Flightless Bird: Pies

David Farrier
I'm David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick. One thing I love about America is that it really loves celebrating different days of the week. It finds all kinds of excuses to do this, mostly focused around food because America loves eating. And so there's ice cream day on July 21, burger Day on May 28, and PI Day on January 23. Not to be confused with pie, the number day, which is on March 14.

Monica Padman
Woo hoo. National Pie Day. And we're excited to celebrate with a New York staple. Pie is like the perfect dessert. It is.

David Farrier
And so while I'm months late, it's today that we turn to pie day. The food, not the number. I went to nationaldaycalendar.com to find out more about PI Day, where it told me the first pie was created around 9500 BC during the egyptian neolithic period. Over 10,000 years later, in 1986, America decided it loved pie so much it declared January 23 national Pie day. The day was created by the American Pie Council because of course, thats a thing.

And America has been celebrating it ever since because America loves pie. Over $2 billion worth of pies are sold at american grocery stores every year. And according to the American Pie Councils website, one out of five Americans have eaten an entire pie by themselves. So this week I talked to a woman who travelled to all 50 us states to investigate 50 different american pies. And we try her top three pie suggestions.

So get ready to decide what your favorite pie is because this is the pies episode. Flagless, flagless, flagless bird touchdown in America. I'm a fly list bird touchdown in America.

I feel like we've talked a lot about pies in different episodes. It's time to do a pies eb. I love pie. I'm so excited for this. Your face lit up as an intro was playing, which I liked.

Monica Padman
Yes, it lit up a little brighter than beavers. Your face dropped. Beavers. Why the fuck are we doing beavers? Maybe everyone should run.

These topics by me were getting out of hand. Yeah, it was confronting for me because as you know, when I think pie, I think meat pie. Exactly. And so this has been a real rollercoaster. Can you start by saying your thoughts on american pie, not the movie?

David Farrier
I love sugar. Since being in America, I've had bits of pies. You saw me at Thanksgiving stuffing my face. That's it. That's right.

There is a problem though, recently where I have got new medical insurance and so I've been to my new doctor. PPO. PPO. Finally, I'm on a PPO, which I feel very grateful. It's very expensive, which I'm not happy with.

Monica Padman
Yeah, it is. But I went to my new doctor. He was lovely, handsome, charming, single. Don't know. Didn't get that far.

Might need ass. Nurse drew my blood, and my blood's came back. And for the first time in my entire life, cholesterol. My cholesterol's higher than it should be. Okay.

Yeah. My cholesterol's high. Whenever I've got results back, anything. Sti's, cholesterol. I don't know.

David Farrier
Whatever else is in blood. Perfect. Perfect. A plus. Yeah.

America, it's done something to me. You think? No, David, it's done something to me. I think it's age. You're not gonna like to hear that.

Horrific. But the older you get, the more commonplace this is. Cause my whole life, what I've done is I sort of eat what I want. And in America, I've been eating. I eat a lot of pizza.

Monica Padman
Sure. I eat a lot of burgers. And externally, I felt, okay. I haven't looked at myself and gone. I'm ballooning out of control.

David Farrier
I'm unhealthy. What I was unaware of is that my insides over the last three years have slowly been rotting away, corroding. And that's just come to my awareness. Now, do you ever cook dinner, or do you always order? No.

That's why I like this meal delivery service stuff. Cause that's really good for me. Factor, who's a sponsor at some point. I like factor. That works for me.

I get a lot of takeout. I live alone. Cooking for one kind of sucks. It's hard, and I'm not a good cook. Whereas you love cooking.

Rob McElhenney
Yeah. I don't. Yeah. So America and my age is a problem. I think you're right.

Monica Padman
I think cholesterol. Ooh. Did you do any stats on this, or. We should. Cholesterol levels in the United States, I.

David Farrier
Mean, it's a whole of it. We know we have obesity issues in those core, but cholesterol in general, I have genetically, I have high cholesterol. I've had it since I was just a wee babe. Are your genes? When I moved to the United States.

When you moved to America?

Monica Padman
Yeah. Never gonna let that go. Let's take our daughter to America. Let's take our high cholesterol. Bees with us.

David Farrier
What will cure her? The United States. Yeah. So I have it genetically. And then recently, I guess last year, it was quite high.

This is all new to me. I'm in panic at the moment. Which is why going into this pies episode, I was worried. Cause pies isn't recommended to keep the cholesterol down. So usually I'd go into an episode like this just absolutely stuffing my face.

My doctor said, just eat a lot easier. Basically eat salads. You know, it's kind of like when we did Loma Linda and we were trying to learn about longevity. And really it's just the most basic thing ever, which is eat vegetables, run or, you know, move your body, exercise and sleep well and probably don't drink. Okay, so this is what's happened to me then.

Okay. My age. Yeah. Since I had back issues, I haven't been exercising as much. Oh, yeah, I'm not sleeping as well.

Cause of that fucking ghost that comes in at three. So all those have combined. We gave him a name. Frank. No, it wasn't Frank.

Monica Padman
No, dammit. I don't call him by name. Peter. Peter. I can't remember.

Dax Shepard
I know, Peter's Calvin's ghost. Oh, right. That one really creeps me. Okay, anyway, so look, so I just wanted to say at the top I've got high cholesterol. Yeah.

David Farrier
And I'm thinking about that a lot. Okay, so how is exercise? Have you been dipping back in? I walk a lot. Brisk walk up a hill and I swim.

He sent me a note. That's the other thing about America. If you need to get into your medical notes, there's a portal. America loves a portal. Oh, yes.

In New Zealand you get emailed stuff to your inbox. In America, every institution you're a part of, there's a portal. You log in, there's security measures. They're texting your phone. It's driving me nuts.

