who enjoy sharing stories, recipes and cookie table photos.<\/p>\n The cookie table is, of course, only one of Pittsburgh\u2019s great food inventions. The Big Mac was created in Uniontown in 1967. It went national the next year. Heinz Ketchup first appeared on shelves in 1876. Then there\u2019s the banana split. The famous dessert was invented in Latrobe in 1904, when it was sold for 10 cents.<\/p>\n Magone even made an America 250-themed cookbook. <\/a><\/p>\n Channel 11 visited Pages\u2019s Dairy Mart on the South Side, where lines regularly wrap around the building. In its 75th year, the locally owned ice cream shop has become a Pittsburgh staple.<\/p>\n Banana splits are one of the fan favorites.<\/p>\n \u201cWe probably go through, honestly, 200 pounds of bananas a week,\u201d owner Margie Prusia said. \u201cWe put vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, strawberries, pineapple whipped cream and nuts. And then we also have our version of the banana split, we call it Black and Gold. It\u2019s the banana, the vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, chocolate chips, and brownies. We sell a lot of those, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Prusia has been making banana splits since she was 12 years old. She can make a pretty good-looking one in one or two minutes flat.<\/p>\n \u201cMy great-grandfather started it in 1951 and passed it to my grandfather. My grandfather passed it to my dad and then my husband and I bought it from my parents in 2020,\u201d Prusia said.<\/p>\n Page\u2019s survived the big flood of 1936 and an explosion in 1958 that leveled the building and left 10 people hurt. Like true Pittsburghers, they rebuilt and better than before.<\/p>\n Speaking of her grandfather and great-grandfather, Prusia said, \u201cI think they would be proud. I think they would be happy with how things are going and just keeping it a Pittsburgh tradition over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n