Day 162 - Pi(e) Day

My friend Brooke at the College of Nurses loves pie so much that she celebrates Pi Day with her friends every year by eating way too many pies. The benefit is that there are always pies left over from her pie-athon. This year, I am missing out on the Coconut Cream Pie she is bringing in for an office meeting. Damn.

Source: Pillsbury.com

If you're not in the know about Pi Day, here's a brief explanation. If you remember back to your math classes, as some point you learned about Pi (or “π” as it is denote by the Greek letter). You probably remember that it represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. Not to bring back bad memories, but at some point you probably had to memorize the formula for the area of a circle (A = πr2) and the volume of a cylinder (V = πr2h). I'm pretty sure most of us have NEVER found a use for either of those hair-pulling formulas.

Of course, as we all know, math lovers are real party animals. So, 30 years ago, one of them decided it was time to celebrate Pi Day (in San Francisco of course). He was a physicist name Larry Shaw and he chose March 14 as the day to celebrate because March is the 3rd month...and 3.14 are the first three digits of Pi. (Still with me...WAKE UP!!!)

So, what does this have to do with our trip to the UK? Well, I could segue to the fact that theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking died today (which is also the date of Albert Einstein's birthday). Hawking was remarkable, the epitome of what it means to make the most of life and what you have.

However, I think I will segue back to pie. It is actually just a coincidence that Pi has to do with circles, and Pies are circular. The origin of the words don't have anything to do with each other..

Last week was National Pie Week here, and it had nothing to do with math either. It was simply to celebrate that wonderful creation: pie. But I can build in some stats about pie, if that will help with the seguing. While we Canadians tend to like the sweet pies as our favourites (apple pie 17%; lemon meringue 14%; pecan 10%; blueberry 10%; and, pumpkin 8% according to research done by Tenderflake), the Brits like their pies savoury (Steak & ale 22%; Steak & potato 17%; Cottage 15%; and Chicken & mushroom 13%). It takes fifth place before a sweet pie (apple 10%) makes it onto the list of British favourites.

Melton Mowbray pork pies, eaten at room temp...
generally.

Every year, the British Pie Awards are held in a town called Melton Mowbray. Melton Mowbray is, in fact, itself the name of a pork pie that has been granted Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status (meaning unless it's made in the region around Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, it can't use the name). Only nine producers can call their pork pies Molton Mowbrays.

Okay, back to the Pie Awards.

To the award judges, a pie is deemed to be "a filling wholly encased in pastry and baked." They've been known to get into rather heated debates about the difference between a pie and a tart and a casserole. A tart has only pastry on the bottom. So, in my friend Brooke's case, she actually made a Coconut Cream Tart. Shepherds pie is topped by potatoes and doesn't have any pastry involved, and so should be called a "potato-topped casserole." And don't even get them (or me, for that matter) started on what you call something placed into a dish and then a slice of puff pastry put on top!

The judging of the British Pie Awards takes place in St. Mary’s Church
in Melton Mowbray. What a heavenly place to celebrate pie!
Source: britishpieawards.co.uk

Do you think they need judges?
Source: britishpieawards.co.uk

On Monday, the 2018 awards were handed out. The overall champion was a Steak and Ale pie by a West Sussex family-run bakery called Turner's Pies. Their pie scored a near-perfect 99/100, beating out more than 950 other entries. They also won in the small producer category ... Phil will appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit.

The winning dessert pie was for ... surprise, surprise ... an apple pie. Kendall Rugby Club ... yes, a sports club ... won for their pie, which only goes to show you how extensively pie has made it into the cuisine of the nation.

Pie of the day: Stargazy pie, in honour of Stephen Hawking (I'll let you Google that one!)