A Brief History of Perogies in the US

While the origin of perogies is debated, in America, the food has a strong connection to Polish tradition and immigrants. Settling in the northeast and Midwest, immigrants from Poland started arriving in the United States in the 1900s, with a big wave of immigrants coming around the time of the Second World War. Originally, perogies were eaten at home by Polish families, but soon they were being consumed by locals with their popularity being driven by charity fundraisers in the 1940s. By the 1960s perogies were in supermarkets’ frozen food section across the US and Canada. Today, the culinary traditions Polish immigrants brought with them remain, but perogies have also evolved in unique ways suited to American tastes.