The wedding cookie table is one of Pittsburgh’s most joyful food traditions.  We sit down with Laura McGone, founder of The Wedding Cookie Table Community, to talk about how a simple Facebook page started in 2015 as research for a documentary, and grew into a network of bakers preserving family recipes, cultural identity, and the “cradle to grave” role cookies play in our lives.

Laura challenges the common myth of the cookie table origin story. We also get into why recipe boxes matter, how handwritten recipe cards and imperfect old measurements can still guide us, and how the community helps people recover “lost” cookies just by describing what they remember.

Along the way, we talk record-setting cookie tables, Cookie Table University, and a major cookbook project tied to America’s 250th anniversary, plus the charitable cookie tables the group organizes for causes and communities in need. 

We switch gears to a healthy recommendation from Caleb of Cravings with Caleb (Live Fresh Juicery) and hear a comforting savory craving from Nick of Inside Out Cookie (his mom’s meatloaf, leftovers included). 

If you love Pittsburgh food, baking traditions, and practical tips like how many cookies per guest to plan, hit subscribe, share this with a fellow cookie-table fan, and leave us a review.

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