There are not many foods quite so thoroughly attached to a country as to have a phrase like “as American as apple pie.” While the proof is in the pudding — if you will — regarding the catchiness of that phrase, the veracity of the matter is slightly questionable. Yes, apple pie is undeniably a symbol of U.S. culture, but how did it end up as such?
Given how closely the two are tied together in the collective mind, you’d be forgiven for assuming that apple pie must have originated in the early days of the U.S., or been based on a traditional Native American food. In fact, the origins of apple pie are not in any way American. From the ingredients to the techniques, every bit of the iconic dessert was originally imported from somewhere else in the world. But it is for this reason that apple pie is a fitting symbol of the United States of America, a place that’s the result of the combined influences of people of many cultures. When you really look at it, all modern food is derived from vast amounts of cultural sharing through human history.
Apples are not even American
Apple pie does have a long history in the United States, but its ingredients and techniques found their way here from other countries and cultures. For starters, apples were not native to the Americas — only small, sour crab apples grew here. The wild apples from which all modern apples descend actually first appeared millenia ago in Central Asia, in the Tian Shan mountains of what is now Kazakhstan. There is evidence to suggest that humans may have been eating proto-apples for as much as 750,000 years, but it wasn’t until around 8,000 years ago that the fruit first became domesticated. The culinary history of apples in the U.S. is much shorter, however, the first ones showing up with French Jesuits in the late 1500s.
But when they arrived, these tasty fruits quickly caught on and became a staple food for some Native American tribes — along with pears and plums, also introduced by the Jesuits — but it was the pilgrims that made apples a cornerstone of American cuisine. Early settlers in what would later become the U.S.A. planted many apple orchards, and the fruit was an important part of the colonial diet. John Adams’ favorite dessert in the late 17th century was his wife’s apple pan dowdy, for example, and hard apple cider was a top choice for drinkers of the time. The legends surrounding Johnny Appleseed (real name John Chapman) further connected the fruit with the budding nation. But as much as apple pie is now a symbol of the U.S., that is not where it came from.
So, where did apple pie really come from?
Published in 1796, “American Cookery” by Amelia Simmons, considered the first American cookbook, featured two recipes for apple pie. While that is early by U.S. standards, apple pie recipes in England date back to the 14th century. As with most food origin stories, the history of the apple pie is long and twisting, with dark corners and dead ends.
We mentioned that modern apples all descend from a species first seen in Central Asia, and that an apple pie recipe likely came to the Americas with British colonists, but that recipe is dependent on pastry, which probably originated in Egypt. This really is a pie with a global history. As for the spices — those fragrant notes of cinnamon and nutmeg — those aren’t American either. Cinnamon — the signature spice that separates American apple pie from its British counterpart — is native to South Asia.
Clearly, apple pie, just like the U.S., has global roots. But this is the story of so many favorite foods. Pizza as we know it didn’t exist until tomatoes arrived in Italy from the New World. Likewise, the spicy curries of Thailand couldn’t exist without chilies, which originated in Brazil. Even deep-fried foods have an ancient history, first appearing in Egypt.
What is true is that the phrase “as American as apple pie,” first seen in 1920s advertising, helped embed the delicious dish into the national consciousness as the dessert came to symbolize wholesome home-loving family life. This was fortified in World War II, when American soldiers stated that they were fighting for “mom and apple pie.” It’s these associations that have stuck with the American public ever since.
