The first thing one may typically think about when it comes to food is usually their favorite meals, cherished memories of a special dish cooked by a loved one, trying something new for the first time, or simply how it makes them feel. Nostalgia and memory play an important role in the conception of foods that we cherish, however economic change surrounding one of our biggest needs is forcing people to take a closer look at the labels in front of them in the grocery store. More people are becoming increasingly aware of where their food actually comes from due to rising prices in the supermarkets or concern for the environment, but there are also platforms highlighting the effects of phenomena, such as globalization or the “Lieferkettengesetz”. The importance of these policies or by-products of global interconnectedness are that they can show very real discrepancies and disparities between countries in the production and exchange of goods and services. Or how climate change is affecting the growing seasons and threatening beloved commodities like tea, coffee, bananas and chocolate. While food is an integral part of human survival and serves as a major source of identity – food and the cultural history of food have a highly political background.

In the United States, a true classic and staple food of ‘American’ identity is pie. Historically brought over to the Americas by European settlers, English, French and German, the newly introduced cookery knowledge allowed for the development of this baked good to rise to the status of a symbol of national identity over time. An incredibly practical dish, as all one needs is a crust of buttery dough and some kind of filling – whether that be savory or sweet. Nothing becomes more visible in the American autumnal kitchen season than what pies people make and purchase for family gatherings and festivities. While one may choose a certain pie over the other due to their desired flavor profiles (or, if you’re like me and just need both), the choice between pumpkin or a sweet potato pie has a much longer story. The similarities and differences between these two fall table staples lay the groundwork for a wonderful, but short look into how different cultural knowledge surrounding food production and consumption leads to adaptation and exploitation in a new environment, how regionality and background may shape preferences, and ultimately, how these two baked goods carry political weight.

Pumpkins, along with certain ornamental gourds and squashes from the genus cucurbita are indigenous vegetables to the Americas and are an integral part of indigenous culture. Pumpkins were one of the “three sisters”: pumpkins/squash, corn and beans, that the Wampanoag Tribe utilized in planting symbiotic sustainable crop plots. They passed this knowledge on to the Pilgrims at Plymouth as a gesture of goodwill. This knowledge was not only limited to the indigenous people of the present-day United States, but also to the various indigenous tribes of Mesoamerica as well. While pumpkins and squash had already made their way back to Europe after Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of the Americas, utilizing pumpkins as a food source became common practice for those who came from Europe to the New England area of the United States. European settlers in North America were able to adapt and survive in a whole new environment due to indigenous knowledge. Pumpkin pie is a true blend of Western and Eastern food knowledge: you need the pie crust techniques from western European bakers, the pumpkins and sugars from the Americas, and the warm spices such as cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg that originate from the trading routes between Europe and Asia. If you are of European descent or indigenous in the United States and are localized to the northern half, especially on the eastern coast, one is more likely to grow up eating pumpkin pie during the autumn season and for Thanksgiving.

The generosity of the indigenous peoples in assisting the European settlers was not repaid, as these settlers also brought over the racial superiority ingrained in Western European culture, heavily influenced by the Christian religion, which became a fundamental part of ‘American’ culture after the United States won its independence from England. Over the course of the United States history, pre- and post independence, narratives of the indigenous population being “bloodthirsty savage[s]” fueled discrimination and violence towards the native tribes. From 1778 to 1868, the United States signed over 370 treaties with native groups, a majority of them violated and coercively put into place to allow the appropriation of their cultural lands. Assimilated into American society, or forced onto reservations to be part of “economically dependent nations” within the United States, the native peoples who enabled bakers in the United States and other countries to create what we know as a pumpkin pie today are not given the proper acknowledgement of the usage of their cultural food knowledge or the history of violence, displacement and marginalization against them that they still face up to this day.

