"Anne Dimock is the Proust of pie and her remembrance of pies past is meant to inspire the pies to come. This is a lovely and elegant memoir." —Garrison Keillor, bestselling author and host of A Prairie Home Companion
In America, pie is a food—and a concept—that carries unusual resonance. In Humble Pie, Anne Dimock offers a delightful combination of memoir, pie quotes, inspiration, recipes, travel writing, and assorted philosophical, cultural, and culinary musings on this powerful yet humble dessert.
Anne Dimock grew up in a household where, she notes, "A dearth of good pie was a hardship I never encountered, never knew must be borne up by most folk." When she realized that the decline of the American pie civilization might be a harbinger of even deeper cultural problems, Anne became a woman on a mission to save pie from extinction.
Dimock shares her thoughts on the Zen of making pie crust, the politics of pie, judging a man's character according to his pie protocol, state fair pie competitions, the kinship between pie and baseball, and the search for edible pie at roadside diners.
Folksy and full of humor, Humble Pie is more than just an evocative journey through a life lived in pie. It is a culinary manifesto for a pie renaissance, inviting readers to take up their rolling pins and revive an endangered slice of American culture. Dimock advises us all to "Roll back the apprehension, the doubt, and enter the childlike state of grace where all things are possible and anything lost can be found again. The pie you seek resides not only in memory and imagination—your next piece of pie begins right here."