American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America's Back Roads

“A rich, satisfying account of one woman’s cross-country search for the age-old dessert.” — Entertainment Weekly

An engaging and quirky travelogue, cultural and personal excursion, and adventure-cookbook that brings back from the highways and back roads a homemade slice of America

Crossing class and color lines, and spanning the nation (Montana has its huckleberry, Pennsylvania its shoofly, and Mississippi its sweet potato), pie—real, homemade pie—has meaning for all of us. But in today's treadmill, take-out world—our fast-food nation—does pie still have a place?

As she traveled across the United States in an old Volvo named Betty, Pascale Le Draoulec discovered how merely mentioning homemade pie to strangers made faces soften, shoulders relax, and memories come wafting back. Rambling from town to town with Le Draoulec, you'll meet the famous, and sometimes infamous, pie makers who share their stories and recipes, and find out how a quest for pie can lead to something else entirely.

You know you're going on a quest for pie, but you may find something else entirely. Be prepared.

These were the prophetic words uttered to Pascale Le Draoulec as she began her cross-country journey. When offered a job in New York, she chose to drive rather than fly into her new life. As a food writer, she decided to turn an ordinary move into a culinary quest. She chose pie as her grail and guide, because, after all, what's more American than pie?

Crossing class and color lines, and spanning the nation (from Montana Huckleberry to Pennsylvania Shoo-Fly), pie -- real, homemade pie -- has meaning for all of us. But in today's treadmill take-out world, our fast-food nation, does pie still have a place? As a first-generation American raised by two quintessentially French parents, Le Draoulec knew much more about tartes than pies, but as she made her way across the United States, she discovered that mentioning homemade pie to anyone made faces soften, shoulders sigh, and memories come wafting back; that everyone she met had a fond memory of pie.

Le Draoulec and Betty the Volvo (her trusty automotive sidekick) meandered from town to town, meeting the famous and sometimes infamous pie makers in each place, like the little old ladies of Wasta, South Dakota (pop. 70), who had been baking pies from scratch to serve, and sell, on Election Day. They found themselves going head to head with state officials when South Dakota outlawed the sale of food at elections.

Le Draoulec's story, based on her adventure serialized in the Gannett newspapers, will entertain and move readers as she seeks to answer the question of the place of pie in today's world.

“Le Draoulec’s conclusions about pie and its place in her life are, like a good slice of apple, sweet without being cloying and tart without being bitter.” - Publishers Weekly

“Like a good slice of apple, sweet without being cloying and tart without being bitter.” - Publishers Weekly

“[American Pie] will move pie enthusiasts to dust off their rolling pins and get busy.” - Chicago Tribune

“As satisfying as a slice of homemade pie, Le Draoulec’s cross-country journeys in search of “the real stuff” are an armchair traveler’s heaven. Le Draoulec is an enthusiastic tour guide with a quirky sense of humor and a personal life as unpredictable as piecrust. American Pie takes the reader into the heart and soul of a fading icon and inspires us to get out the rolling pin and take to the road.” - Library Journal (starred review)

“As satisfying as a slice of homemade pie...an armchair traveler’s heaven.” - Library Journal (starred review)

“American Pie is to be savored, slice by slice, chapter by chapter.” - San Diego Union-Tribune

“A rich, satisfying account of one woman’s cross-country search for the age-old dessert.” - Entertainment Weekly

“Le Draoulec has an instinct for where the most interesting story might lie...as this book charmingly demonstrates.” - Washington Post Book World