Monkey bread is called that most commonly because it is eaten by pulling apart sticky pieces of dough with fingers, much like a monkey might pick at something. The name likely comes from this finger-food style of eating where people pull the bread apart piece by piece. Another theory suggests the bread resembles the monkey puzzle tree. The origins trace back to a Hungarian dessert called arany galuska ("golden dumpling"), which Hungarian Jewish immigrants brought to the U.S. in the late 19th century. The term "monkey bread" started appearing in American cookbooks and magazines around the 1950s and was popularized by actress ZaSu Pitts in the mid-20th century and later by Nancy Reagan, who served it at White House Christmases.