Dax Shepard
I can never get into mine. When I was sick, I went to the urgent care and I couldn't get in to pay my bill. Everyone's like, get to the portal, go to the portal. You have a face password. I'll do that.

David Farrier
Yeah, I've just set that up on my phone and it's like, do you do it in your browser or in your app? On your phone. Cedars Sinai. What? I'm going to.

They've got two apps. Cedars is great. That's the one. Why the hell? Why have you got two?

Make it one. Well, Cedars is a very reputable. Oh, I'm over the moon. I'm there. Okay, hold on.

Monica Padman
What did they say in your portal? Should I try and get into this portal now? I'll tell you. I can get in my portal. It sounds sexual, like.

Get into my portal? Can't get into her portal. This doctor told me to get into his portal. Okay, so I'm logging in now. I'm typing in my username, which I'm not going to tell you won't let.

Me into her portal. Okay, I'm clicking sign in. Get into your portal, David. Okay, here we go. Doctor Andrew.

David Farrier
This is what he said. I've reviewed your recent lab results. Your ldl, bad cholesterol is a bit elevated. This increases your lifetime risk for developing cardiovascular disease, aka a heart attack. He thinks I'm an idiot.

Stroke and even certain types of dementia. Oh, shit. I can't get dementia. Uh oh. Your calculated ten year risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is 1.4%.

Monica Padman
Okay, that's really low. It's low, isn't it? What's the number, David? Okay, so I'm going to go into a different part of the portal. Yeah, let's see.

David Farrier
Test results. Chlamydia, nothing. Hiv, nothing. Yeah. Okay, so cholesterol, normal.

Value. Hdl cholesterol, normal. Triglycerides, are they high? Uh. Oh, yeah.

Monica Padman
That's bad. You want to be under 150 milligrams per DL. I'm 217. 150 is the. 150 is what you want.

David Farrier
I'm 217. So I'm 67 above. Yeah, that's bad. Okay, that's not helping my panic. Sorry, but triglycerides are the thing.

Monica Padman
I mean, there's a lot of bad stuff, but triglycerides is one we do gotta watch. When I went, what do you. Mine was 600. And I was like. So you didn't laugh?

No, I was. So you must have been experienced complete panic. Yes. Cause it was crazy. And my doctor said, I think there's something wrong.

So we had to retake it. Nothing's wrong with. And did it come down or. That was. Yeah, it was not 606.

Hundred's dead. I mean, you're dead. Was it around 200? Am I higher than you or lower? Oh, should I look at my portal?

David Farrier
Can you look at your portal? My LDl is 113. It's meant to be under 100, so that's not. That's not too bad. And my non Hl cholesterol is 147 when it's meant to be under 130, which is not that bad.

Monica Padman
What's your ratio? The ratio's very important. I've said too much already. This is so personal. It really is.

David Farrier
Is there anything more personal than your blood? I don't think there is. Well, where your lumps are. Your sperm. Oh, the lump.

Monica Padman
Is it time for you to tell us? Like, a lot? So much time has passed. The triglycerides I need to sort out. How's your portal going?

Are you okay? Yeah. I got mine face recognized. You're in on your app. My triglycerides were 103, so they're fine.

David Farrier
Oh, my God. You're making me feel. That's so low. I'm 217, but let me make you feel better. My ldl is 184.

Monica Padman
This was in June of last year. Okay. Mine's 113 right now, and it should. Be less than 100. So 184 is bad, which affects my overall cholesterol, which is 274 and should be less than 200.

David Farrier
Did you feel the feeling of panic? I mean, I felt really worried. I feel really worried. Really worried that my triglycerides were 600, but I've been high my whole life, so it's not that startling. Also, my hdl.

Monica Padman
Your good cholesterol is also high. So that's good. That is good. Yeah, that is a good one. So that also affects it.

Now, my ratio is four, and it should be under five, and that's really the thing that matters. Oh, yeah. 4.7. It's meant to be under five. Under five.

So you're fine. You're fine. I don't like that. That gasp doesn't say fine, Monica. Well, it was.

It's just awfully close. That's what the doctor said.

I think we should get your hdl up. Yeah. Okay. To help those ratios. Okay.

David Farrier
So look what I've done the last two weeks. I've been on salads. Oh, good. Apples. Apparently, oats is good for soaking up some of that fat.

I'm off the butter. Oh, wow. Okay. I used to eat a lot of eggs. I'm not eating eggs.

Monica Padman
No, that's avocado. No. Okay. What's your sugar? Oh.

David Farrier
Look, let's move on. Look, this is stressful. My point is, you stress out. It's fine. It's fine.

Monica Padman
None of that stress. It's gonna get higher if you stress, actually. Yeah, exactly. Oh, God. Sweating.

David Farrier
Heart rate's elevated. None of this is dire. Right. Did they say you need to get on a statin or something? No, they said no meds.

Monica Padman
That's fine. They just said, get your diet sorted out. Okay. Pies. I've got a couple of other bits of admin I'm gonna save a bit of admin for.

David Farrier
In between the documentary. But just before we start, and this is important, we got a lot of feedback to the Lord of the Rings episode we did, mainly because I didn't watch it. Yeah. People were upset by that. It's a bit like when I did Waffle house.

Waffle House. And I didn't go that nightmare. And I get it. And part of my brain. I'm a bit chaotic, and part of my brain knew the bianga about doing a lord of the Rings episode without watching the movies.

So a couple of things. First off, in the episode, I commented that Orlando Bloom has sort of vanished. And immediately when we put that out, he's everywhere. He's absolutely everywhere. Oh, my God.

