After casually mentioning Red Hot Riplets in yesterday’s Morning Light—while, tragically, snacking on snap peas—I got bunch of emails. Some were about snack deprivation, others about beloved junk food. A few said they’d heard Old Vienna—the local company behind Riplets—was started by a Jewish businessman.
Naturally I dropped everything and went digging.
I started with the Old Vienna website. On their About page, there it was: Louis Kauffmann. That gave me a name to search. But I’ll be honest—the double N at the end of Kauffmann had me concerned. I don’t know why exactly but I don’t see a lot of Jewish names with that particular spelling. That’s a rabbit hole for another day.
Armed with the name, I headed into our archive and searched “Louis Kauffmann Old Vienna.”
Sure enough, in the May 2, 1953 edition of the St. Louis Light, page 3, there’s a photo series titled: Scenes At Special Gifts Dinner. And there, in a caption labeled NON-JEWISH DONORS, are Mr. and Mrs. Louis Kauffmann, listed among the attendees who gave $1,500. That’s about as conclusive as it gets. I’ve never seen a Jewish rumor disproven quite so ceremoniously.
But then—I stumbled on something else.
A vintage ad in our archive for Old Vienna Gefilte Fish. My jaw dropped.
Could it be? Had Old Vienna, makers of St. Louis’ spiciest chip, once made gefilte fish—the most Jewish food on earth?
I made a quick call to my new friend Tommy at Old Vienna HQ in Fenton. She laughed. No, they’ve never made gefilte fish. But she appreciated the call—it made her day. And when I looked closer, I saw that the ad wasn’t for our Old Vienna but for Rokeach Old Vienna Gefilte Fish, a kosher food company founded in 1870 with the tagline: “Providing your needs for Jewish products from Shabbos candles to chicken soup”.
They’re now part of the Kayco Kosher family.
So no, Riplets aren’t Jewish. But the hunt was worth it. I made a new friend, found a great ad and lost an hour down a delightful rabbit hole.
