It once was a popular dessert in America. It was once the dessert. It’s delicious, with a sweet and sour taste. All the things that I’ve stated above about apple pie are true, but you probably noticed that I’d used the past tense. Is it true that it’s not popular anymore? I think so.
In my opinion, there are more than just a couple of reasons why apple pie has fallen by the way-side in terms of being a popular dessert, and not just including the fact that our imports and exports have improved.
Let’s first discuss why apple pie became such a popular dish. One, it was easy to make, and required few ingredients. You need apples, flour, yeast, and finally, eggs. There wasn’t too much sugar back then. So obviously, it would become popular.
When the British and other nationalities first arrived in America, they didn’t have that many things, or much of anything in general. The first couple of years were incredibly tough on the pilgrims that had immigrated, and so they didn’t have the time to gather 10 to 15 ingredients to whip up a masterpiece of a pie. So a desert that had a small amount of ingredients was very vital.
Most of the people during this time were pretty much self-sufficient, for there were no merchants or suppliers of goods that they could easily purchase. Everybody had some sort of garden and some sort of farm, and therefore getting flour and eggs wasn’t too difficult, if all you had to do was go into your back yard.
Preparing a pie was also pretty easy. You just had to have the form, make the dough fit into that form, fill that form with apples, and finally, cover it with more dough, before either making it in a skillet, or putting it in the oven. Either one of those alternatives were easy for the pilgrims to manage, because they had both.
Also, there was the time question. Many pilgrims had loads of things to do, and the women had tons of cleaning, washing, and cooking to do, because back then, electricity hadn’t been discovered yet. So having something that only asked you to whip up some batter, make some jam, and stick that in the oven was really nice.
But like I said, I don’t think that people still make apple pie as they used too. With explosion of agriculture, we know are capable of buying pounds of chocolate, sugar, or any other product without spending more than $100. Even if we adjust the prices for inflation, the pilgrims still had to pay more because they didn’t have as much sugar or chocolate as we have today. So naturally, we also have more kinds of deserts that we could make. For example, nobody would’ve dreamed back then of making a cake that had 7 layers, and yet, take a look at a wedding and you’ll see cakes 3 ft. tall!
Also, what we have that the pilgrims didn’t have are supermarkets. Supermarkets want to rack in as much money as they can, so obviously they’d like to arrange things so that they’d gain more profits. So a tall cake with five layers and whip cream and fruits on top looks more mouth-watering than a dull old pie sitting on a shelf. To add onto that, the pilgrims didn’t have the privilege of being able to choose one thing over another just because of its aesthetic qualities. They made do with what they had, and rarely had any embellishments. So not only does that five layer cake look delicious, it looks pleasing, unlike that pie.
Know, for certain holidays, namely Thanksgiving and 4th of July, we still see pies here and there, but there not apple pies. On Thanksgiving, we have pumpkin pies, while on 4th of July we have blueberry, strawberry, or raspberry pies. So even on iconic holidays, we don’t see this “all-American” dessert.
Another reason why I think that apple pie has fallen by the way-side is something that I’ve mentioned before. An explosion in import/export markets. With the advent of ocean-going steamships, continents and countries, which before took weeks, or months, to reach could now be reached in a little over a week. With this incredible speed, many products that would’ve expired by the time the ship arrived could now travel between oceans. Products that were produced in foreign countries and cost more than what most people could afford now became cheaper. With this advantage, desserts that were more complex and required more ingredients became more ubiquitous.
Finally, with the Industrial Revolution, the means of production were much simplified, living standards rose, and so did wages. Due to the wage increases, average working men could afford sweets and luxuries that once seemed out of reach. This included things such as cocoa, a now ubiquitous ingredient that was once too expensive.
All three of these reasons, which were an explosion in agriculture, production, and trade, spelled the demise of apple pie as the dessert, and replaced by cakes, pastries, and something we all know and love, donuts.
So not only has apple pie fallen by the wayside, other pies have also fallen, not being able to keep up with the growing expansion of the US economy. So what then, pray tell, is the most American dessert by my standards?
It’s debatable whether it’s an ancient food or a new invention, but one thing for sure is that it’s delicious. It was made in multiple ways throughout history, and at one point was considered a delicacy, but now, we don’t think of it as such.
My opinion is that the most American dessert, something that everyone has fond memories of, is ice cream! There are many, many, many reasons why, and I’m about to name them off.
Although the origins of ice cream are incredibly ancient, ranging from Ancient Greece to Persia to China to England, the emergence of what we today recognize as ice cream was created in America. In fact, I think that ice cream is the only American-made dessert that has ever been made!
American’s are obsessed with this frozen treat, with entire sections of grocery stores being dedicated to it, as well as restaurants catering ice cream cakes, restaurants in general being dedicated to ice cream, and finally, massive ice cream cocktails and other recipes being created around it, such as root-beer floats and milkshakes.
Even though it’s not the most popular American dessert, I think we can all agree that it helped shape America. It impacted the lives of Pilgrims, our fathers, by allowing them to come home and enjoy something sweet. Who knows what might’ve happened, had we not had apple pie?
The Blogger 
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