HISTORY OF PIE

Pie has worked its way into the fabric of American life.

Easy as pie. Pie in the sky. He's got his finger in the pie. Eat humble pie. As American as apple pie. Ever use a pie chart?

Pie, you might say, is a slice of Americana.

Ironically, this distinctly American dish predates this country's settlement by hundreds of years, according to John Lehndorff of the American Pie Council in Denver, Colo.

No one knows who ate the first slice, said Lehndorff, but pie in some form has been around since the ancient Egyptians made the first pastry-like crusts.

The first pies were probably made by the early Romans, he said, who probably learned about it from the Greeks. The Roman, Cato the Censor, published the first written pie "receipt" or recipe: a rye-crusted, goat cheese and honey pie.

The Oxford English Dictionary notes the word pie was "evidently a well-known popular word in 1362."

But Lehndorff said that most of the early pies were main dish meat pies. Fruit pies or tarts didn't make their appearance until the 1500s, he said.

"English tradition credits Queen Elizabeth I with making the first cheery pie, but it's unlikely that Her Highness actually spent much time in the kitchen," he said.

Pie came to America with the first English settlers, but Lehndorff said chances are Christopher Columbus knew of his native dish "pizza," which is Italian for "pie."

Pies fast became a common part of American life. A Vermont housewife, itemizing her baking for the year 1877, counted 152 cakes, 421 pies and 2,140 doughnuts.

Today, pie remains one of the most popular desserts -- especially apple and pumpkin.

QUOTES ABOUT PIE

Pie is a present waiting to be unwrapped.

-- John Lehndorff, American Pie Council

But I, when I undress me/Each night upon knees/Will ask the Lord to bless me/With apple pie and cheese.

-- Eugene Field, 1980

He has an oar in every man's boat and a finger in every pie.

-- Cervantes

Bye, bye Miss American pie.

-- Don McLean

Damn good pie!

-- Twin Peaks, 1990

My husband likes only two kinds of pie -- warm pie and cold pie.

-- Longmont, Colo. woman