I recently heard from a friend who’s Canadian that apple pie was actually invented in Canada! Is this true, and if so how can anything really be as American as apple pie…?
Apple pies were being made in England before the Americas were colonised.
The only hard reference I can find quickly is from the English food writer Jane Grigson, who lists a recipe from 1618 but I’m sure there were earlier ones.
Here’s a news article from the Arizona Republic. Although not indigenous to North America, America quickly became the world’s largest producer of apples and popularized the apple pie.
I’m not surprised the Canadians are trying to take credit. “As American as apple pie” has a certain ring to it, while the best nationalistic phrase anyone can think of for Canada is, “As Canadian as possible under the circumstances.” 
According to my German Grandmother, the apple pie you typically run across these days is a variation of a German pastery (with a name that escapes me) brought over to the Pennsylvania colonies by dutch settlers. The difference bieng that the older version lacked cinnamon, was sweetened with honey or mollasas and some lemon in it to make it a little tart (“make it a little tart”. I wonder if Gramma was pulling my leg!?).
Gramma made the Old World version, and it was pretty good!
Has anyone had the no apple apple pie? the recipe is below (from here).
We made it in high school, you could barely tell the difference by taste alone.
<Hysterical laughter>
Apples pies have been around for a really long time. There are apple pie recipes in a number of medieval and renaissance cookbooks.
The German cookbook Daz Buoch von Guoter Spise written about 1350 (there’s an English translation here, http://cs-people.bu.edu/akatlas/Buch/buch.html) has a grape and apple pie that’s really good, as well as an apple and nut pie recipe.
For the English, there’s an apple pie recipe (with figs, IIRC) in * Curye on Inglysch: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth Century (Including the Forme of Cury)*. There’s a modern version available, search Amazon.com for the editor, Constance Hieatt. Or, check out an online version at http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/foc/
Thank you everyone for your help on the issue, I will now tell the Canadian fellow on my desk that he’s wrong. I appreciate your help in proving this.