"The Rise of the Pies" may sounds like the cheesy title of a kitchen-based horror flick, for sure. But we choose to think of it as an actual event that happens each and every year around the very end of August and beginning of September.
Why then? That's when all of the foodie magazines start to show up with vaguely fall themes, and almost each of theme bears a photo of a round tart with a crisscross crust. Pie=automatic autumn.
Hence, the rise of the pies.
KCRW knows that this is the pie's yearly sweet spot, and thus always times its annual pie competition right around the first semi-chilly mornings of early September. The Good Food Pie Contest, which turns 5 this year, has a delicious date: Saturday, Sept. 7.
It will once again be at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and once again it will feature multiple categories. Those include Nut Pie, Fruit Pie, Cream/Chiffon/Mousse Pie, Savory Pie, Vegan Pie, Kids Pie (for bakers under 12), and, yep, a pie that is inspired by a work of LACMA-based art.
Levitated Mass, get ready for your meringue, pie-top cameo. We could also see a bright lemon tart paying homage to the bright glow of a James Turrell light room. Thoughts? No? Are we stretching?
Some 285 pies -- that deserves a few exclamation points, so !!!! -- were entered in 2012. Grateful tasters showed up at the museum to snack on samples. And, fun fact: Kids and Vegan are the two debut categories for 2013.
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You've got time to plot: Sept. 1 is the closing date for baker sign-ups. And you can enter a pie in all seven categories, but not two pies per category. Food writers and chefs and culinary people will be at the judging table, so bring some whimsy, some flair, some humor, and above all some tastiness to your sugar-sweet (or savory-strong) entry.
And we'd advise you to think beyond apple and cherry, but, really. Can those two classics ever be knocked, messily, from their throne? A throne that is probably shaped like a windowsill, since that's the usual place pies are still depicted in pop culture, even today?
Apple and cherry, we'll never turn our back, nor our forks or paper plates, on you.
