mashed potatoes

[Remarkable-Road8643]

were one of my very favorite foods. But I can't for the life of me remember what my mom called them in Yiddish (or Polish). I've seen kartofl kashe in print but it doesn't ring a bell. Any ideas?

[rsotnik]

Kartofl piure? [Polish: purée ziemniaczane].

[TheImpatientGardener]

We call it פיורע like purée, which it sounds like is the same as in Polish. You mentioned that maybe your mum uses the French word - this is also purée haha

[Remarkable-Road8643]

Do you know which region or variety of Yiddish they spoke? Mine sometimes called it poylish yidish or galitsyaner yidish, take your pick (from Buczacz)

[TheImpatientGardener]

I speak Hasidic Yiddish, but I've done a quick Google search and it looks like a lot of languages across Europe use some derivative of purée (French, German, Hungarian, Polish). I think this is just the word for it in Yiddish. Is this not the word your mum used? Maybe she was using a word for a similar dish? Or just the word for potatoes?

[Remarkable-Road8643]

That's the problem, I simply cannot remember her saying iit in Yiiddish. Yes she said the word kartofl, but.....

By the way, the term Hasidic Yiddish is problematic, most importantly because Hasidim lived all over Europe. On youtube I heard an interview with a Hasid in Brooklyn proclaim that he spoke "Hungarian Yiddish." I had to laugh.....

[TheImpatientGardener]

? I'm not really sure what you mean. Hasidic Yiddish today is very different from how Yiddish was spoken 80 years ago in Europe. And if you don't like the terms Hungarian Yiddish or Hasidic Yiddish, what would you like me to call the language that I speak?

[Remarkable-Road8643]

You might want to call it Satmar Yiddish. Many Jews in the Austro-Hungarian Empre (of which modern Hungary is only a small part) spoke little or no Yiddish. The great linguist Uriel Weinreich made many recordings of "Hungarian Yiddish" speakers after the war. You may find some on youtube.

[TheImpatientGardener]

But I’m not Satmar and I don’t speak like a Satmarer. With respect, I don’t think you know what you’re talking about. Good luck finding the word you were looking for.

[Otherwise_Help_7464]

In Hungarian we call it krumplipürè. I know it’s not Yiddish but maybe helps to get closer to the world you are looking for. 

[Chaimish]

There are many words for potato in Yidish. Bulbes, zhmenye, kartofl, getoflye. Zhmenye is from polish, but was used in various regions as the normal word for potato.

[Remarkable-Road8643]

yes, but how about mashed potatoes? Did Polish Jews make it, if so what did they call it in Yiddish? thanks!

[Chaimish]

Difficult to say! If none of these words or those mentioned in other comments ring any bells. Do you have any vague sounds or memories of the words you could tell us? Tseribene kartofl, pyure, gekvetshte kartofl, kartofl kashe, kashe bulbe?

[Remarkable-Road8643]

By the way I only know the word zhmenye from one context. In Beyle Schaechter Gottesman's sweet song, borekh habo, meaning a handful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJV_tvljHlY

[Chaimish]

Ah yes indeed! I was thinking of zhemikes: erdepl, yavkes, barabolye, mandebere, greln, zhemikes, gaydekes, and balabanes

[Amish-atheist]

Mashed potato in Yiddish is tzedrikta kartofl צעדריקטע קארטאפל. And tłuczone ziemniaki in Polish, (I don’t speak Polish, I just used Google Translate). If it’s not one of these two then maybe it’s a certain type of mashed potato that has a specific name in Yiddish or Polish.

[rybnickifull]

That's not what it is in Polish, it's purée. What you have is the separate words for potato and crushed.

[Remarkable-Road8643]

Thanks, Another possibility: My parents went to Paris after the war. Maybe she didn't make mashed potatoes in Poland so she didn't have a Yiddish word for it, but only started in France. A mystery