“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” Carl Sagan
“Pie is a symbol of something bigger than Mom and her way with desserts.” Pasquale Le Draqulec
“Pie is the food of the heroic. No pie eating nation can ever be vanquished.” NY Times
Pie…that fantastic dessert, or snack, or breakfast, or sometimes even dinner! Who doesn’t love pie?! My grandmother always said that when she and my grandfather were first married, he always requested a fresh pie at home in case he brought home friends. She loved making pies.
Pies became more popular in American culture around the time my grandmother was a young newlywed, but the origin of the pie is much much earlier than that. They say they possibly came from the Greeks as a way to preserve meat on vast voyages. But the Romans are the first to document actual recipes, using mainly meats but also seafood as well.
(courtesy auntlilskitchen.com)
In medieval England, they were called pyes, and instead of being predominantly sweet, they too were most often filled with meat – beef, lamb, wild duck and magpie pigeon – spiced with pepper, currants or dates. Because of their crusty tops, pyes acted as a way to preserve meats in the cold winter months. These are the pies the Pilgrims brought with them to the New World. As the colonies expanded, the use of local edibles into pies expanded, including sweet fruits. But it wasn’t until the early 1900’s that the explosion of recipes occured, going from about 8 sweet pie recipes published in the late 1800’s to over 64 by 1947.
The popularity of Apple Pie is thought to have come about during the WW2 when artist Montgomery Flagg designed the famous Uncle Sam “I want you” posters. His work became popular due to this and some of his works included American housewives baking….yes, apple pies! Thus the image and symbol of being “as American as apple pie” seems to have been born.
We love pie here at AmLo Farms. And Lola has become quite the pie baker. She has been raising money for a trip she wants to take this summer, and has been baking pies for sale. Yesterday she did 12! She might be trying to reintroduce the popularity of pie back into our community…I highly suspect this is her ultimate goal…;) She even started a small blog, Pies For Days!. She plans on documenting her adventures into the world of pie baking. I dare say, she is quite good at it too.
Now you have to excuse me, I am going to go have a piece of pie with coffee….care to join me?
Peace,
Cat
