After a lifetime of pie-induced pleasure, I feel it’s time somebody stood up for my perfect dessert. Pie is moist where cake is too often arid; it’s complex where cake is too often banal. In a subtle, supple flake of pie crust there is more of heaven than in all the world’s slabs of cake combined.
Despite cake’s current sugary dominance, pie has historically been the democratic dessert of the common man in the United States. Pie is the dessert we’ve turned to for comfort in our actual homes.
Though the Oxford English Dictionary lists pie’s linguistic origins as obscure, many linguists believe the word comes from “magpie.” This was due to the practice of medieval bakers concocting massive pies as the centerpieces of royal banquets. When these pies were cut open, live birds, such as the magpie, would be released to create a majestic spectacle for guests.
One popular pie in Shakespearean England was called “courage pie” because it contained all the ingredients commonly thought to have aphrodisiac properties at the time, including sweet potatoes, wine and, of course, sparrow brains. Not to be outdone were the Egyptians. In Alan Davidson’s “Oxford Companion to Food,” the author recounts one of the world’s largest pies, a 12th-century formation consisting of 30 pounds of flour, three lambs, 20 fowls, 20 chickens and 50 smaller birds. Consider: The only things that generally jump out of cakes are strippers.
Not to mention, pie is cheap. A truly pimped-out cake can easily run $15 per slice if not more. A luscious eight-piece pie, on the other hand, generally costs no more than $15 entirely – or less than $2 a slice. In this dire economic era, pie is practical, cake a luxury. It’s time for the pie-eaters of the world to unite!