However, if you grew up eating sweet potato pie, it could be generalized that you live in the southern half of the United States and could potentially be of African-Caribbean descent. During the Transatlantic slave trade, over 12 million people from Africa were forcibly taken to the “New World”. Like the indigenous population of the Americas, they brought with them their own food culture knowledge. True yams are indigenous to West Africa and the closest thing to a yam in the United States is a sweet potato. Both are potato-like in their shape, form and starchiness, with a pleasing, warm orange color, however, sweet potatoes are sweet and yams are typically quite savory – both are used in their corresponding dishes. The food culture among those taken from Africa and settled against their will in the Caribbean and the United States were forced to adapt to an environment with different food sources. Due to these root vegetables requiring a more humid climate, the majority of sweet potatoes were grown in the agriculturally dependent South, where the majority of enslaved people were taken to work on plantations, and sweet potato became a typical food staple developing one day into a sweet potato pie. The almost counter-narrative to the white person’s pumpkin pie during the Thanksgiving season – more on that later.

Related to the usage of pumpkin, sweet potatoes are native to the Americas, with evidence pointing to its origin in Central and South America. Harvested by indigenous groups in the Americas, these tuberous vegetables eventually made their way to North America and beyond through the Columbian trade and by Spanish settlers. Easy to grow and produced in vast quantities, this “cash crop” became a staple of “Southern cuisine” in the United States alongside such dishes as fried chicken, BBQ, cornbread, and collard greens. Enslaved African American cooks not only adapted their own food cultures to the Americas, but they were also limited in what they could eat and cook due to their food being provided by the people who ‘owned’ them. After slavery was abolished in the United States, this crop became an important source of money and food for newly freed African American tenant farmers, over time eventually becoming a staple of African American communities and Black cuisine. The same way that the invention of the pumpkin pie was brought about by European baking techniques with spices from the East, the sweet potato pie would also come about in this ‘foodway’ fashion as well, but with its own distinct flavor profile that sets it apart from pumpkin pie. Sweeter, richer, denser, and not as heavily spiced as pumpkin pie.

Two pies with different but incredibly similar histories of oppression and exploitation of cultural food knowledge have become staples of US-American cuisine to a point where they have entered the pop culture arena of discussion amongst US-Americans. Through the United States own history, two pies play a large role in social interactions and family gatherings throughout the United States. Family tradition and culture play a large role in the foods that one grows up eating, influenced by the history and region in which they live. Pumpkin pie, much more common in the North, was made popular through a book by abolitionist Josepha Hale, where she described the dish as being integral to a “…true Yankee Thanksgiving”. As a food symbol of the North and the aftermath of the Civil War, the sweet potato pie acts as a foil to that narrative. Since sweet potatoes were much more common in the South than pumpkins, and through the utilization of the plant by the African American community, the sweet potato pie has become the symbol of the pie for the South.

As someone who was born in northern Virginia, I grew up eating pumpkin pie during the holiday season, and while I love sweet potatoes, I ate them during major holidays as either fully baked sweet potatoes or in the form of a casserole. After moving to Texas, I finally got to try a sweet potato pie, made by my friend Kethra, who is African American. I loved it! However, it did not replace my love for pumpkin pie. I’m too much of a food lover to buy into the discourse surrounding these delectable treats. Through my training and experience working as a baker for 5 years, I have made plenty of pies for customers, friends, and even just myself. Since both pies are custard-based pies, utilizing similar ingredients, and held together by a wonderful flaky butter-only crust, the process of making the two pies are fairly similar for me.  However, after moving abroad to Germany, my love for making these two pies has wavered due to the products available at the markets. The sweet potatoes are incredibly expensive since they are mostly imported from the United States, which is not conducive to a limited student budget. The pumpkins they sell here are not the kind that I am used to working with and only available during the fall season, as canned pumpkin is not as commonplace here. Lastly, it is really difficult to find ingredients like dark brown sugar (regular brown sugar is not dark brown sugar) and molasses. Ingredients that were once so commonplace for me, with such a rich and complex history are out of reach for me abroad. Regardless of these limitations, I at least want to share my knowledge of how to make an excellent pie crust recipe that you can use to make any pie you could imagine – sweet or savory, that will garner you all the compliments at your next family, friend, or workplace gathering. *Sweet potato and pumpkin pie filling recipe not included*