Monica Padman
Maybe someone brought him back. I like to think I did. Yeah. So Orlando Bloom, I wanted to apologize. I don't even know.

David Farrier
He's got a new docuseries called to the Edge, which chronicles his mental, physical, and spiritual journey as he pushes himself to the edge. That's where the title to the Edge comes from. To learn and master three extreme sports. So are you going to do an episode on that and also not watch it? I want to do an episode on Orlando Bloom.

Yeah, that'd be cool, because he's in this amazing film. He's not american, though. Where's he from? Canadian? No, he's, like, british.

Monica Padman
United Kingdom. He was born in the United Kingdom. Oh, uk. Okay. Okay.

David Farrier
He's not doing an episode in Orlando, but I wanted to apologize for him. And another thing, because so many people were a bit annoyed that I got the plot a bit wrong, I got rob to show his son Calvin, Lord of the Rings. The first one. And is it age appropriate? Well, we'll find out.

Monica Padman
Oh. Afterwards, Rob got Calvin to review the film. Oh, my God. I can't wait. And so this is a little mini review from Calvin.

Oh, my gosh. Reviewing his first viewing of Lord of the Rings. You just watched the first Lord of the Rings movie, right? Yes. Can you tell me what it was about?

Rob McElhenney
It's about a ring that was made by a master, and they're trying to break it because a master was a bad guy. But they can't use any of their tools to break the ring because we're made with this fire and only, like, a volcano and lava can break it. They're trying to get on their. On this island and are trying to, like, escape, but they landed on another island in, like, the middle and, like, the last of the movie. And then.

But these goblins. This goblin was too powerful, and he hit three bow and arrows and one of the good guys, and he died because he was too powerful. And you couldn't see him, and there's too many goblins that he had to fight at once. There's a lot of characters in it, right? Mm hmm.

Dax Shepard
Do you remember them? There's Frodo and Sam, and so I can remember there's, like, eight of them, or maybe the seven or six given to the men, nine to the elves, and three to the dwarves. It was actually a trick because the rings were bad, and if you put them on, you turn into his command and turn into a bad guy. So he had given out all those rings, but then there was one ring that would rule them all, right. Uh huh.

Rob McElhenney
It was one given to the master, but there's this man that defeated him and cut his hand off, but then he got killed because all the bad guys wanted that ring too bad. And then it got left in the dirt. But the ring was also a trap, and he's still alive, but only his eyes left, and it got left in the dirt. Frodo found it, and they're trying to break it and put in a volcano, and then it'll break up into dust. Did you like the first movie?

Mm hmm. Did you think it was too long, too short? It was 3 hours. It was pretty long. Would you recommend this movie to other people?

Yeah. Was it too scary, too funny? It was, like, perfect. It was perfect. Perfect amount.

Dax Shepard
Are you excited to watch the next ones? Uh huh. I bet they're gonna try to destroy it, but the bad guys gonna try to get them, and he's gonna get his ring back. All right, we'll check back in after you finish the second one. Okay.

Rob McElhenney
Okay, bye. Learn and expire. What? Like and subscribe. Oh.

Monica Padman
Oh, my God. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. That broke me as well. How old is Calvin? He's seven.

David Farrier
It killed me. I did the same thing, Monica. I was like, did he just. Oh, my God. Yeah.

Monica Padman
He knows to say that just from. Me and being around podcasts. Yeah, it's really good. But still, we don't say that. I know we don't.

David Farrier
But it's a thing, though. Like, you do hear it so often, and also, that was amazing recall I couldn't have done. Incredible. Your son's amazing. He's pretty smart.

Monica Padman
He's so smart. He said a really big vocab word in there that I know what it. Was looking up in the dictionary. So we're gonna get him to review the other two pieces. I love this.

David Farrier
And we'll bring those reviews to you. Flightless bird listeners, stay tuned for more flightless bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. Support for flightless bird comes from aura frames. We know that you love aura frames.

Monica Padman
Every day your mom loves. Or a frame. Every other day I send a fresh photo of me in America to my parents. Or a frame. Cause they're not on Facebook and they don't really like, emails are kind of like.

David Farrier
Whereas if it just magically pops up on their frame, then it's great. I had the photo shifting through every half hour and mum demanded that I change it to like 30 seconds. She just sat there glued to her frame like the tv. Anyway, they're Wi Fi connected digital picture frames that allow you to share and display unlimited photos. It's really easy to upload them and share them via the Aura app.

If you're giving it as a gift, you can personalize the frame with preloaded photos and memories. It takes about two minutes to set up a frame. And honestly, I think it's the perfect gift. It can be like really earnest and serious and you can fill out with beautiful photos. Or I often give them to friends and just fill them up with fun, silly things.

Monica Padman
Yes. That's great. The display, it's meticulously calibrated, high resolution. So it's nice. Oh, yeah, it looks like a frame.

David Farrier
It's like there's a photo except in case of my mum. It's like shifting every like 10 seconds. But I like to set them to shift every 2 hours. Yeah, that's right. So it's just this beautiful thing in the corner.

And right now, aura has a great deal for Mother's Day. Listeners can save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get dollar 30 off plus free shipping on their best selling frame. That's auraframes.com. Use code bird at checkout to save. Terms and conditions apply.

This show is sponsored by Betterhelp David. M. Monica, have you talked to your therapist about your lump? Does your therapist know where your lump is? I told the therapist about the lump because it was so stressful and they said, talk to your doctor.

But they did talk me through your anxiety. Managing stress and anxiety because again, I'm getting it with this cholesterol issue I've got at the moment. And there is something to being able to manage each situation and not feel it spiral out of control in your brain. Because our brains love to spiral. They do.

