Recently, the leaves have begun changing colors, and a chill breeze has settled into the crisp autumn air. It’s the season of oversized sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, and…fall pies.
According to a 2022 YouGov survey on Americans’ favorite pie, pumpkin pie was the most popular with twenty-three percent of the votes, and apple pie was only third place with twelve percent of the votes.
Those who voted for pumpkin pie need to do some serious rethinking. Anyone else would know that apple pie is the most superior pie.
While apple pie was not voted to be the most popular pie, it’s still the most consumed pie in the United States. Each year, there are an estimated 186 million pies sold in America. According to InstaCart’s trends analyst, their 2024 data showed that apple pie sales made up about twenty-nine percent of their total pie sales, while pumpkin pie sales only took up twenty-three percent. The fact that apple pie is consumed far more than pumpkin pie proves it is the superior pie option.
Additionally, apple pie has been around much longer than pumpkin pie. The earliest written apple pie recipe dates back all the way to 1381, while pumpkin pie was only created a whole three hundred years later in 1681. Apple pie has had so much more time to develop and become perfected; every bite you take of that flaky, tart, warm apple pie during dessert time is a bite into history.
Another thing that makes apple pie superior is that it even has its very own saying! Even though apple pie didn’t originate in America, it’s quickly become a symbol of America, especially in slogans and advertisements. During World War II, the saying “as American as apple pie” emerged, and soldiers would motivate themselves by saying they were fighting for “Mom and apple pie.” You would never hear anyone say “as American as pumpkin pie,” it just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Apple pie is so important that it even has its own day. National Apple Pie Day is May 13 each year. Unlike National Pumpkin Pie Day, which is on December 25, Apple Pie Day does not overlap with any other holiday. National Pumpkin Pie day is always overshadowed by Christmas, one of the most widely celebrated holidays—while apple pie has the entire day to itself. Clearly, apple pie is held in higher honor and is more deserving of your patronage.
Not only is apple pie superior, but it is also versatile, as it can be made without apples! When early European colonizers first arrived in America, they didn’t have access to apples so they turned to crackers. Europeans would use crackers as a substitute for apples and make “mock apple pie.” Notice that they didn’t call it “cracker pie”—the concept of apple pie was just that important to them. However, if you still insist on eating pumpkin pie, and you don’t have access to pumpkin, you can’t eat pumpkin pie! You would have to pick something else entirely like sweet potato pie, which defeats the entire point of eating pumpkin pie.
If you’re still defending pumpkin pie, let it be known that the earliest pumpkin pie wasn’t even a real pie—there wasn’t even a crust! According to the Library of Congress Blogs, pumpkin pies used to be a whole pumpkin stuffed with milk, spices, and apples, and then baked. By my definition of pies (and likely yours, too), that’s not a pie at all. Only later was the crust added to pumpkin pie. If pumpkin pie relies on pumpkins to taste good, what does that say about pumpkin pie?
If, after all that, you’re still not convinced, go eat some apple pie. I recommend heating it up and enjoying it with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then you’ll definitely agree that apple pie is the best pie!