Professor emerita's new book explores pierogi and Polish-American identity

A new book by Professor Emerita Anna D. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann explores how pierogi, a trademark of Polish cuisine, traveled from Poland to the United States and evolved into a symbol of Polish-American identity.

“Pierogi: An American Story of Polish Food” traces the history of Polish cuisine in the United States and examines how generations of Polish immigrants and their descendants adapted traditional foods while maintaining connections to their heritage.  

Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann was an Eastern history professor for nearly 25 years until her retirement in 2022. 

“My new book is a culinary history of Polish cuisine, which together with millions of Polish immigrants journeyed across the ocean to America,” said Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann of her first narrative nonfiction, published by Columbia University Press this August.

While many imported foods changed over time to reflect American food trends, Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann said the pierogi continued to represent connections to home, family, religion, and ethnicity. 

The book examines how Polish-American culinary traditions changed alongside social and cultural shifts in the United States, Poland, and elsewhere. Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann focuses on the ways pierogi, originally a modest food eaten by peasant families, became a defining dish deeply associated with Polish-American culture. 

Her research draws on historical and contemporary cookbooks, menus, memoirs, and interviews with Polish-American entrepreneurs and community members. She also highlights small and large pierogi producers who adapted traditional dishes for the American market, as well as food personalities who helped bring the dish into the mainstream. 

Through her research, Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann said she came to recognize pierogi as more than a traditional Polish dish. 

“After studying sources such as cookbooks, menus and memoirs, and exploring Polish American businesses and traditions of making and sharing food, I realized that pierogi, initially humble peasant and family food, became the dish that came to symbolize Polish-American ethnicity,” she said. 

The book is not only academic but also personal, taking readers into Polish-American kitchens where families, friends, and community organizations have continued traditions of preparing and sharing food together.  

Personal ties 

Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann incorporates her own memories of growing up in communist-era Poland, where her family had to be resourceful during periods of food shortages, as well as her experience immigrating to the United States in the mid-1980s. 

Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann said her research also gave her an opportunity to reflect on her own experiences with American food and cooking after immigrating to the United States. 

“I must admit that my research was both fascinating and delicious,” she said. 

The book builds on Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann’s scholarship on Polish-American history. She is the author of “The Exile Mission: The Polish Political Diaspora and Polish Americans, 1939–1956” and “The Polish Hearst: Ameryka-Echo and the Public Role of the Immigrant Press.” She also coedited “Polish American Voices: A Documentary History, 1608–2020.” 

She is editor-in-chief of "Polish American Studies," the peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal of the Polish American Historical Association, and a past president of the Polish American Historical Association. 

While “Pierogi: An American Story of Polish Food” is grounded in historical research, Jaroszyńska-Kirchmann said she wrote the book with a broader audience in mind. 

“The book is based on solid historical scholarship but is directed to the more popular audience and is very readable,” she said. 

The book has received praise for connecting the history of Polish food with immigration, identity, and cultural change.  

Hasia R. Diner, author of “Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration,” praised the book for showing how pierogi is connected to Polish history and identity both in Poland and abroad. She wrote that the book will contribute to literature on food and migration and how particular dishes can embody history and culture.