20 things about pies

It’s British Pie Week – the greatest week in the food calendar! In honour of this most brilliant of celebrations, here are 20 things you always wanted to know about pies, but have never thought to ask:

1. The first custard pie ever thrown on film was in a 1913 film called A Noise from the Deep, starring Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle and Mabel Normand.

2. The Ancient Egyptians were pie lovers and are believed to have eaten pies filled with figs and dates as long as 3,000 years ago.

3. The oldest known pie recipe was for a rye-crusted goat’s cheese and honey pie, cooked up by the Ancient Roman’s about 2,000 years ago. Sound’s delicious!

4. Pies first appeared in Britain in the 12th century, with fruit pies appearing in the 16th century.

5. Before pie was spelt, ‘pie’, it was spelt ‘pye’.

6. The descriptive words most likely to precede ‘pie’ are:
Apple American Mince Humble Pumpkin

7. The word ‘pie’ comes from magpie, a bird that collects things to make its nest with.

8. The World Custard Pie Championships were first held in 1967 in Kent and, more specifically, the village of Coxheath.

9. The most expensive pie ever made was in Burnley, Lancashire in 2005. The steak and mushroom pie was cut into eight slices and cost more than £1,000 a slice.

10. What we now know as pie ‘crust’ was originally called a coffin.

11. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a pie is ‘a savoury or sweet dish, usually cooked in a container, consisting of a quantity of food with a covering/or base of pastry’.

12. The pies used in the World Custard Pie Throwing Championships do not actually contain any custard.

13. The verb ‘to pie’ meaning ‘to throw a custard pie at’ was first recorded in 1977.

14. In the 19th century, fruit pies were commonly eaten for breakfast.

15. Oliver Cromwell banned mince pies as pudding on Christmas Day as they are indications of gluttony.

16. The origin of festive mince pies can be traced back to the 13th century when European crusaders returned home from the Middle East with recipes containing meats, fruits, and spices.

17. Thanks to European ‘protected designation of origins laws’ only pies made within a certain distance of the village of Melton are allowed to carry the Melton Mowbray label on their pork pies.

18. The pie industry in the UK is worth £1 billion.

19. The sale of pork pies makes £145 million a year in the UK.

20. Among European royalty, cooked birds were often placed on top of pies to identify the pie’s filling.

Sources:
http://www.just-eat.co.uk/blog/pie-facts/
http://voices.yahoo.com/interesting-facts-pies-11419504.html?cat=37
http://www.express.co.uk/fun/top10facts/381561/Top-10-facts-about-pies