# The English are not an inventive people, they do not eat enough pie.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 23, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697 "2003-06-23T04:21:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/1 "2003-06-23T04:21:23Z")
I saw this in a collection of quotes from Thomas Edison. Now while it is undeniably true, is there some special explanation behind this quote? Or did ol’ Tom just spout it off at random during his later years?
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### Author:  [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/2 "2003-06-23T12:46:27Z")
this is a hideous slur on me and my countrymen.
We eat lots of pie!!
🙂
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/3 "2003-06-23T12:54:37Z")
Yes Bakhesh, I was going to say, how much pie is enough pie then?
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### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/4 "2003-06-23T12:57:59Z")
Are we talking fruit pies or meat pies here?? I certainly hold up my end when it comes to the ‘English eating meat pies’ statistics 😃
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### Author:  [@Planet\_of\_the\_Shapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Planet_of_the_Shapes)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/5 "2003-06-23T12:58:20Z")
Who ate all the pies?
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### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/6 "2003-06-23T12:58:44Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Bakhesh \*
> \*\*this is a hideous slur on me and my countrymen.
>
> We eat lots of pie!!
> 🙂 \*\*
Yes, but your pies are filled with nasty things like pork and kidneys and shepherds. All things that should not be in pie. Hence, they do not count.
American pies are filled with peaches and apples and strawberries and limes and blueberries and boysenberries and pumpkins and sweet potatoes and pecans and cherries and other delicious fillings. Those are proper pies and the English do not eat enough of it.
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### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/7 "2003-06-23T13:01:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Neurotik \*
> \*\*Yes, but your pies are filled with nasty things like pork and kidneys and shepherds. All things that should not be in pie. Hence, they do not count.
> \*\*
**Neurotik** you ain’t lived until you’ve seen off an innards pie or two. We’re talking CMOT Dibbler standard here. 😉
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### Author:  [@Xerxes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xerxes)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/8 "2003-06-23T13:04:15Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Yes, but your pies are filled with nasty things like pork …
Until you’ve tasted a fresh Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, I can honestly say your life is incomplete.
Not that I mind your Lime pie (is it called ‘Key Lime Pie’? Or am I confusing that with something else?). And your pecans are scrummy, I’ll admit …
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### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/9 "2003-06-23T13:06:08Z")
Nah, key lime pies are the same thing. I just didn’t feel like making the distinction.
I’ve had pork pie while in England (don’t know if it was Melton Mowbray) and it was quite good, it still wasn’t a proper pie.
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### Author:  [@spanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spanna)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/10 "2003-06-23T13:13:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Neurotik you ain’t lived until you’ve seen off an innards pie or two. We’re talking CMOT Dibbler standard here.
shudder just thinking about it
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### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/11 "2003-06-23T13:14:48Z")
Oops, I didn’t mean to suggest that a Key lime is the same thing as a normal, Persian lime. It isn’t. I just meant that’s what I was talking about.
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### Author:  [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/12 "2003-06-23T13:18:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Neurotik \*
> \*\*Yes, but your pies are filled with nasty things like pork and kidneys and shepherds. All things that should not be in pie. Hence, they do not count.
>
> American pies are filled with peaches and apples and strawberries and limes and blueberries and boysenberries and pumpkins and sweet potatoes and pecans and cherries and other delicious fillings. Those are proper pies and the English do not eat enough of it. \*\*
Ah, the _no true Scotsman_ argument raised its head yet again.
You’ll be telling me next that haggis isn’t a pie, and that the Scots aren’t English.
Clearly, given that we invented _everything_ (including pie), **TE** had been on the bottle.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/13 "2003-06-23T13:21:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Neurotik \*
> Yes, but your pies are filled with nasty things like pork and kidneys and shepherds. All things that should not be in pie. Hence, they do not count.
Shepherd’s pie, (note that that’s a posessive, not a plural) is one of the most perfect foods ever created. Right up there with peanut butter sandwiches.
But whoever invented kidney pie needs to be drawn and quartered.
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### Author:  [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/14 "2003-06-23T13:22:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Great Unwashed \*
> \*\*Ah, the _no true Scotsman_ argument raised its head yet again.
>
> You’ll be telling me next that haggis isn’t a pie, and that the Scots aren’t English.
> Clearly, given that we invented _everything_ (including pie), **TE** had been on the bottle. \*\*
I disagree.
Scots are most definitely English.
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### Author:  [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/15 "2003-06-23T13:23:01Z")
Steak and kidny pie, if you just had kidney pie it would be vile, but you need offal to make a truly good pie.
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### Author:  [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/16 "2003-06-23T13:24:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MC Master of Ceremonies \*
> \*\*Steak and kidny pie, if you just had kidney pie it would be vile, but you need offal to make a truly good pie. \*\*
Seconded!
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### Author:  [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/17 "2003-06-23T13:34:36Z")
‘The Maids of Honour’ in Kew…best steak and kidney pie ever made. And to me steak and kidney is the definitive pie. Boysenberries? Ha! I scoff at your lack of savoury filling…
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### Author:  [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/18 "2003-06-23T13:35:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by friedo \*
> \*\*But whoever invented kidney pie needs to be drawn and quartered. \*\*
How do you think they make them?
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### Author:  [@bifar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bifar)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/19 "2003-06-23T13:37:02Z")
Watch it, you. Any mention of “kidney pie” veers horribly towards UK-food Godwinism, or as I like to call it, Bifar’s Law.
Anyway, we have fruit pies. Nothing like a nice apple and blackberry with cream. Or apple. Or gooseberry. Mmmm.
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### Author:  [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-english-are-not-an-inventive-people-they-do-not-eat-enough-pie/183697/20 "2003-06-23T13:50:59Z")
What is it with Americans and their inability to remember the **Steak and** part of Steak and Kidney Pie?!
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