Love them or loathe them its National Pie Week, so why not get pie eyed over the next 7 days and nights on a cracking bit of crust! 

As a rule of 'crumb', stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie! 

Swap humble pie for a nice slice of 'Steak & Kidney' as a romantic offering.  What could be more of a turn on than a pie-themed date night to celebrate?

Put the gym on hold and swap the Pilates for pie & lattes

Get all the family involved in cooking one each night. 

With so many varieties of pies you just need to decide what kind of a pie lover you are.  Is it savoury or a dessert, a crumble top or a pasty or even a pizza pie?   

On your marks, set and go for a whole week of making and trying them.

Top 10 Best Loved Pies: -

1: Cottage Pie

2: Fish Pie

3: Shepherd’s Pie

4: Chicken & Leek Pie

5: Chicken and Mushroom Pie

6: Steak and Ale Pie

7: Meat and Potato Pie

8: Pork Pie

9. Apple Pie

10. Banoffee Pie

As you tuck into your favourite here are some interesting pie facts to savour:  

Technically, everything used to be a pie.  The very first delicacy, reminiscent of the shape and content of a modern pie, was made in ancient Egypt. The personal bakers of the pharaohs baked fruit, nuts and honey in the usual dough, giving them a primitive form of the contemporary bakery of this type.

Confirmation of this is engraved on the walls of the drawings in the tomb of Ramses II. The Greeks baked meat in a thin layer of dough, prepared from ordinary water and flour, so that the meat was juicy and had a rich taste. This dish looked very much like a pie.

Originally, the pie's pastry shell was designed to be used as a baking dish, storage container, and a way to serve the filling. Romans would use meats, oysters, mussels and fish as the filling and a mixture of flour, oil and water to keep it all in place. The pastry was often tough and inedible and designed to be thrown away or given to the servants while the rich ate the contents.

In 16th century England came the “surprise pies” where live animals would jump out when the pie was cut open and were strangely popular among the upper class.  All kinds of creatures could be placed inside the pies, including frogs, squirrels, foxes and, as one nursery rhyme says, ‘four-and-twenty blackbirds’. Some records even suggest at a dinner attended by Charles I, a huge pie was placed on the table and when the crust was removed, a dwarf jumped out.

In 1644, Oliver Cromwell banned pie as he decided it was a “pagan form of pleasure”. It wasn’t a complete and utter ban on pies just on Christmas celebrations and foods associated with the “pagan” holiday, such as mince pies, turkey, and Christmas ale.  The ban was eventually lifted in 1660.

A very strange British tradition is every jubilee or coronation the people of Gloucester send a pie to the Royal household made from lampreys,which are locally sourced eel-like fish.  This odd tradition dates back to the Middle Ages, when lamprey was considered a treat. It used to be so popular, King Henry I was rumoured to have died of food poisoning in 1135, thanks to his eating "a surfeit of lampreys". Even Samuel Pepys mentioned them in his diaries, calling them a favourite of "medieval epicures".

The earliest known reference to the slapstick art of slapping a custard pie in someone’s face was in 1915.  This was first call ‘Pieing’ in 1975.

In Scotland to pie someone is to completely reject or ignore a person or attempt at communication, normally deliberately. Or to not attend an event or place, normally deliberately.

2 of Shakespears 74 scripted deaths throughout his 38 plays included being baked into a pie.  And whilst on fictional characters who couldn’t help to remember  the infamous tale of Sweeny Todd and Mrs Lovett, the murderous duo who baked their victims in pies and then sold them.

The history of pies and football can be traced back over a century with various recorded incidents surrounding the humble pie appearing at some of the earliest matches.  The notorious chant “who ate all the pies?” is said to have been inspired by William Foulke, a 20 stone Sheffield goalie whose own fans used to sing the tune him due to his enormous size.  It is custom to purchase a pie to keep your hands warm during a game

So strong is the connection between pies and football that only ten years ago a man travelled the country vowing to eat a pie in every UK football stadium. He succeeded by eating a whopping 92 pies and even penned a book about his experiences entitled . . . wait for it . . . “92 Pies”.

The Guinness World Record for the most expensive meat pie ever sold goes to the Fence Gate Inn in Lancashire which sold its pie for £8195 - or £1024 a slice - to eight guests on November 14, 2005.  It was made from £500 worth of Japanese wagyu beef fillet, Chinese matsutake mushrooms (so precious, they are harvested under guard), Winter Black truffles, French Bluefoot mushrooms (sold at £200 for 1kg), gravy made from two bottles of vintage 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine and topped with edible gold leaf.

Go on have a slice!  May the pies be with you! 🤒