The Great Debate

One of the first things one can notice when living in New York is the preponderance of food fads. I think asian noodles were a fad a while ago. Now it's Vietnamese sandwiches, though this may be well-deserved.

One fad with some staying power, though, has been cupcakes. Every patisserie and over-priced bakery have a ridiculous, unnecessarily large selection. Cupcakes are good, I admit. As is non-cupped cake. But what about pie??

Pie may be the most versatile of all foods. Delicious breakfast pie? Quiche. Want one for lunch or dinner? Meat pie. And, obviously, the myriad of sweet and/or creamy things you can put in a dessert pie are limitless and only made better with ice or whipped cream.

exhibit (a): proving my point

But cake? Pshh. Cupcakes remain the gourmet asshole's favorite treat. How else is one supposed to treat one's self when they have a night alone at their Gramercy Park mansion? And whenever there's a fancy event, be it corporate or personal, people feel forced to choose cake. Poor form.

I bet if you asked someone if they'd rather have cake or pie at a graduation or company holiday party, they'd choose pie. Cake always suffers from the too-much-icing issue. Pie crust only suffers from the I-could-always-have-more-of-it issue. Think of it this way: what would you rather compete in, a cake-eating contest or a pie-eating contest? That's like asking someone if they'd rather watch Pay It Forward instead of Terminator 2.

Pie's one "drawback" is its size. Pie is really and truly best served in the standard pie size. Small pies, though adorable, are awkward to eat (do I use a fork? my hands?) and large pies are only good for breaking records. But can't we move past this discrimination? Martin Luther King, Jr. did.

exhibit (b): no amount of icing can hide or save this shitshow

If we all like pie, it seems only logical that we act to give it the place in the national consciousness/plate that it deserves. In an age where Joe the Plumber can become a celebrity, surely giving pie a little social boost can't hurt. Let's leave cake for the Bernie Madoffs of the world and start baking a better world.