It’s March 14, and you know what that means – it’s Pi Day! And since it’s not nearly as fun to celebrate the numeral 3.14159 etc into infinity, we instead celebrate with PIES, the best pastry ever, and the best pies from movies and TV. Each of us picked our favorite pie or pie moment to share with you. Enjoy!
Joffrey’s Wedding Pigeon Pie – Game of Thrones
Author George R.R. Martin is well known for his luscious descriptions of foods of all types in his Game of Thrones book series — from roast swan to lemon cakes. But while he has many pies that sound really impressive (like the rich-sounding Lamprey Pie), the Pigeon Pie from King Joffrey’s Purple Wedding is certainly Martin’s most memorable. While it’s certainly not a pie I’d ever want to eat, it’s certainly grand – with its ornate crust and live pigeons that fly out upon cutting. But the real power of this pie is that it’s caught up in the deserving demise of one of the series’ most-hated characters. Just as he’s drinking the poisoned wine that actually does him in, bratty Joffrey also eats a taste of that pie, which Tyrion jokingly blames for his purple-faced death. Soon Joffrey’s loathsome face is turning purple, and he is no more. Even if the pie is only a bit player, I’m down with giving it credit. [Annette Cardwell]
Cherry Pie – Twin Peaks
I challenge you to find a pie in pop culture that is more loved, or more existentially unsettling, than the sweet cherry pie served at the Double R Diner in Twin Peaks. Agent Cooper is obsessed, calling it a pie “that will kill ya,” and the infamous Log Lady says “this pie is a miracle.” Show creator David Lynch, as FBI Chief Gordon Cole, says he plans on writing “an epic poem about this gorgeous pie” when eating a slice. I get the sense eating a slice of this pie will change your life, and maybe even transport you to a little town in Washington state. A damn fine pie. [Jorge Albor]
The Pie Hole – Pushing Daisies
Pie features in just about every episode of the whimsical, canceled-too-soon show Pushing Daisies. Protagonist Ned runs The Pie Hole, a restaurant specializing in — you guessed it — pies. Although pie-making is incidental to the actual plot of the series (which concerns Ned’s ability to bring the dead back to life via touch), much of the action takes place at the restaurant itself. And since Pushing Daisies was one of the most visually rich shows to ever grace TV screens, that means its pies were regularly featured in all their sumptuous glory. You can peek at the menu here— I’d recommend the pecan. [Brett Bates]
All the Pies – Waitress
Jenna is a pregnant waitress at Joe’s Pie Diner who’s stuck in an unhappy marriage and having an affair with her physician. Her outlet for escape is baking pies that are creative, delicious, and reflective of her current state of mind. From the “I can’t have no affair because it’s wrong and I don’t want Earl to kill me” pie (banana vanilla custard, hold the banana), to the “Kick in the pants” pie (cinnamon spice) to the “biblically good” Marshmallow Mermaid Pie, it’s these desserts (all feels and flaky goodness) that are the true movie stars. [Lesley Chen]
Meat Pies – Sweeney Todd
As a child, my grandparents wanted to expose me to the arts and thought a trip to the local musical theater to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street would be enlightening. Perhaps they missed the word “demon” in there or didn’t know what the play was actually about. Regardless, the tale of the murderous barber Sweeney Todd and his arrangement with Mrs. Lovett to make meat pies from the bodies of his victims was nightmare fuel. When Tim Burton’s 2007 adaptation was released I thought surely I was old enough to appreciate the movie for all its dark humor without getting scared or repulsed again. Nope. Even though I love many of the songs (“A Little Priest” and “My Friends” are two personal favorites), the pie baking scenes are still disgusting. To this day, I have never been able to sample a real meat pie, despite how “delectable” Johnny Depp’s Todd deems them to be. [Matthew Allen]
Pie Eating Contest – Stand By Me
There aren’t nearly enough instances in pop culture where pies are used as a vessel for destruction, but Rob Reiner’s classic Stephen King adaptation Stand by Mesurely makes up for that absence. Though the life lessons and childhood trauma that makes the story so seminal are why it’s a classic, when asked about the which moments from the film are most memorable, chances are strong that the Lard-Ass Hogan sequence ranks high. In the notorious flashback pie-eating contest, a boy who is fed up with the jokes about his obesity creates what can only be described as a vomit apocalypse when he voids his piehole in a grotesque, public, and very contagious manner. It’s amazing what castor oil, raw eggs, many baked goods, and moxie can do. Soon, everyone is throwing up and though the result is not for the weak of stomach it’s certainly the stuff that sticks to the memory for quite some time. [Nick Nunziata]
