Etelka

I'm Nikki, and I grew up in New York in a kitchen that tasted like Hungary. My father came to the U.S. before I was born — a true believer in the American dream — but a part of him was always a little homesick, mostly his stomach. Every trip back to Hungary, our suitcases came home stuffed silly with poppy seeds, my grandmother's coffee cake, and piros paprika from Röszke, all rationed for months and never thrown away. That's how the Hungarian kitchen became the core of who I am, lived out right here in New York. But one thing never survived the suitcase: túró — the smooth, velvety cottage cheese that we ate as often as bread. Here, "cottage cheese" was a watery, chunky stranger. The truth crystallized while I was walking through the grocery store: cottage cheese was sold out on shelves and everywhere in the wellness conversation, yet nothing tasted like it should. So I built Etelka — named for the Hungarian word for "nourishing." Just two ingredients, farm-fresh milk from grass-fed cows and live active cultures, 18g of protein, and the smooth texture Europe has made for centuries. It's my way of bringing a real taste of home to a local grocery shelf near you. Smooth, simple, and genuinely craveable.