|
[1] No wonders it’s number one: It’s as American as apple pie (photo © Good Eggs).
[2] Pumpkin pie is delicious anytime, but gets a big boost from holiday sales (photo © Williams Sonoma).
[3] Pecan pie usually needs some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to cut the sweetness (photo © Sara Cervera | Wesual | Unsplash).
[4] Cherry pie with a lattice crust. We love a lattice crust on any pie (photo © Cherry Marketing Institute).
[5] Lemon meringue’s appeal is slight tartness and fluffy meringue (photo © The Nibble | DALL-E 2025-03-14).
[7] Chocolate pie can be easily made with chocolate pudding, but we prefer a from-scratch recipe (photo © DeLallo).
[8] Key lime pie is our personal favorite (photo © David Hsu | Dreamstime).
[9] Peach pie with an appealing polka-dot top. Here’s the recipe (photo © The Baker Chick).
[9] Sweet potato pie (photo © The Nibble | FLUX 1.1 2025-03-14).
[10] Archimedes of Syracuse envisioned in bronze in 1978 by Gerhard Thieme. It is located in Treptower Park in Berlin (photo Public Domain).
|
|
It’s Pi Day—the second day of the year to celebrate pie (the actual National Pie Day is January 23rd, and February is Great American Pie Month).
Pi Day riffs on the actual purpose of Pi Day, to celebrate the mathematical constant, approximately equal to 3.14159, that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter.
The first accurate approximation of pi was calculated by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse around 250 B.C.E. See a statue of him in photo #10.
But hey, you can’t eat math, so let’s head to pie, the pastry.
Pie is a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of sweet or savory ingredients; but in the U.S., most of the pie consumed is sweet. (See below for examples of savory pies.)
THE MOST POPULAR PIES IN AMERICA
Different surveys deliver different results, but this list based on sales: the pies ordered in 2024 from Instacart.
1: Apple pie, 29%
2: Pumpkin Pie, 23%
3: Pecan Pie, 9%
4: Cherry Pie, 8 %
5: Lemon Meringue Pie, 6%
6: Blueberry Pie, 5%
7: Chocolate Pie, 4%
8: Key Lime Pie, 4%
9: Peach Pie, 2%
10: Sweet Potato Pie and All Other Varieties, 3%
> The history of pie.
> The different types of pie: a photo glossary.
> Below: the year’s 31 pie holidays.
FAMOUS PEOPLE BORN ON PI DAY
And as long as we’re celebrating Pi Day, check out the famous people born today (below). Alas, we could not easily discover their favorite pies.
Albert Einstein (1879), Nobel Prize-winning physicist.
Billy Crystal (1948), actor, comedian, and filmmaker.
Quincy Jones (1933), music producer, composer, and arranger.
Michael Caine (1933), Academy Award-winning British actor.
Steph Curry (1988), NBA superstar.
Jamie Bell (1986), British actor.
Simone Biles (1997), Olympic gold medal gymnast.
|
THE YEAR’S 31 PIE HOLIDAYS |
|
January
January 23: National Pie Day
January 23: National Rhubarb Pie Day
February
February: Great American Pies Month
February 9: Pizza Pie Day
February 20: National Cherry Pie Day
March
March, 1st Full Week: British Pie Week (the first Monday)
March 2: National Banana Cream Pie Day
March 14: Bake a Pie in Solidarity Day
April
April 28: National Blueberry Pie Day
May
May 8: National Coconut Cream Pie Day
May 13: National Apple Pie Day
June
June 9: National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day
July
July 12: National Pecan Pie Day
August
August, 1st Friday: Braham Pie Day*
August 1: Homemade Pie Day
August 1: National Raspberry Cream Pie Day
August 15: National Lemon Meringue Pie Day
|
August 18: National Ice Cream Pie Day
August 20: National Chocolate Pecan Pie day
August 24: National Peach Pie Day
September
September 15: Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie Day
September 23: Great American Pot Pie Day
September 26: National Key Lime Pie Day
September 28: National Strawberry Cream Pie Day
October
October 14 to 20: National Baking Week happens every October 14 to 20 in the U.K.