Monica Padman
And then it makes everything worse, makes your body completely shut down. So yeah, you refuse to share your lump with us. But I'm glad you did. Share it with somebody. Yeah, because therapy is a safe space to get things off your chest and to figure out how to work through whatever's weighing you down without having to tell your friends about it.

And betterhelp is amazing because it's entirely online and it's convenient, it's flexible, it's suited to your schedule. That's the main thing people say about therapy, like it's too expensive or I just can't make it work. With better help. You can, because there's so many options. Totally.

David Farrier
And if for any reason you don't like the therapist you get matched with, then you can just swap and get someone else. So get it off your chest with better help. Visit betterhelp.com bird today to get 10% off your free. That's better help. Help.com bird.

Also, big news. Just yesterday, they're releasing the Lord of the Rings trilogy to theaters, remastered and extended in America. Okay, so look, I know this isn't a Lord of the Rings podcast, but I just wanted to insert that into the Pies episode because very important. That Lord of the Rings update. That was so cute.

Monica Padman
I can't believe. Like and subscribe. Yeah, you better like and subscribe to this feed. Okay. Pies.

So cute. He's so cute. Let's begin our exploration of american pies. Oh, this is great.

David Farrier
Oh, yeah, Drew, it's not what it looks like. I guess I first understood how much America loved pie when I watched a movie called American Pie 25 years ago and witnessed an american fucking a pie. Well, we'll just tell your mother that we ate it all. Not much has changed because America still loves pies, as I found out during the Thanksgiving episode of Flightless Bird, where I found myself surrounded by pies. I've got four big slices of pie.

I've never had this one before. I thought it was a cheesecake, but apparently it's key line. This is pecan, a famous Thanksgiving treat that I've never had before. I realized I haven't really learned much about pie since that episode. If I was to be truly american, I needed to understand why Americans are so pie obsessed.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
My name is Stacey Mayenne Fong, and I'm a baker and an author of pie cookbooks. The second I'd seen Stacy's cookbook sitting on a bookstore shelf, I knew she was the one I needed to talk to for this episode. Her book is called 50 Pies 50 States, the result of her traveling to each american state to try their favorite pie. So there's 50 pies in the book one for every state. There is also a pie for DC.

I had to do the nation's capital. Which is what, by the way, the. DC pie is a cherry pie. As an ode to the lore of George Washington cutting that cherry tree down. I also wanted to talk to Stacey because she's a bit like me and that she wasn't born in America.

David Farrier
She chose to make it her home. So I have grown up enamored with America from watching american movies and listening to a lot of american music with my dad. My dad loves Simon and Garfunkel bread, the Carpenters. I have a big affinity for old country music, like John Prine, Loretta Lynn. Dolly Parton's my favorite person on the planet because it's all about storytelling.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
And I think what's wonderful, too, about the it is country music, but it's storytelling of America. Working nine to five. What a way to make. So in my head, America seemed like this really big, wonderful place that you could go on this big road trip. I was born in Singapore and I grew up in Hong Kong, both of which are islands.

So any trips we took were all international. All I wanted was to go on this long road trip and eat pie at different diners across America. Sounded so wonderful to me. Before we got into it, I wanted to make sure we were both on the same page about what pie means, what it consists of. Coming from New Zealand.

David Farrier
If you say pie, what you mean there is a meat pie. You never think fruity pie. When you were growing up and you thought pie, what was the thing that would jump to mind? I thought meat pie because I also grew up playing rugby and netball. And afterwards you would go to a tuck shop and get a meat piece.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
Pie for me was only meat. And I didn't know there was so many sweet pies until we would come here on vacation. My dad worked in hotels and so there would be these buffets of all these different kinds of pies. And I was like, what is going on? Because in my mind there was only apple pie and then cherry pie because of the music that I'd listened to.

So I didn't know about any other, like grasshopper pie or all these different custard pies. So when I started diving into that, it was so interesting to learn that here pie was a dessert. But for all of us in british colonies, pie was a full meal. I feel here the only savory pie everybody thinks about is chicken pot pie. That's the only savory one.

David Farrier
Once she'd moved to New York, Stacey decided to embrace the sweet pies of America, so much so she ended up becoming an american citizen. It was while waiting for her citizenship that her true pie journey began. While I was doing the laborious amount of paperwork, spending all that money trying to stay in this country, I thought it'd be really fun to bake my way through the country as a way to learn about this country, kind of how you have this podcast to kind of learn about all these nuances. I decided to learn about each state by pie, because when you travel to all these different countries, like if you go to, like, Portugal or Italy or Spain, you have a list of things you want to eat from there. I feel like people rarely do that with the United States or even the hometown that they're from.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
And I thought I would exercise my Nora Ephron Nancy Meyers rom.com grand gesture and dedicate each state pie to a person that I know from that state. So, like my love letter to this country, I've decided to call home. So that's how I landed on PI. Because even though PI is very different to you and me, I feel PI is quintessentially very american, or America likes to think it's very quintessentially american. And so pie seemed like the good blank canvas for me to explore not only the food of this country, but also all the different states.

And also my little ode to the people that made this place my home. Okay, onto the pies. There are over 50 pies in her cookbook, but we dont have all day. I wanted to know what ones really popped for her, which ones she really recommends. I wanted a top three.

