In the 2002 movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, during the first meeting of the Portokalos and Miller families, Harriet Miller brings a Bundt cake as a gift. Maria Portokalos, the family matriarch, accepts it, then asks politely, “What is it?” “A Bundt,” Miller replies with confusion. “A bund?” Portokalos asks. “A Bundt,” Miller replies crisply. To her, just the word explains everything: a tall, usually homemade cake with a hollow center, baked for everything from potlucks to sympathy gifts. Portokalos doesn’t recognize the term or significance at all. “There’s…
