Pastry

Every culture has its comfort foods. For Czechs, a typical one is the kolache. It’s a fist-sized dough bun filled, at least traditionally, with fruit or poppy seeds. Now the kolache is spreading across the US. One couple has brought it from the Czech community of Texas to Brooklyn.

Anne Sophie Diotallevi grew up in Belgium, where her favorite childhood dessert was the merveilleux, a delicate cake made of layered meringue and cream. Now living in New York, she’s done the city a huge favor by opening a shop dedicated to the fragile confection.

A Turkish baker, who says he had high hopes for Barack Obama when he was elected U.S. president back in 2008, says he’s disappointed with how the whole term has turned out. But he’s baked Obama into a baklava, hoping the sugary dessert will help Obama take a sweeter tact with his foreign policy.

‘Oma and Bella’ is a documentary about two Jewish women in their 80s living in Berlin. Reporter Julia Simon talks to the filmmaker, who is the grand daughter of one of the women.

Many Americans with family roots elsewhere in the world celebrate Thanksgiving meals that don’t include turkey or cranberry sauce.