The headline of this New York Times story should strike gladness into the heart of any Team Pie member: “Pie to Cupcake: Time’s Up.” Them’s fighting words.
Says the piece of pie’s primacy, “Pie had been lurking below the radar in recent years: taking cover during the ice cream trend, perhaps waiting to see which way the macaron tide would turn…Suddenly, New York and San Francisco are national centers of pie innovation.” Indeed, says the article, obviously penned by a pie-lover, the “wedding pie” is “increasingly common.”
And as if in its last gasp, the cupcake, that bastion of Carrie Bradshaw’s bygone America, has been reduced to this: “For proof that the cupcake craze has gone too far, consider the new turkey cranberry cupcake with gravy in the batter from Yummy Cupcakes in Los Angeles.” Cake or pie, I think we can all agree that’s a Bad Idea.
But I’m sure I’m not the only pie-lover who feels a certain ambivalence about pie’s newfound notoriety: we don’t need innovation. We don’t need glam and sex appeal. And when the craze has passed and we’ve moved onto the next hot sweet (and my money’s on steamed puddings) those of us who love pie will still be here, patient and loyal, holding out our plates for seconds.
Pie to Cupcake: Time’s Up [NY Times]