INTRODUCTION: Why
Pie Matters Today
“Pie makes people happy, happy people
want to do nice things for others, when everyone is doing nice
things for each other all the time there can be no war, and
therefore pie can save the world.”
— Beth Howard, apple pie baker
Every pie tells a story of home. Queen Esther, who won Best
Savory Pie at the 2010 Roaring 20s Jazz Age Lawn Party Pie
Contest on New York’s Governors Island, explains, “Instinctively
[when you eat pie], you are reaching for your idea of what
home is, and for that comfort, with every bite, even if you
didn’t have a mother and a grandmother and a great-grandmother
that baked, like I did, or even if home for you was a negative
situation.” In these high tech-driven times, the simple
grace of pie is needed more than ever. Pie contests are a way
for families and communities to unite on common ground. You
might fight about politics or religion, but everyone agrees
that pie is good.
When you start talking pie, faces light up. When you invite
someone to be a pie judge, a Cheshire Cat-like grin is the
usual response. Everyone, it seems, secretly wants to be
a pie judge. Even people who don’t realize it’s
their life ambition to judge pie are thrilled by the request.
I recently tested my theory that anyone will agree to be
a pie judge by inviting several winners of the MacArthur
Genius Award (these are $500,000 string-free grants given
by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation) to
be judges at the Hancock Shaker Village Country Fair Pie
Contest in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The geniuses replied
immediately and with delight. One global warming scientist
from Harvard said it was about the nicest invitation he’d
ever received.
My point is that you can think strategically and aim high
with your pie judge invitations. Who do you want to know,
curry favor with, or honor? The handsome guy you always see
at the dog park? The owner of a local business you’d
like to work for someday? A dedicated volunteer or donor who
supports your favorite nonprofit organization? The only required
qualification is that they love pie and anyone worth knowing
loves pie. (As singer-songwriter Aimee Mann says, “…you
have to admit there is something about the texture of pie
that is a lot sexier than cake. Cake is merely a square of
sweet.”)
Pie levels the playing field. It doesn’t need to be expensive
to win blue ribbons. You don’t need fancy equipment—just
a bowl, a rolling pin, a paring knife, a whisk or wooden spoon,
a pie pan, and beans to use as pie weights will do. Some bakers
swear by food processors to make crust and those French ceramic
pie pans with the scalloped edges are charming and you can
spend a small fortune on eBay collecting vintage pie birds
(ceramic steam vents shaped like birds), not mention all the
fabulous retro aprons available these days. But none of those
things is really important and you don’t need gourmet
or exotic ingredients either. The best pies are often made
of the simplest fresh ingredients, the most important of which
is love. You just need to practice. A great thing about learning
to bake is that even the most horrific-looking beginner pies
tend to taste good.
Pie inspires good times, good will, and a sense of community.
I hope that this Pie Contest in a Box, with its prize ribbons,
judge badges, pie toppers, scorecards, and pie songs will
lead to a happy day for you and yours…and that it
will contribute, in its own little way, to world peace.
Gina Hyams
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Copyright © 1998-2011 Gina Hyams. All rights reserved.
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