The "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Just got back from a Sheetz gas station where I purchased what have become known in my house as "Larry Pies."  Found the pies made by JJs while we were visiting the islands of the Turks and Caicos.  Shopping for groceries one day while on Provo and bought these fantastic pies.  When we returned to the states I found they had them at Sheetz, so whenever I needed my pie fix, I headed to the gas station to buy my pies.  Favorite pie they sell is the apple pie.  Just something magical about a buttery, sugary, sweet tasting apple pie and JJs fits the tab.  Found that pie came to America with some of the earliest settlers and apple was also their favorite.  Maybe because it was one of the fruits that the Pilgrims brought to their New World.  Back then pies were cheap to make and filled many a hungry immigrant.  The crust for the pies used less flour than did bread so the flour they had went farther.  At the time the crust was more the vessel that held the apples than it was part of the pie, since it was made from coarse flour and suet and was thick and tough.  Wasn't until the immigrants from France arrived in the New World that they introduced butter into the crust and made it a tasty part of the pie.  Apple pie isn't necessarily the favorite of everyone.  In Maine, where blueberries are plentiful, they have named the blueberry pie the state pie.  In the Midwest, where dairy farms abound, the cream pies are a favorite.  In Florida the Key Lime pie is king, and I must admit I also love that one.   In the South, the "Chess Pie" (sugar, cream, eggs and bourbon) is famous. In New Hampshire they became know for their fried hand pies called "crab lanterns."  And, how could I forget my local roots and the Pennsylvania Dutch molasses "shoofly" pie.  So you see types of pies depend sometimes on location, but no matter where you are pie has become a symbol of baseball, hot dogs, and Chevrolet, as the saying goes.  I'm sure you have heard the saying, "As American as apple pie."  Don't you think June Cleaver must have baked lots of apple pies for Wally and the Beav?  For years the pie was an important part of our diet, until the mid-1800s when there became concern for diet and nutrition.  In the 1841 cookbook "The Good Housekeeper," pie was described as injurious to persons of delicate constitutions because of the nature of the pastry.  I'm sure the author never ate one of JJs pies.  But, then along came 1959 and the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and "The Big Bopper."  Shortly after singer-songwriter Don McLean wrote his song about ...the day the music died... and titled it "American Pie."  Wow, we rediscovered pie again.  In '75, Chevrolet made it part of their ad on TV and we have been eating pies, preferably apple, since.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.