David Farrier
Say you're going on a date and you don't know much about the person, but you really know you want to impress them. You don't know where they're from, but you really just want to impress this person that's come over with these three pies. They're going to have these pies and then they go, wow, that was a fucking beautiful pie. Oh, my God, this is so hard. I would probably bake the pie I did for Vermont, which is an apple pie with a cheddar cheese crust.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
I love that pie so much because my buddy Pete's grandpa always used to say, a pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze. And in Vermont, you traditionally eat an apple pie with a slice of cheddar, which I really like because it's a mix of sweet and salty, so it really amps up the apple flavor. And then another pie I would make would probably be the pie that I've probably gotten the most contention with that I did for the book would be Minnesota. It is a corndog hot dish pie with savory funnel cakes on top. And then to round out this, because I want it to be a whole meal, I would probably do the pie I did for Washington, which is a rainier cherry pie with a potato chip crumble on top.

Cause I love a mixture of sweet and salty. So I think it would be those three. But I think the pie that would get me a ring on the finger would be the apple one. Cause everybody loves apple pie. Of course, for this episode, I needed to go and eat some pie just to start wrapping my taste buds around the idea that pies in my life are no longer meat pies, but sweet pies.

David Farrier
And so I got Stacy to advise me on what american pies I should try. Where I am right now. Los Angeles. Do it. Apple, cherry, and then a lemon meringue or something that has a floofy top, a big whipped top.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
See if you can find a lemon meringue. Lemon meringue pies are probably wonderful in LA. Cause you guys have great citrus out there. Okay. I had my assignment.

David Farrier
Apple, cherry, and lemon meringue. Okay. Monica, cliffhanger. So I brought in. Oh, an apple, cherry, and a lemon meringue.

Monica Padman
Where are they from? They're from House of Pies. House of pies. Cause it's close. I know it's not the fanciest, but it's kind of iconic.

Rob's face. Where would you get your pies from in LA? Where should I go next time for pies, part two, when the cholesterol level is dropped. Okay, there's a few. I love Winston.

Dax Shepard
Winston's was gonna be what? I said, Winston's is incredible. There's a pie place. I got some pies for Thanksgiving. It's downtown.

The one that I sent you to. Destroyer. No, I didn't end up getting. Oh, those were insane. I'm just gonna.

David Farrier
As you talk, I'm just gonna chop these up into a plate for each of you. A little selection of each. God, didn't you love what she said? I loved everything fat and flour. A pie without the cheese.

Dax Shepard
Yeah. A pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze. I loved that. Did you have Baker square in Georgia? No, it was like a chain.

Yeah, it's like a diner. We didn't have that. They had really good pie. Oh, they had a french silk pie. That was incredible.

Monica Padman
Okay. French silk is a very elusive pie. It's very hard to find these days. I think they are at cafeterias. Originally Baker Square, that was always my go to.

Dax Shepard
I'd get french silk pie. I do love a chocolate pie. And then there's a really good place, Mindy's hot chocolate. In Chicago you took us to, which we went to. It's now just Mindy's bakery.

But she does insane pies. Did we have pie when we went? I don't remember. I think we had her dessert. We had the burgers and dessert, which that's my favorite burger of all time too.

Monica Padman
But it's gone now. She just went back to bakery. Okay, Monica, I'm gonna pass you over a little slice of each pie. You've tried all these probably hundreds of times. Well, I wanna.

Before we begin, should I start with my negative thoughts? Yeah, please. Get those out. Get those out. I like your assignment.

I think she was right. Because citrus in LA. It's good. I just am never getting a lemon meringue pie. Oh, never.

What? I'm never picking that. I did notice. I kept it in the fridge as I drove over here. It has melted a lot.

David Farrier
The lemon is very goopy. It wasn't like this when I bought it. It kind of looks like pineapple. But don't you love the meringue part? Like, the fluff?

What's your beef? My beef is I don't love. Just lemon flavored things in general. And then. Yeah, the meringue, it's not for me.

It's not for you. Okay, no fair. But I'm gonna try this. Okay. Give it a go.

I've never tried. Apple is definitely one of my all time faves. Okay, I'm gonna try the lemon meringue now. Based on your. Should we do lemon meringue first?

Yeah, I feel that cholesterol spiking. Okay, so I'm a meringue guy. I'm not a lemon guy. Yeah, but the meringue I enjoy. You like?

Monica Padman
Okay. I like the base. It's a very fluffy. It's so floofy. It's sort of refreshing.

David Farrier
Having the lemon gives the illusion of sort of freshness and health, perhaps. Okay, let me have a small bite of that. Should note Rob's getting very close to the camera taking photos for this episode. It's, um. Hmm.

Out of ten. It's actually not as bad as I thought. I'm giving this lemon ring a seven out of ten. But it kind of tastes like a cola. It's very sweet.

It's very sweet. Yeah, not good for the diabetes. Okay. Cherry next. Okay.

Monica Padman
Yeah, let's do cherry also. Just throwing out there. I don't ever pick cherry either, but I like a fruit pie in general. So this is my first ever cherry pie. Mmm.

Mm hmm. I like that cherry flavor. Yeah, a lot. The crust is nice. This tastes like a pop tart.

David Farrier
I've never had a pop tart. What? Yeah. Okay. This is probably another thing I need to do.

Monica Padman
Yeah. I've never had one. Oh, my God. It's like a bit of toast, but with sweetness. It's not toast.

It's more like a pastry, but it's very. It's processed, and you put it in the toaster and it pops up. Okay. I think I've seen the commercial cherry. One, and there's, like, a jam.

David Farrier
I'd give the cherry one an eight out of ten. Wow, these are high numbers. I wish we had Winston's. Okay. It's okay.

Monica Padman
I love this. Just because I want you to see the difference.

David Farrier
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The important parts of longevity. Yeah. And a sleep part is sleep mattresses make a huge difference. Yeah. I also found it so overwhelming when I got here, finding all the stuff for, like, my new place.

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Okay, we're going in for apple now. This is apple. Oh, I like this. Right? Apple pie is so good.

