Synopses & Reviews
Crossing class and color lines, and spanning the nation (Montana has its huckleberry, Pennsylvania its shoofly, and Mississippi its sweet potato), pie -- real, homemade pie -- has meaning for all of us. But in today's treadmill, take-out world -- our fast-food nation -- does pie still have a place?
As she traveled across the United States in an old Volvo named Betty, Pascale Le Draoulec discovered how merely mentioning homemade pie to strangers made faces soften, shoulders relax, and memories come wafting back. Rambling from town to town with Le Draoulec, you'll meet the famous, and sometimes infamous, pie makers who share their stories and recipes, and find out how a quest for pie can lead to something else entirely.
Review
“A rich, satisfying account of one womans cross-country search for the age-old dessert.” Entertainment Weekly
Review
“As satisfying as a slice of homemade pie...an armchair travelers heaven.” Library Journal (starred review)
Review
“American Pie is to be savored, slice by slice, chapter by chapter.” San Diego Union-Tribune
Review
“Le Draoulec has an instinct for where the most interesting story might lie...as this book charmingly demonstrates.” Washington Post Book World
Review
“Like a good slice of apple, sweet without being cloying and tart without being bitter.” Publishers Weekly
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“Le Draoulec explores Americas relationship with pie with a journalists instinct and curiosity.” Associated Press
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“[American Pie] will move pie enthusiasts to dust off their rolling pins and get busy.” Chicago Tribune
Synopsis
"You know you're going on a quest for pie, but you may find something else entirely. Be prepared." These were the prophetic words uttered to journalist Pascale Le Draoulec as she began her cross-country journey along America's back roads. When offered a job in New York, she decided to drive rather than fly into her new life and turned an ordinary move into a culinary quest with pie as her grail and guide.
Crossing class and color lines, and spanning every state and variety of pie in the union (from Montana Huckleberry to Pennsylvania Shoo-Fly), the author discovered pie, real, homemade pie, has meaning for all of us. But in today's world, does pie still have a place? Including 25 recipes collected from her adventure, American Pie will entertain readers as she seeks to answer this question. As she says herself, "I took the back roads across America looking for pie, and found an untouched slice of Americana."
Synopsis
"A rich, satisfying account of one woman's cross-country search for the age-old dessert." -- Entertainment Weekly
An engaging and quirky travelogue, cultural and personal excursion, and adventure-cookbook that brings back from the highways and back roads a homemade slice of America
Crossing class and color lines, and spanning the nation (Montana has its huckleberry, Pennsylvania its shoofly, and Mississippi its sweet potato), pie--real, homemade pie--has meaning for all of us. But in today's treadmill, take-out world--our fast-food nation--does pie still have a place?
As she traveled across the United States in an old Volvo named Betty, Pascale Le Draoulec discovered how merely mentioning homemade pie to strangers made faces soften, shoulders relax, and memories come wafting back. Rambling from town to town with Le Draoulec, you'll meet the famous, and sometimes infamous, pie makers who share their stories and recipes, and find out how a quest for pie can lead to something else entirely.
--Lisa Ko, author of
The LeaversAbout the Author
Pascale Le Draoulec is the restaurant critic for the New York Daily News. Her stories ran over the Gannett wire service and in USA Today among other magazines and newspapers. She lives in New York City. This is her first book.