Whatever happened to pie?
My mother recently brought this up to me - what ever happened to pie? She was telling me that she couldn't find any tinned pie filling in the supermarket the last time that she was there. What's more, the Baker's Square restuarant that she used to go to just suddenly went out of business, and the Perkins that used to stock loads of differnet pies (I know, used to be the baker at my local one back in the college days) only had two kinds the last time that she and my father went there. And it struck me that it seems to be increasingly rare to see pie offered anywhere outside of the little hole-in-the-wall places, or old-fashioned, small-town diners that we sometimes pass on the highway.
Has anyone else experienced something like this? And is there any idea of what happened to cause it?
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25 Comments:
Hmm in my opinion, pie is still around. Our Bakers Square is still open (to my knowledge) and the Perkins in my college town is still around. I still see pie in the grocery stores all the time too. Different cities, different pie habits?? I'm from Chicago, by the way.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 10:21AM on 01/18/08
I haven't noticed a decline in pie around here. If you really want pie...every spring in Celebration, FL they have the Crisco annual pie festival. For like $10 you get all the pie you want to eat from a slew of different vendors!
jcrisco at 10:32AM on 01/18/08
I haven't noticed this, but I've never used a tinned pie filling: I always have a very precise idea of what I want, and the amount I'd need to tinker with a filling would be equivalent to making it from scratch.
I'm guessing that this is part of the problem, that is, most people who are in the mood for a pie these days are inclined to make the entire thing from scratch (the filling isn't usually the challenging part), or just buy one ready made.
mongoose at 11:05AM on 01/18/08
Read the book Humble Pie: Musings on What Lies Beneath the Crust for a hypothesis on why pies are disappearing and what can be done about it.
doglover at 11:07AM on 01/18/08
Ooh, thank you for that! I will try to check that one out. I am not sure if it is a regional thing. I live in MN, and it would seem that pie would be alive and well ariound here, given the general culture and love of the stuff. But who knows....
I think that the comment on either buying it outright or making it entirely from scratch is probably pretty true, too.
Traveller at 11:14AM on 01/18/08
People are so excited about cupcakes, they've forgotten about pie. Anne and I have a whole site dedicated to bringing back the pie, albeit in a miniature form:
http://www.minipierevolution.blogspot.com
KarynMC at 11:50AM on 01/18/08
Tarts, being sexy little things, like to go topless. Some tarts leave a little more to the imagination with strategically placed whipped cream or garnishes. No tart likes complete coverage!
(from the mini pie revolution blog)
WOWZERS! with writing like that- I'm IN! KarynMC!!!
bisbee at 12:02PM on 01/18/08
Pie is alive and well. I do sometimes opt for a crisp or cobbler out of time constraints but I love a good pie with crust.
Please. I implore you. Don't ever use that chemically colored GOO in cans. It's God-awful. It's so easy to throw together a pie filling. Fruit, corn starch or flour, sugar, lemon juice and dot with butter. The end :D
chiff0nade at 12:09PM on 01/18/08
My book club theme in July was to read a book on one gals search for pie in America..(can't remember title) we were supposed to bring (homemade) pie to the book club meeting. (my friends are in their 20's-30's) I was the only one to bring homemade pie. The rest brought frozen boxed pies.
sigh.....what kind of grandmothers will my generation make??
bisbee at 12:20PM on 01/18/08
Here in Ohio pie is also alive and well, and I most certainly drink the "kool aid" as I make a pie about every 2 weeks. I love Dorie Greenspan's crust so much I would probably eat it without filling! (Actually I do when I bake the leftover "scraps" with cinnamon sugar)
As for the canned pie filling, I would be more than thrilled if it disappeared from the grocery shelves here as I agree that stuff is vile, sugar in a can.
It's my hope that as more people are coming around to the fresh, organic, local foods bandwagon that they start baking more from scratch again, as the frozen and store bought stuff has way to many preservatives and I just don't think it's worth the money. I'm always proud of myself in the store when I see some tasty looking treats, but then realize I can probably make them cheaper, and better, myself.
bobcatsteph3 at 12:34PM on 01/18/08
bisbee, could you be referring to the book by pascale le draoulec called american pie? she takes a series of road trips around the states eating pie and meeting professional and amateur bakers. it was a fun read.
during the summer, depending on my audience and the availability at the greenmarkets, i will make an old fashioned sour cherry pie or two. i've switched to open faced fruit tarts for the most part. and key lime pie.
i love to make pie, but it was invented to supply a lot of calories to people who did hard physical labor, and even though i spend a ridiculous amount of time every day at the gym, i can't eat like that anymore, if i ever really could.
cybercita at 12:41PM on 01/18/08
I think that real filling is fantastic, but unfortunately, my mother didn't really have the time at the time, so she wanted something quick, that woudln't force her to resort to store-purchased pies. She ended up, though, making a fantastic lemon meringue pie from scratch.
Bisbee, I agree with you on your question. What happened? I even brought (how easy is this?) brownies to a class last night to celebrate a friend's engagement (they were her request) and everyone was just amazed that someone would actually take the time to make them, instead of just buy them. How unfortunate.
Also, for those of you more familiar with pie (I admit, I bake more cookies and bars and cakes, although I am getting much more adventurous), my grandmother used to make an amazing choke cherry pie, but not only have I never been able to find a recipe for one (I think that it's a really small regional taste, since I have never even seen it offered anywhere else - have you?), but I cannot even find choke cherries enough to use. And if I gather them in the wild, or near the farm where she lived and where they still grow, how do I begin prepairing them? Any help there would be much appreciated!!!
