Learn more about pie:

HISTORY OF PIE

Mincemeat pie, now a meatless staple of the Thanksgiving dessert table, once contained - you guessed it - minced meat (usually beef), along with beef fat (suet), candied citrus peels, apples, and various spices. According to an Ohio cookbook from 1876, mince pies came into "disrepute" because their preparation was usually left up to servants who were unable to prepare the rather complicated pie properly. The same cookbook says: "Tact, wisdom, judgment, knowledge, and experience all go into the proper construction of a genuine mince pie, to say nothing of kindness of heart and liberality of disposition." ^xxiii American cooks clearly have always taken their pie baking seriously!

Chicken pot pie, another North American savory pie favorite, is usually filled with a cream-and-chicken based mixture, and topped with a savory pastry crust. The chicken pot pie was the first frozen pot pie available in the US, developed by the Swanson company in 1951. ^xxiv Other common American savory pies include pork pie (a specialty of southern Massachusetts) and beef pot pie, which generally contains a mixture of beef and vegetables, and is similar to cottage pie, but, like chicken pot pie, is topped with a savory pastry crust. An American cookbook from 1796 lists other savory pies that have since fallen out of fashion, such as tongue pie, a savory-sweet concoction made with ox tongue, apples, and sugar; grass-fed ox foot pie; and something called a "sea pie" made with pigeons, veal, and pork. ^xxv

Today, the most common savory "pie" is pizza, which originated, of course, in Italy, and was brought to the east coast of the US by Italian immigrants in the late 19th Century. Click here for more on the history of pizza pies in the United States.

Farm Wives and Pie

As nutritional fads touting a low carbohydrate, high protein diet became popular in the latter half of the 19th Century (does that sound familiar, anyone?), and as more and more women started entering the workforce, pies began to diminish in popularity in North America. ^xxvi Click here for more information about the nutrition of pie! A cookbook from the turn of the century says, under the heading "Pastry and Pies":

"In the first place, don't make either, except very semi-occasionally. Pastry, even when good, is so indigestible that children should never have it, and their elders but seldom." ^xxvii

The diminishment of pie's place in America seemed to also coincide with the move from rural to urban environments as the Industrial Revolution took hold in North America. The remaining holdouts of pie baking remained with farm wives, where pie remained a way in which to showcase local ingredients, as well as techniques of pie cookery. Many farm wives competed (and still do) in pie bake-offs at State fairs and other agricultural showcases.

Pie Across America

Although the low-fat, low-carbohydrate movement is still in full-force in the US, we have seen a resurgence of interest in pie as a component of the importance of celebrating local ingredients and cookery. The fresher the ingredients, the better the pie! Lard has even made a comeback in recent years, especially with the understanding we now have about hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable shortenings. (While most commercial lard is hydrogenated, it is easy to find sustainable lard from local farmers, and it's even easy to render your own lard, if you're so inclined. Click here for instructions on how to render your own lard!) Pies are a great metaphor for local, wholesome food, and their ingredients tell stories about the people who bake them and the locations where they originated.

Join Sustainable Table for Pie Across America, as we celebrate American pie baking traditions across the United States. Sustainable Table will honor pie-making traditions by baking, tasting, comparing, sharing and eating endless varieties of pies from across the country. Click on the map to learn more. If you've got a classic American pie recipe that you'd like to share with us, email us at info@sustainabletable.org. We may even publish your recipe online! Or chat about pie in the Sustainable Table forum.

-Megan Saynisch

Sources

• Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006: 586.
• Ibid: 587
• Ibid.
• The Oxford English Dictionary. Accessed 6/27/2007: www.oed.com
• Ibid.
• McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. NY: Scribner, 2004: 562.
• Smith, Andrew F., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004: 272.
• Ibid.
• Crisco webpage. Accessed 6/28/2007: www.crisco.com
• Simmons, Amelia. American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake. Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1796.
• Campbell, Helen. The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1903. [originally published in 1893]
• Givens, Meta. Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking. Chicago: Ferguson and Associates, 1952. [originally published in 1947]
• Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006: 641.
• Smith, Andrew F., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004: 332
• Ibid.
• Smith, Andrew F., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004: 45.
• The Master-Cooks of King Richard II. The Forme of Cury, a Roll of Ancient English Cookery. Compiled, about A.D. 1390. Accessed online (via Project Gutenberg) http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext05/8cury10.txt July 2, 2007
• Edge, John T. Apple Pie: An American Story. Waterville, Maine: Thorndike Press, 2004: 17
• Ibid: 163-164
• Smith, Andrew F., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004: 240
• Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006: 716.
• Ibid.
• Smith, Andrew F., ed. Centennial Buckeye Cookbook. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000: 158. [originally published in 1876]
• Mariani, John F. The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink. New York: Lebhar-Friedman, 1999: 254.
• Simmons, Amelia. American Cookery, or the Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry and Vegetables, and the Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards and Preserves, and All Kinds of Cakes, from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake. Hartford: Hudson & Goodwin, 1796.
• Smith, Andrew F., ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004: 274
• Campbell, Helen. The Easiest Way in Housekeeping and Cooking. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1903. [originally published in 1893]

Tags: sustainable food, road trip, Sustainable Table, Eat Well Guide, pie, Farm Aid