February is, apparently, Great American Pies Month. It may or may not surprise you to know that it appears to have been the brainchild of Crisco brand shortening.
But ignoring the brand behind the idea, the idea of a Great American Pie got me thinking. A ‘great’ pie would be a well-made, delicious pie no matter what the cultural origins. So what makes a pie an American Pie (movie notwithstanding).
What Makes Something an American Pie?
I mean, Apple Pie is obvious – what with everything being ‘as American as‘, etc., etc. But I tend to associate Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie almost exclusively with the US. That may be my years of trying to avoid pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving combined with childhood memories of going pecan picking in Louisiana. Experience tells me that if I start digging into the history of these things, they won’t be initially American at all. And you know I’m gonna go look, right?
While I do that, I offer this question to ponder: What type of pie would you classify as a Great American Pie?
What About the Rest of the Pies?
The other question I have is – what about all the other pies? Why does the broader category of ‘pie’ not have a month? Because I’ve looked and it does not. Some people seem to think of November as pie month (and I get that through an American lens given the whole Thanksgiving thing).
But British Pie Week (pie being a very different creature in this case) is in March. Pie Day is in January (not to be confused with Pi Day which is obviously March 14) and specific pies have days scattered all over the calendar; including some of these quintessentially American Pies (Apple Pie Day is, inexplicably, in May).
I feel there is a missed opportunity here for a celebration of pie as a broader category – a pastry-topped trip around the culinary world. Might have to figure out a way to make that a thing. Given the breadth of the category, I’m not sure February (the shortest month) makes much sense.
If you could assign any month as Pie Month, which month would you choose?
I’m wondering if every month could be a pie month? If, that is, we could come up with twelve categories of pie?
Let’s see, we could have Tree Fruit Pie Month (Apple, cherry,peach etc), Hot-Water Pastry Pie Month (perhaps in winter), Mince Pie Month (December, obvs), Vegan Pie Month (Veganuary), Citrus Pie Month (Lemon Meringue, Key Lime) , Chocolate Pie Month, Meat Pie Month (game pie, steak and kidney, chicken pot pie), Berry Pie Month (Raspberry, Strawberry) , Tart Month (I mean come on) , Nut Pie Month (Pecan, peanut butter) , Almost A Pie Month (galette, clafoutis) and Not Actually Pie Month (shepherd, cottage, fish). Thoughts?
I would be very much here for such a move. Also, we need a month for cream pies (Boston cream comes immediately to mind but it is broader than that and I am ok with some pies sitting in more than one category.
Oh yes absolutely!! I mean Custard Pie!!!