Traveller at 12:49PM on 01/18/08
Canned pie filling is still alive (maybe not so well) in So Calif. In my stores, it's usually near the canned pumpkin, which is why I've noticed it. But it's always on the very bottom shelf near the end of the baking ingredients aisle (flour, sugar, etc.), and I only see a few very decrepit-looking cans. In fact, I always wonder if they've had those same 10-20 cans for the past five years, because they look so ancient, and I can't figure out who uses them. I mean, even if you use store-bought crust, the filling is... well... easy as pie! Right?
Anyway, I do agree. You definitely don't see much pie anymore. I think it's gone out of favor partly due to people's interest in eating healthfully (it's got lots of fat sugar and calories), the fact that having dessert is now the exception not the rule, and partly that the mystery of crust-making has not been passed along.
Besides. Very few people actually bake anymore. Most people will only go so far as to make a boxed cake mix, and hardly any of them even do that anymore. It's going out of style.
LoCo at 12:57PM on 01/18/08
@bisbee - I'm so excited to hear that! The writing on that piece was a totally combination effort - I think Anne and I are both proud mini-pie mamas.
SEs - I challenge you all to prove that homemade pies are alive! And well! And sexy!
Vive la revolution!
KarynMC at 1:31PM on 01/18/08
Pie is alive and well in my house. We eat it all the time.
Lilartist at 1:32PM on 01/18/08
I'm getting married this year, and I've decided I want pie instead of wedding cake. Think about it:
1. Wedding cake is usually gross
2. We can have many different kinds of pie, so everyone can have something they like
3. It's fun and different!
lo82070 at 1:59PM on 01/18/08
@lo82070 - Wedding pie is terrific, and makes a big impression. Great idea, good for you, and congratulations!
Lauren Krueger at 2:08PM on 01/18/08
Cybercita- thanks! that was the book I was referring to. good read- but the non-bakers were uninmpressed. Go figure.
Traveller-I have been musing on the "what the heck kind of evil grandmothers will my generation produce?" question for a while. Seeing almost all of the girls I know eating boxed microcrap, I just sigh. It is my mission this year to encourage those girls to try cooking! Maybe I will post a talk forum on it? hmm....
lo82070- my friend had pie at her wedding- what an amazing idea- and the guests LOVED it. good luck & congrats.
bisbee at 2:23PM on 01/18/08
lo82070 -
Check out the previously mentioned "Humble Pie" book - there is a chapter on wedding pies.
doglover at 2:29PM on 01/18/08
Wedding pies? Fantastic idea! And you can get so much more variety of flavors for people, too.
Bisbee: Yes, start one. I nearly cry/scream when I see people in my office or my grad school classroom eating nothing but prepackaged crap. Last night, even though I brought homemade brownies, two of friends even opted for the pre-packaged candy bars and muffins. What a blow that was. I felt horrible. But, fortnately, others appeared to like them, so that was good. My grandmother would roll in her grave if she saw me eating nothing but that stuff...Now she was a fantastic baker (though she never once made a pie).
Traveller at 2:51PM on 01/18/08
1. Wedding cake is usually gross...
I beg to differ!! I made a Wedding Cheesecake for a very "granola" couple in Colorado. Everyone loved it - and I heard about it every time I'd run into wedding guests at the couple's house - at much as two years later.
Six different cakes, six different flavors. If the link works, they are from top left: Key Lime Coconut Crust, Mango Graham Crust, Mocha Chocolate Wafer Crust, Orange/Grand Marnier Coconut Crust, Chocolate/Raspberry Swirl Chocolate Wafer Crust and Plain with Graham Crust. I set the whole thing up at a campsite. (I told you they were granola!)
Anyway - Wedding cake has come a long way since the cream-covered-cardboard served at receptions. I dare anyone to sample a Rose Levy Beranbaum recipe or a Collette Peters cake and think it's gross. The only gross wedding cake still around is prepared by Sandra Lee (by all means, pass on that one).
This is not to imply I'm against "wedding pie" by any means. Just trying to rep wedding cake!
chiff0nade at 3:05PM on 01/18/08
Traveller: I tried to do a search for choke cherries (esp. pie!) I found this instead:
http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/chokecherrywine.htm
the article says choke cherries are pretty small- better for wine & jams. Your Grandma must have been pretty ambitious!Good luck on your search- do any of your relatives have the recipe tucked away somewhere?
bisbee at 3:52PM on 01/18/08
Pie is alive & well in my family...homemake crust & ingredients. Hardly ever do I notice pie on the fancy-pants restaurant menus but is offered in places like Bob Evan's.
JEP at 7:45PM on 01/18/08
my husband is a marie callendar's junkie. he had 2 pies instead of cake for his birthday--and I work at a bakery that makes cakes!
beth1 at 1:27AM on 01/19/08
Today I had the oddest pie: the filling seemed to be underdone brownie with raspberries throughout. It was extremely good :)
I like pie very much, but prefer to have my 'pie fix' (whether I'm making it or buying it) in tart form, since I tend to be a horribly restless person, and eating a slice of pie while striding briskly about can be messy, to say the least.
mongoose at 1:58PM on 01/19/08