Dr. Ed Iannuccilli: What Is Your Favorite Pie?

Dr. Ed Iannuccilli: What Is Your Favorite Pie?

One of my favorite things to do when I was a kid was to go to downtown Providence with my mother on a Saturday. And one of the many highlights of the day was our stop at The Boston Store where we sat at the soda fountain and I had custard pie and milk. It was worth being dragged around from store to store to finally reach that oasis.

To this day, I remember the delectable pie with its firm crust and soft, silky, creamy-cold taste. To wash it down with the ice-cold milk was a bonus.

My memory and appreciation of that pie came to mind when I read an article in The Smithsonian Magazine about the origin and love of pie in America. Initially, it was not an easy love affair because pie-eating was reserved for immigrants and lower classes. Soon, however, the craze took off and pie became America’s favorite dessert, moving far beyond the kidney and mincemeat pies the New England settlers ate. The ‘new’ pie was sweetened, filled with fruits and cuddled by lighter and flakier crusts.

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During WW I, pie took on a symbolic significance and was now considered patriotic. Craving for pie became a “hunger for democracy” wrote a reporter in a Boston Globe editorial of 1918. By the turn of the century, Americans were eating more apple pie than any other variety … “as American as apple pie” went the phrase, as nostalgic as baseball and hot dogs. Here is today’s statistic: 186 million pies are purchased each year in the United States.

My love of pie grew beyond the custard of the downtown trip. It was reinvigorated when Mom made the Blueberry Table Talk Pie an integral part of every lunch. What a nice surprise to open my lunch bag to find that prize. I placed it on the table as I ate my baloney and mustard sandwich, knowing my treat was nearby, like a security blanket.

How nicely that little baby fit into my hand. How savory to bite into the center, spilling sweetness along my cheeks. How soft and flaky was the buttery crust.

Table Talk Pies of Worcester, MA, was started in 1924 by two Greek immigrants. Through a combination of hard work and perseverance, the founders of the company, Mr. Theodore Tonna and Mr. Angelo Cotsidas, managed to build the strong foundation of a business that is today one of our country’s leading pie companies. How very ironic it is that pie, once considered something only for the downtrodden, made those immigrants so successful and vaulted the pie to such status.

In my junior high school days, we frequented The Table Talk Pie Bakery in Providence to fill our coffers for the week.

Well, do you know what America’s’ favorite pies are today? I was a bit surprised to learn that cherry, chocolate cream, pumpkin and you bet … apple, were the top four. Where was my beloved blueberry? Or custard?

What’s your favorite?

As the author of three popular memoirs, “Growing up Italian; Grandfather’s Fig Tree and Other Stories”, “What Ever Happened to Sunday Dinner” and “My Story Continues: From Neighborhood to Junior High.”  Learn more here.