An easy conversation starter for your Thanksgiving table!
When you place a pumpkin pie on your Thanksgiving table, you’re doing far more than setting out a dessert; you’re carrying on a tradition that’s been shaped, stirred, baked, and reinvented over hundreds of years. Pumpkin pie didn’t just appear one day in all its custardy, cinnamon-laced glory. Oh, no. It traveled a long (and very delicious) journey to get here.
So pour yourself a cup of coffee, slip into something cozy, and let’s take a little trip back in time. This might just become your favorite Thanksgiving conversation starter.
Pumpkin in the New World: The Colonial Beginning
Pumpkins were one of the very first foods the Indigenous peoples introduced to European settlers. While colonists were trying to grow European crops that didn’t thrive in the unfamiliar soil, the Wampanoag and other native communities were already cultivating pumpkins and using them in all sorts of clever ways: roasted over fire, boiled into stews, dried into strips, even ground into flour.
The settlers needed pumpkins, and pumpkins were plentiful. But here’s the twist: early colonial pumpkin dishes looked nothing like the smooth, spiced pie we know today.
There were no pie plates, no refined sugar, and certainly no ready-made crusts from the grocery store. Instead, colonists made what we would call “make-do” desserts.
And yes, pumpkin pie started its life inside the pumpkin.
The Original “Pie” Was a Pumpkin Pot
Picture this: a whole pumpkin with its top sliced off like a jack-o'-lantern, seeds scooped out, and the inside filled with milk, honey, spices (if you were lucky), and sometimes apples or nuts. The top went back on, and the pumpkin was set close to the fire or buried in hot embers to roast until the inside turned into a lightly sweet custard.
Colonists didn’t think of it as “pie,” but this was the earliest recorded version of what would eventually become the dessert we serve today.
If you want to impress your Thanksgiving guests, try this line:
“Did you know pumpkin pie used to be baked inside the pumpkin? No crust at all!”
Guaranteed to get a few raised eyebrows.
The English Influence: Enter the Pie Crust
Back in England, pies were already beloved. Meat pies, fruit pies, pastry crusts, they had the baking tradition figured out. When colonists gained access to wheat flour and more refined sugar, they started making sturdier pie crusts and sweeter fillings.
But those early pumpkin pies? They were more like a savory squash casserole poured into a crust. Think pumpkin mixed with diced apples, raisins, molasses, and lots of black pepper.
Yes. Black pepper.
Pumpkin “pie” was still a long way from dessert.
Still, the crust gave pumpkin dishes new form—and slowly, pumpkin pie became an annual winter staple.
The 19th Century: Pumpkin Pie Gets a Makeover
The real change came in the early 1800s, when pumpkin pie recipes began appearing in American cookbooks in the form we recognize today: mashed pumpkin blended with eggs, cream, and warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.
One of the most influential books, “American Cookery” (1796) by Amelia Simmons, included two pumpkin pudding recipes baked in crust and very close to the pies we serve at Thanksgiving.
Over the next few decades:
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Custard-style fillings became the standard
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Sugar was more accessible
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Spices grew more common in American kitchens
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Ovens became more reliable
Pumpkin pie evolved from rustic necessity to a seasonal favorite.
By the late 1800s, pumpkin pie was officially linked to Thanksgiving celebrations across the country.
The Modern Pumpkin Pie Tradition
Today, pumpkin pie is iconic. It sits proudly at the center of dessert tables, topped with whipped cream, next to the leftover turkey sandwiches and mashed potatoes we promised we wouldn’t eat again… but always do.
While modern pumpkin pie is easier than ever, thanks to canned pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk, and ready-made crusts, the spirit of the pie remains beautifully old-fashioned. It’s warm. It’s comforting. It tastes like home.
And every slice carries a whisper of the past:
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A nod to Indigenous farmers
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A reminder of colonial ingenuity
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A taste of 19th-century kitchen traditions
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And the cozy comfort of modern celebrations
A Fun Thanksgiving Conversation Starter
If you want to share a fun fact at your holiday table, try this:
“Pumpkin pie didn’t become a national Thanksgiving tradition until the 1800s—before that, people baked pumpkin inside the pumpkin!”
It’s a charming, surprising tidbit that adds just the right amount of warmth and history to your holiday meal.
Final Slice
So this Thanksgiving, when you lift your forkful of silky, spiced pumpkin goodness… think of the hands, kitchens, and stories that brought it to your plate.
And then enjoy every single bite.
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