The Daily Post Writing challenge this week is about pies. Now, I don’t eat pies, not the sweet kind anyway, not because I don’t like them. I don’t eat them because I’m a diabetic and pies made without real sugar just isn’t the same to me. Ah, but savory pies. Now that’s a pie I can sink my teeth into.

I thought, since I’m not much of a baker, I’d talk about the different pies of the world. Don’t you ever wonder how a pie came to be? I mean, who would have thought to make a pie out of nuts off a tree? See what I mean? Or who first thought to make a pie with lemons? Or limes? Or with meat and vegetables?

So lets take a quick trip around the world in pies.

So lets start with the humble but glorious Apple pie. Apple pies have shown up throughout history in many forms since the Middle Ages. The first apple pies were not made with sugar as only the very rich at that time could afford sugar. Also, from what I found, pies were not made with a crust, what held the pie was called a ‘coffin’ and used only as a container.

There is also a town in New Mexico that named themselves after pies. It’s called Pie Town, New Mexico.

Then we have one of my favorites, Lemon Meringue pie. It’s said that the modern lemon meringue pie was first made by Alexander Frehse, a Swiss baker from Romandie (Switzerland). I learn something new every day.

Now we go to the Pecan Pie, some people love it, some don’t. It’s pretty sweet the ones I’ve tasted. It is believed this nutty dessert was invented by French settlers shortly after they arrived in New Orleans and were introduced to the nut by Native Americans. Yeah ancestors! Attempts to trace the dish’s origin have not found any recipes dated earlier than 1886, so who really knows? Some say it’s a variant of the Chess pies which are very similar.

 

How about some savory pies? Like the meat pies of Australia and New Zealand? According to Wikipedia: An Australian or New Zealand meat pie is a hand-sized meat pie containing largely diced or minced meat and gravy, sometimes with onion, mushrooms, or cheese and often consumed as a takeaway food snack. The pie itself is similar to the United Kingdom’s steak pie. Sounds good to me!

Or Natchitoches Meat Pie. Again via Wikipedia;

The Natchitoches meat pie is a regional dish from northern Louisiana, United States. It is one of the official state foods of Louisiana.

Ingredients include ground beef, ground pork, onions, peppers, garlic, oil, and a pie shell. Natchitoches meat pies are often fried in peanut oil because of that oil’s high smoking temperature. A number of restaurants in the historic district in Natchitoches serve meat pies, and frozen pies are available from grocers in northern Louisiana. Restaurants in the historic district in Natchitoches serve the pies and you’ll also find them at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

An annual Meat Pie Festival is held in September and includes pie making demonstrations, a meat pie cook-off and live music.

 

How about Spanakopita? What’s that you ask? Spanakopita is a Greek savory pie made with  a filling of chopped spinach, feta cheese, onions or scallions, egg, and seasoning. The filling is wrapped or layered in phyllo (filo) pastry with butter and/or olive oil, either in a large pan from which individual servings are cut, or rolled into individual triangular servings.

While the filo-dough recipe is most common, many recipes from the Greek islands call for a crust made of flour and water to form a crunchier, calzone-like exterior in place of the flaky filo dough. The pastry is golden in color when baked, the color often enhanced by butter and egg yolk. Other white, fresh, preferably salted cheeses may also be mixed with, or substituted for, the feta cheese.

I think it looks pretty tasty.