David Farrier
Apple pie is the one, isn't it? Yeah, it is. This is a ten. This doesn't have cheddar, but that's fine. Oh, that blew my mind, having.

I didn't know you got cheese involved. It's very midwestern. Mmm. This is nice. The apple's very spiced, which is good.

Mm mm, mm mm. Yeah, those are. Look, I feel more american, so Apple. Just from having those. Apple's my fave, by far, loved apple.

Monica Padman
You didn't get any chocolate pies, which is a big part of pies. And pumpkin pie. Have you had pumpkin pie? I had that at Thanksgiving, and that was great. And you had tea lime at Thanksgiving, which was delicious, which is great as well.

David Farrier
So I have a sweet tooth. I don't think there's a pie that I wouldn't consume, to be honest, but I am blown away by the creativity America has. I didn't realize there were so many pies. And obviously, locally, people get so excited about their pie. Yeah.

Monica Padman
My friends, I think I said this on maybe another episode. My friends Lizzie and Joe shout out when they got married. They love pie, and so do I. So they invited me over for pie taste testing for their wedding, and it was so amazing. And they had a big array.

David Farrier
Oh, and that would be elite pie. That would be the best of the best. They did have some house of pie options. They had Winston's. They had a couple others.

Monica Padman
There's some that are very niche. Like, you have to go to someone's house, and in their backyard, there's, like, a whole thing and pick it up. There's one that we got that. I think it was peach, strawberry, apple. Like, it was like a three fruit combo.

So good. I feel it's a bit like barbecue, where people have their spots to go and their places and their different types. Yeah, it feels the same sort of levels of passion involved. Do you think you, in general, would like a chocolate pie more or less than a fruit pie? I don't know what you're talking about.

David Farrier
No, I understand chocolate, but how do you get chocolate into a pie? Cause pie is a texture. Is it pain of, like, merengue? I mean, depends on the kind here. So this is, like, what french silk looks like.

Monica Padman
It's more moussey. Oh, it looks amazing. Yeah. I mean, I love chocolate, so it'll be up my alley. I just wasn't sure about the texture.

David Farrier
I think I like the chunkiness. Of fruit. The fruit? Yeah. And it's healthy because it's fruit.

What did you think about that Minnesota pie? She mentioned that she loved the corn dog. Hot dish pie with savory funnel cakes. She said that? And I was like.

I felt like I was having a stroke because I didn't really know what any of these things were. And they're all apparently in a pie. It's wild. It was wild. I don't know that that one's for me.

Monica Padman
Cause how can it be a savory funnel cake? You've had funnel cake, though, right? Funnel cake is at amusement parks. No, I haven't done funnel cake. Oh, my God.

David Farrier
We didn't do that one. Was it at Disney when we went there? Would I have gotten. No, we didn't get it, though. They would have had it.

No, I haven't had it. It's an amusement park staple. How would we describe it? Funnel cake? Fried dough with powdered sugar on top.

Monica Padman
Yeah, that's. Oh, that sounds great. It looks like corn dogs. Okay. No, I haven't had that before, but.

She made it savory. But it's very sweet, so she must be adding pepper. Right. But isn't that just chucking the cheese onto the apple or something? Sweet and savory combo.

I learned about cheese on apple pie late in life. That wasn't a thing I was exposed to. I don't think I've ever had an apple pie with the slice of cheese. I want that. I want to try it also.

I love cheese. Oh, I love cheese as well. What's that like for the cholesterol? Bad dairy. It's not great, but just do moderate.

If you do it in moderation. Moderation, yeah. But I have had apple pie with cheddar cheese in the crust. Oh, yeah. Oh, so good.

Dax Shepard
Pie hole. Pie hole's good. Yeah. I have. I have got a really good pecan pie and a mexican chocolate pie.

Monica Padman
That's really good. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It's endless. You could die having not eaten all of America's pies.

David Farrier
She's gone to every state. I mean, that's why this book is so incredible, because she's sort of been to and eaten all of them. Pecan is really important that you try. Okay. Oh, wait.

Monica Padman
Maybe you have thanksgiving. Oh, thanksgiving. Yeah, it was intense. This is another type of chocolate pie. Okay.

Chocolate cow pie. That photo looks beautiful. I'm looking at that. It has a rich chocolate filling, a responsibly sourced ecuadorian chocolate, and a salty oat crust. Ooh.

David Farrier
La la. With a drizzle of handmade, fresh caramel fudge like texture with just the right amount of sweetness. It's really nice. Okay, so just quickly, before we go on to part two. I'm Milky Way pie.

Monica Padman
Right now. What's the pie that you have your final meal? Pie. What are you having? Like, right now?

David Farrier
I'm having the apple. I love the apple. Okay. What are you having? I think if I have one pie.

Monica Padman
Oh, I also love a strawberry rhubarb. I think I'm going apple as well. Yeah. So it's the simplicity, I think it is. Yeah.

David Farrier
Okay. Apple pie. The milk bar pie is insane. They used to call it crack pie. Crack pie.

Dax Shepard
But it's the, like, caramel buttery. You've had. I've had it at my house with you. Yeah. I like that pie.

It was so good. Ah, this is just like the rest. Of the episode should just be us listing pies. Kind of don't feel like that going, mmm. I mean, pie is so funny.

Monica Padman
Listening to the doc and really realizing. Cause you mentioned it. But it's hard for me to really wrap my head around the fact that we just really are in our silos, that you hear pie and you don't think of this. Yeah, absolutely. It's so interesting.

David Farrier
And there's a few times american friends have come to visit me in New Zealand, and I haven't clocked it. Cause I'm like, we're gonna get a pie. And they're kind of like, oh, it's a weird thing to get for lunch. Right. And I should point out as well that when I say in New Zealand, we're eating meat pies, it's not like the pie you'd get in America.

