Do Black and White Cookies Even Taste Good, or Is That the Nostalgia Talking?
There are a few moments in pop culture that can compete for the title "Peak New York," but this one's somewhere near the top of the list:
This weekend, an Upper East Side bakery (that has claimed to have invented the black and white) will close its doors. Glaser's Bake Shop is shutting down after 116 years in the business.
So with a nod to Glaser's, WNYC is asking listeners who love the black and white to look within themselves and ask: do I love the black and white cookie for its nostalgia or for its actual taste?
Josh Russ Tupper, the fourth-generational co-owner of Russ and Daughters, has thought a lot about the tension between nostalgia and taste.
Russ Tupper says, at his restaurants, some customers have expressed disappointment when they finally sink their teeth into a food from their childhood and it doesn't quite taste as magical as they remember. Some might feel the same about Russ and Daughters' black and white cookie, which has been hailed as one of the best in the city but includes tweaks on the original recipe, like a more lemony cake.
"You can never make them right because they're looking for the one they had when they were ten years old," Russ Tupper told WNYC. "But it’s a beautiful thing, the black and white cookie. It has the nostalgia, it has the history, and ours has the deliciousness as well."
Listeners who love the black and white, weigh in below and on Twitter: Is your love for the black and white cookie based on nostalgia or taste? Use the hashtag #MyWrongOpinion or tweet @shubasu.
Shumita Basu spoke to WNYC's Kerry Nolan.
@shubasu: I eat black & white cookies for nostalgia because, search as I do, they never taste as good as they used to. And as they should. #mywrongopinion
— D Frutkoff (@DFrutkoff) June 29, 2018
@shubasu @wnyc Taste - I love black & white cookies so much we gave them to our guests as a wedding favor. #MyWrongOpinion #blackandwhitecookies
— Kelly Verel (@Kelly_Verel) June 29, 2018
@shubasu A little of both, but taste is more important. The white frosting should be hardened, the chocolate frosting should be soft and lemony = trash. #mywrongopinion
— Rachel N (@CrustyRyeBread) June 29, 2018
@shubasu 70% nostalgia 30% taste for the black & white cookie. Especially for the ones from Ebinger’s bakery on Ave J in Bklyn that the counter ladies would give me when I went in with my mom or nana. Of course, most nostalgic for the blackout cake from there.#mywrongopinion
— AM24 (@24artie) June 29, 2018
Like a Madeleine, it is a delicious little cake. It is NOT a cookie, but it IS delicious, despite what some heathens say.
— Brian Rafferty (@_Brian_Rafferty) June 29, 2018
When I realized it was nostalgia, I stopped eating them. I used to get them from a German bakery called Gideon’s in Washington Heights when I was a kid (1960s and 1979s). They were glorious.
— Zaza Chilvers (@ZazaChilvers) June 29, 2018
#mywrongopinion On @WNYC the question of the Black & White cookie, simple nostalgia or not? I say both yes and no. My perfect desert since childhood; they’re still perfect, so why choose WHY? It’s a deliciously compelling and, yep, gray issue.
— John Pietaro, Writer (@JohnPietaro) June 29, 2018
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