October 23: National Boston Cream Pie Day (but it’s really a cake)
October 26: National Mincemeat Day
November
November 27: National Bavarian Cream Pie Day
November 29: National Lemon Cream Pie Day
December
December 1: National Fried Pie Day
December 25: National Pumpkin Pie Day
|
[6] Blueberry slab pie. Here’s more about slab pie (photo © Pillsbury).
TYPES OF SAVORY PIES
Savory pies exist in cuisines around the world. In fact, they were far more abundant than dessert pies due to first, the availability of sugar, and second, the high cost of it.
Some savory examples:
Meat-Based Pies
Australian Meat Pie: Small, hand-sized pies filled with minced meat and gravy (Australia/New Zealand).
Cottage Pie: Like shepherd’s pie, but with beef instead of lamb (UK).
Empanadas: Turnover-style pies with various meat fillings, popular in Latin America and Spain.
Pasty (Cornish Pasty): A hand pie filled with beef, potato, turnip, and onion (UK, Cornwall).
Shepherd’s Pie: Ground lamb with vegetables, topped with mashed potatoes (UK).
Sfiha (Lahmacun): Middle Eastern/Levantine open-faced meat pies with spiced ground beef or lamb.
Steak and Kidney Pie: Diced steak, kidney (usually beef or lamb), and gravy in a pastry crust (UK).
Tourtière: A spiced meat pie, traditionally made with pork (Canada, Quebec).
There are also meat pot pies variations of chicken pot pie, made with beef, ham, game, lamb, pork, and sausage.
Poultry and Seafood Pies
Chicken Pot Pie: Chicken, vegetables, and a creamy sauce in a flaky pastry crust (USA).
Fish Pie: A creamy, mashed potato-topped pie with fish and seafood (UK).
Seafood Pot Pie: clam, lobster, salmon, and shrimp are variations of chicken pot pie.
Turkey and Cranberry Pie: A post-Thanksgiving favorite using leftover turkey (USA).
Vegetable/Vegetarian Pot Pies
Broccoli and Cheese Pot Pie: A “comfort food” mix of broccoli, cheddar, and creamy sauce.
Curried Lentil and Vegetable Pot Pie: A spiced, hearty vegan option with coconut milk.
Quiche: A French savory tart with eggs, cream, cheese, and fillings like spinach, mushrooms, or bacon. Note that quiche is not a pie but a tart.
Root Vegetable Pot Pie: Features carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and turnips in a rich broth.
Mushroom Pie: Also mushroom and spinach, or other combination.
Pumpkin and Sage Pot Pie: A fall-inspired dish with roasted pumpkin and aromatic sage.
Spaghetti Pie: A pie filled with—you guessed it—pasta and your favorite add-on ingredients.
Spanakopita: A Greek phyllo pastry pie filled with spinach and feta cheese.
Tiropita: A Greek cheese pie, usually made with feta and phyllo dough.
|
Regional Specialties
Burek: A Balkan savory pie made with flaky dough and filled with meat, cheese, or spinach.
Pastel de Choclo: A Chilean corn pie with a savory-sweet corn topping over meat or seafood.
Kulebyaka: A Russian stuffed pie with layers of fish, rice, mushrooms, and eggs.
Torta Pasqualina: An Italian Easter pie with spinach, ricotta, and whole eggs baked inside.
________________
*The history of Braham Pie Day: This celebration was founded in 1990 by Phyllis Londgren of Braham, a city in east-central Minnesota about 60 miles north of Minneapolis-St. Paul. That same year, Braham was named the “Homemade Pie Capital of Minnesota” by Governor Rudy Perpich. Londgren (d. 2019) sought to honor the pie-and-coffee heritage of the park and town. The town’s pie fame dates back to the 1930s and 1940s when travelers taking the “shortcut to Duluth through Braham” would stop at Braham’s Park Cafe for pie and coffee.
The first Braham Pie Day was a pie and ice cream social. It has since grown to include craft shows, performances, pie-baking and pie-eating contests, and more. Here’s more about it.
Yes, there is still a café located in Braham Park. The Park Café is situated at 124 Main Street South in Braham. It serves breakfast and lunch daily, including the tradition of homemade pies and fresh-brewed coffee.
Surprisingly, there is no “Braham pie.” Seems to us that a pie-recipe contest is in order.
CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.
|
