Working Class Meals Still a Pittsburgh Tradition
July 1, 2010
•Le Cordon Bleu
•Pittsburgh
• 0 Comments
Despite a recent rebirth as a financial and technology hub, the city of Pittsburgh still has a reputation as being a rough and tumble industrial town full of folks that like to work hard … and play hard. Much of that reputation is well deserved. For most of the 20th century, Pittsburgh was America’s industrial heart. The steel forged there was used in New York’s skyscrapers, Detroit’s automobiles, and the armaments that won World War II. After decades of success, however, the American steel industry collapsed in the early 1980s taking Big Steel and hundreds of thousands of jobs with it. Today there are only a handful of steel related jobs left in Pittsburgh.
While today’s Pittsburghers are more likely to work for a bank, hospital, or university than for a steel manufacturer, many cling to the identities that were forged through the flames of the blast furnace and the sweat of Polish, German, Italian, African American, and Irish immigrants who made the steel. In that light, it’s easy to see the reverence the average Pittsburgher has for the National Football League’s Steelers as more a love of history and tradition than simply for the game of football. But that’s a metaphor for another story. Let’s talk food.
Feeding America’s WorkforceIt took a certain type of individual to make that steel. It was hard, dangerous, and dirty work that required brawn and stamina. To feed these laborers required meals high in calories and in tastes of the “Old Country.” The steelworkers wanted good old fashioned home cooking that reminded them of their countries of origin, even if they were 2nd or 3rd generation Americans. That meant a lot of roasts, pastas, and hearty soups cooked all day and were ready for dinner when shifts let out at 3 or 4 p.m. Leftovers meant sandwiches and thermoses full of soup for lunch the next day.
Walking past any given house on a Sunday afternoon treated you to the tastes and smells of Sunday dinner. Every neighborhood gave off different smells depending upon its ethnic makeup. The predominately Irish North Side neighborhoods enticed with corned beef and cabbage. The mostly Italian neighborhood of Bloomfield was alive with red gravy (pasta sauce) simmering all day on the stove top. The Polish and Slovak neighborhoods of the Strip District and Polish Hill smelled of smoked meats and cabbage, while the predominately African American Hill District flavored the air with the smells of soul and southern foods.
The More Things Change …Despite the huge changes that have occurred in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania over the last 30 years, many of those food traditions haven’t changed much, if at all. Today, more people live in the suburbs than in the city so those smells of Sunday dinner are no longer a just a short walk away, but they’re still there. The children and grandchildren of those hardworking steelworkers who still call Pittsburgh home continue to celebrate those food traditions with their own versions of Sunday dinner. You’ll find grandma’s recipe book laying open on the counter and families enjoying the aroma wafting out of the kitchen.
They also operate restaurants and delis dedicated to the tastes they grew up on. Want some pierogi or kielbasa? Try S&H Polish Deli. Want some wiener schnitzel or sauerbraten? Try Max’s Allegheny Tavern. Want some Shepherd’s pie or Guinness-battered fish & chips? Try Mulaney’s Harp & Fiddle. Have a taste for Italian wedding soup or spaghetti and meatballs with a meatball the size of your head? Try Big Jim’s.
These, and dozens of other, small, neighborhood eateries continue to make connections to a time and place that most Pittsburghers will never forget.
Mangia!
This article is presented by Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh. Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh offers culinary arts, pâtisserie and baking, and hospitality and restaurant management training programs in Pittsburgh, PA. To learn more about the class offerings, please visit
Chefs.edu/Pittsburgh for more information.