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Sweet potato pie is another favorite of the southern United States. The sweet potato, a cousin of the yam, is an orange tuber with a sticky sweet juice. When cooked, it is usually mixed with butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, and marshmallows to form the pie.
Pies start with a bird called the magpie. The magpie, also called a pie, steals things like sticks, string, and chicken feathers to put in its nest. Anything it could find, it stole.
Long ago, people would do the same thing with leftover food, so they wouldn't waste anything. They took all their leftovers and put them in a pastry crust to eat later. The people decided that their leftover food looked like a magpie's nest, so they called that dish a pie.
Sweet Potato Pie didn't become a familiar dish until African people were brought as slaves to America. They were given little variety in the food they could eat, but sweet potatoes were allowed. Mixing American-European and African tradition, they cooked the potatoes into a pie. Since the growth of African-American culture, sweet potato pie has become a staple of many family gatherings and holidays, especially in the South.
While most sweet potato pie recipies are a matter of family tradition, it is commonly agreed that they all include sweet potatoes, pie crust, sugar (or brown sugar), and milk. After that, it is left up to the cook.
Sweet potatoes are vegetables, and milk belongs in the dairy group, but the pie is usually placed in the fats and sweets group. This is mostly because it is a sweet dessert.
There as many variations on this food as there are families that eat it.
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