Stella D'oro

There was a time not so long ago when you got served Stella D'oro cookies and Medaglia D'oro coffee when you visited an Italian home. My mother did this. For years this was how Americans experienced "ethnic food." Never mind that Stella D'oro was owned by Jews and wasn't especially ethnic or particularly Italian--the products were made in the Bronx, the packaging was Italian-themed,the company advertisements in Il Progresso featured wide-eyed and olive-skinned smiling fat people, there was a union label on the package and the products were kosher and that was enough already.

Not any longer, I hope.

Stella D'oro workers have been out on strike in the Bronx for almost one year. They just got a favorable ruling from the National Labor Relations Board ordering the company to reinstate the strikers. The company responded by announcing that the Bronx plant will be closed. The old owners are long gone; the present owners are far removed from their workers and the communities who purchase their products. In fact, they're a hedge fund that bought the plant from Nabisco, I think, with the intention of flipping it in a few years. Nabisco must have bought it from The Golds, the Stella D'oro owners I remember. The company was named after Stella Gold.

Anmyway, read about it here.