American Pie by Pascale Le Draoulec

My recent obsession with pie was really the result of a single book, American Pie by Pascale Le Draoulec. I own a hardcover copy authographed by Le Draoulec—I must have gotten it at a trade show. I was drawn to the idea of the quintessentially American cross-country trek with an added twist: the obsessive quest for a particular food. That the food in question was pie, one of the only truly American culinary inventions, gave it a certain symmetry and beauty.

La Draoulec writes:

“I was moving from San Francisco to New York for a newspaper job and decided to drive, rather than fly, into my new life. My grail would be pie. Just saying it out loud surrendered a smile. I would drive to small towns looking for pie bakers, pie recipes, and pie lore. I’d seek out pies with character and characters who love pie.

Perhaps examining the state of pie in America would also take me back to the essence, the roots of this country, and just maybe help me get to the bottom of mine.”

Maybe the world doesn’t need a 350 page book about people who bake or eat pie (although some readers are into that sort of minutae I suppose), but was made a lasting impression upon me was the bigger concept of the All-American Pie. Most of Le Draoulec’s encounters revealed the sad truth of the matter: that the art of pie making is becoming obsolete. As fewer and fewer people are being taught the techniques and as more and more people decide they don’t have the time to make a crust from scratch, pie-making is becoming a specialized skill prevalent only among pastry professionals, and pie-eating is becoming less prevalent overall.

It pains me that most Americans think the overly sweet, gummy-crusted Marie Callender pie is representative of the species. It’s sad that many have never eaten a pie made from the loving hands of their grandmother, or even someone else’s grandmother. The history of pie, as La Draoulec tells it, is both rich and sweet; I fear it is coming to an end.

I intend to do my part. I am making sure that all my family and friends experience this real American treasure, made from scratch. If you are not privileged enough to know me or to have a pie-making friend yourself, follow La Draoulec’s footsteps to the small diners and restaurants that dot the American landscape for the best pies on earth.

American Pie by Pascale Le Draoulec

tags: books book reviews food writing cookbooks pie Pascale Le Draoulec