This huge thing. It's a little handheld pie. It's tiny. And so you go to New Zealand, and most people you see walking around, they'll have one of these little pies in their hand. It's like a hot pocket.

Monica Padman
Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. So we're not, like, feasting on these giant, meaty, massive pies, because even our. Chicken pot pie is the shape of a big. Right.

David Farrier
Everything's big. Right. So you'd have to slice it up. I mean, they do have individual size pot pies, but it's not typical. Your typical meat pie in New Zealand is tiny.

Monica Padman
Right. Your typical pot pie is you'd bake. It like a big pie. Oh, I want to make that soon. Allison Roman has a recipe that I've been wanting to make a chicken pot pie recipe.

David Farrier
I feel like maybe we need to do a chicken pot pie episode where they came from. I'm sure there's an origin story. Well, Marie Callender, frozen food, that's the quintessential pot pie, the frozen pot pie. I mean, I don't know if that's how, it's probably not how it started, but that's just like the Salisbury steak. You should do a frozen Foods episode.

That's a really good idea. We touched on it briefly in the ice episode, but there's so that's like a whole world. It's such a world. I love this. And it's a big part of America, like the Salisbury steak in this, I guess, seventies or maybe fifties, I'm not gonna.

Monica Padman
Times was a huge part of american dinner dining. Oh, I love this because I've embraced the trader Joe's frozen meals. Like, I think if you're like a sad, alone person, you go to Trader Joe's and like, there's these individual, they're like marketed to people like me. So he lives alone. He doesn't, he hates cooking.

David Farrier
Not very talented. Like, get this, there's no point in him nourishing himself. Anyway, frozen food's a great episode. Okay, great. Okay, so in the final part of this, doc, it actually lines up quite nicely with what we just came to the conclusion of, which is that apple pie is the best pie.

Monica Padman
Okay, we're going to get some hate. Am I right in thinking the apple pie is the american pie? Right. That is the main one. That's America's pie.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
I think it's because pie is one of those things in american history that they've always kept on the table in some way. So there's a series of pies that were created here called desperation pies. And these were pies that were made out of not necessarily financial depression, even though there is a piece that was made during the Great Depression, but it was about seasonal depression when you didn't have fresh fruit. So there are all these pies, like the vinegar pie that was created in Appalachia. And that's supposed to mimic the tartness of apples.

And the water pie comes from the Great Depression, which it tastes like Krispy Kreme donut glaze in the center of a pie. So what all of this made me think of is the importance of pie in America and keeping it on the table throughout the year or even during times of sadness. The symbol of pie is the symbol of America's abundance. Whenever you see an apple pie, it's a bunch of apples piled high, and the crust is big and it's sitting in a window. It's this idyllic vision of what you want America to be, and it might not always be that way, and it definitely isn't.

But when you have this symbol of a delicious, steaming apple pie, things feel a little less hopeless and a little more hopeful. Is there a pie that you just hate on a personal level? Is there a specific pie that you're like, no, that's not for me. It's pumpkin. I'm so sorry to everybody that absolutely loves pumpkin.

It's just not for me or anything with a Jell O in it. I'm weird about the texture of Jell. O. Statistically, Stacy's an aberration. According to the American Pie Council, pumpkin pie is a big business, especially for Thanksgiving, with over 50 million pumpkin pies eaten every November.

David Farrier
Now, before I left Stacey, I had one more question. One more question for the pie expert who's explored way more of America than I have, completely unrelated to the pies. Or maybe it is related to the pies. Do you have a place you ended up in America that really surprised you or stands out in a positive way? South Dakota completely blew me away.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
I had never, ever been any place like it. It felt like the moon, mainly because there was barely anyone on the roads. I saw an actual tumbleweed, which it was like the most amazing thing in the entire world. And also the culture and the deep rooted food that's available in South Dakota that isn't available anywhere else. And the landscapes.

Yeah. If you ever get a chance to go to South Dakota, go to South Dakota. It's very beautiful. It'll blow you away. I saw my first tumbleweed in Roswell, New Mexico, and I thought I was hallucinating.

David Farrier
So big. They're so big, and there were so many of them, and they're on the fucking road. It's actually a whole other topic I need to do was fucking tumbleweeds. You've just reminded me you have to do tumbleweeds. When I saw a tumbleweed was like when I was in college here and saw a red solo cup for the first time and was like, these exist.

Stacey Mei Yan Fong
This is for real. I bought a twelve pack of them back to Hong Kong with me my first break, and I was like, you guys, it's real. Let me teach you beer pie. Future episodes incoming. Red cups and tumbleweeds.

David Farrier
But for now, I've got about 47 other pie flavors to try. The Red cup thing, I thought was just a joke in american comedies. You did? And when I got to America and saw them, I was like, oh, okay. Just a thing.

Monica Padman
You do an episode on Red solo Cups, you can also get blue, but red's the color. Oh, my God. 50 pies, 50 states is the book. It's an amazing book. I know.

David Farrier
And I should say so. She's also formulated her recipes for that. So she's like an amazing chef. So she. Baker Chef.

I don't know the terminology. So she basically. Yeah, she basically has formulated her best recipe. So it's got them all in there. I'm excited.

Monica Padman
I want. I'm gonna buy it. It's a cool book. I like how she also mentioned that they're always on the table. Even through financially difficult times, people will find cheeky ways to still get a delicious pie sitting there to keep everyone happy.

Yeah. Because it is such a tough token of american culture. And like she said, abundance. You need it there to feel some hope. Yeah, it's hope.

