Barbra Streisand’s mom believed this Jewish drink would improve her daughter’s voice
Here we show you how to make the eggnog-like Jewish home remedy called a “gogl-mogl”
Barbra Streisand with fellow actor Kris Kristofferson, circa 1970; New York Photo by Getty Images
By Rukhl Schaechter November 17, 2023
Long before Barbra Streisand published her bestselling memoir My Name is Barbra, she shared recollections of her mother encouraging her to gulp down a traditional eastern European Jewish drink called a gogl-mogl. The reason? Her mother believed it would improve her daughter’s singing voice.
Although the sweet, eggnog-like drink was originally a dessert, it also became a Jewish home remedy for the common cold. Recipes varied depending on geographical location but the most well-known version consisted of an egg yolk, milk and honey. Other variations used sugar instead of honey, flavorings like cinnamon or vanilla or even rum.
Here Yiddish food scholar and chef Eve Jochnowitz demonstrates how easy it is to make a gogl-mogl yourself.
Interestingly, Streisand didn’t like the drink, which is surprising. Most people who grew up drinking gogl-mogl told me that they loved it and even occasionally feigned illness in order to get a glass of it!
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rukhl Schaechter, Yiddish Editor
