Recently inducted into the National Honor Society, Andrew (Drew) Horun is on the wrestling team at New Jersey’s Phillipsburg High School. In addition, he coaches both wrestling and soccer. Having grown up in an Eastern European family, Andrew Horun loves a range of different types of foods, but especially enjoys the halushki of his cultural background. 

Haluskhi can mean different things depending on the region it comes from and the family that’s making it. Generally, it is either a soft noodle and cabbage dish or a potato dumpling that can be topped with cabbage, bacon, sauerkraut, and farmer’s cheese. Or, if you are in America, cottage cheese, as it’s closest to the traditional cheese that would have been available regionally. 

The potato dumplings common in Slovakia can be combined with braised cabbage and pork in the winter or poppy seeds and butter in the summer. When these dumplings are topped with fried bacon and a specific sheep cheese, this is the national dish of Slovakia, bryndzové halušky. 

In Poland, the dish is called lazanki, where it is a noodle dish that usually includes bacon. In Pittsburgh, where many Eastern European immigrants have made the comfort food very popular, it is usually a simple, easy-to-make comfort food including wide egg noodles, butter, and cabbage.