David Farrier
It's like there's a sweet treat. Just rewinding to the very beginning of this episode, American Pie. That comedy is like the beginning of gross out comedy. Being big. That was huge in New Zealand.

Huge is that big here. Huge. It was a time, wasn't it? It was such a time. Eugene Levy made him massive again.

Monica Padman
Stifler. Stifler Stiffler. Stifler's mom. I guess there'll be, like, kids listening to this who are like, what? Right?

David Farrier
Or would they know it? Has it gone to the culture like Forrest Gump did, where everyone kind of knows the references? They made eleven of them, so I think it was around for a while. So many, right? No, but, like, does Calvin know about what, you ask?

Dax Shepard
Calvin does not know. Can you watch it? Can we get a review of him? What was he doing to the pie? No, don't do that.

David Farrier
Child abuse. Like, and substance. Subscribe. Oh, so sweet. This was really fun.

Monica Padman
And I enjoyed this. I do think you have some other ones you gotta try. I've got a lot of pies I need to try. And I've got a bonus for you. We've been recording remotely a few times because we've been sick and whatnot.

Yeah. Quilting. That quilting episode. So many people have gotten in touch with me, wanting to send you, rob, dax. Me quilts.

Oh, my God. Endless. That's exciting. And I can't reply to everyone. So kind that people want to do this.

David Farrier
But that blog I write, webworm, I kind of trust those people. And so I gave one of them my address because they're like, they're nice people, and I interact, and I know they're lovely. And so she sent a quilt. Quilts. They're here.

I brought them in. So my quilt is at home. It's got cats on it. So Susan Marshall sent these in. She just basically said, this is a note for the rest of the crew.

I've been a fan of the show since week one. I know everyone says it, but it's true. I've always seen photos of the attic and thought making a quilt for guests would be fun. She's been making quilts for her friends and family for 20 years. Wow.

She's got an Etsy store. I was inspired to finally make one for all of you when I heard the flight spirit episode about quilts. Also, when Monica confessed that no one had ever made her a quilt, a. Lot of people felt sad about that. I think most people haven't had a quilt made for them, but she sounded so sad.

Sad. No one's made me a quilt. No one's even made me a quilt. Monica, your quilt was the hardest because I know you're a virgil, meaning you're particular. You mean a virgo?

Monica Padman
Yeah. That's what you call. Oh, what did I say? I say virgin Virgo. Oh, Virgo.

Dax Shepard
You combined virgin and virgo. You did. You did. And I was like, she's wrong. She's wrong.

David Farrier
A Virgo. Virgo. I've never said that out loud. I don't do the stars and the sun and all that stuff. Really embarrassing myself here.

I'm bad with astrology. Oh, boy. Okay. When I saw this fabric about empowering women, I knew it was for you. A few days later, the ding ding, ding moment came.

The pan pan tone. I'm afraid of saying where is now? Pantone color was announced. Pantone. And one.

And one of the fabrics was the pantone colour. No way. This is. Wow. Okay.

Robin, Dax. This one I made to leave in the attic. I'm hoping the colors go with the grey blue in the attic. Dax, you never get a cold, but Monica and the guests might use it. Rob, I wanted to make your son a baseball quilt, but I couldn't remember which Chicago baseball team you supported.

If you'd like one message, me. White Sox. Yeah, it's the white socks, right? White socks. She's friggin kind.

I hope you like these quilts. If not, just give them to the people you love. The fabrics. Machine washable and easy to care for. Oh, my God.

Monica Padman
I'm so sorry. This is the marshal Pantone. Wow. Okay. This is pretty.

Oh, my God. Threw that over the room. It's thick. It's a great fabric. Oh, it's comfy.

David Farrier
What does the text say? It says, empower women. Oh, that's cool. This is so sweet. It's pink.

Monica Padman
I love pink. And, Rob, this is the one for you and Dex. It's soft and beautiful. It's very cuddly. It's really soft.

Thank you so much. This is so sweet. What's also interesting, and I like the one we have from our friend from the episode, is such a specific type of quilt. So amazing. Wait, did you know that on armchair Anonymous, one of our guests knows him?

Luke. Oh, amazing. And had one of his quilts up. Oh, that's so weird. Weird?

Yeah. Cause Luke's stuff is amazingly detailed and, like, machine driven. And your faces are on that thing. These are sort of more like. I don't want to say typical.

David Farrier
They're beautiful. No, they're gorgeous. They're like the standard shapes and textures. The one we have from Luke is very thin, and this one's fluffy and soft. Yeah, that's wintertime in the attic.

Monica Padman
Winter. Wrap yourself up in that measure. When guests come in, you and Dax are just, like, wrapped up in these quilts. Like, what are you doing? So, yeah, I know we've sort of bought quilts and Lord of the Rings back into the pies episode, but why not?

Why not? Let's chock a block. Well, merry Christmas. Happy New year. Happy Thanksgiving.

Happy. What a time. Happy Lord of the Rings release. Happy PI day. Happy PI day.

Callie's birthday is PI day. The number 314. Oh, that's really cute. So PI day is on. We missed it.

David Farrier
It's on January 23. So put it in your diary next year. Eat all the pie you can eat. Apple's the best. All right.

I think we're all more american. We are. And my cholesterol is bumped up by half a point.

Monica Padman
And my cholesterol is bumped up by half a point.

David Farrier
And my cholesterol is bumped up by half a point.

Flightless Bird: Pies

Primary Topic

Episode Summary

Main Takeaways

Episode Chapters

1: Introduction to American Pies

2: History and Cultural Significance

3: Personal Stories and Health Discussions

4: Stacey Mei Yan Fong's Pie Journey

Actionable Advice

About This Episode

People

Books

Guest Name(s):

Content Warnings:

Transcript