11/10/2021
Order your Thanksgiving pies by Sunday and get 10% off with discount code EARLYBIRD21 (https://thanksgiving.peteespie.com/discount/EARLYBIRD21)
Today is Indigenous Peoples Day!
As we plan our Thanksgiving feasts, let's reflect
on how our favorite fall foods originated in indigenous agriculture.
Thanksgiving is not complete without pumpkin pie, but how did it come to be?
Squash and pumpkins, the edible gourds that make up the Cucurbita genus, are some of the oldest crops in the world. They originated over 10,000 years ago in what is now northern Mexico, and spread throughout the Americas. Indigenous peoples of North America planted an impressive array of them alongside beans and corn, and thus "The Three Sisters" became the cornerstones of indigenous agriculture. When European settlers arrived, they incorporated these nutritious crops into their culinary traditions, giving rise to the custards and tarts that evolved into our Thanksgiving classic, pumpkin pie.
Likewise, sweet potatoes were cultivated in Peru for millennia before the arrival of the Europeans. The Incans developed elegant and sophisticated agricultural systems with aquaducts and terraces that still stand today, and cultivated a stunning variety of potatoes and sweet potatoes. When introduced to European kitchens, sweet potatoes were quite a hit and became a favorite of Henry VIII.
The sweet potato is a workhorse crop, yielding more food per acre than any other plant. It's especially well-suited to the climate of the American South, which is why it's so central to Southern and African American foodways. (And by the way- even though Pumpkin Pie gets all the shine this time of year, Sweet Potato Pie is Petee's personal favorite!)
Thanks for reading! Thanksgiving ordering info can be found here (https://thanksgiving.peteespie.com/pages/thanksgiving-ordering-info) .
Click here for an update from Petee's Pie Company!
