On another discussion board a fellow member used this expression to say that someone is truly American. I was a bit astonished. Why do Americans have the monopoly of this delicious cake?
Tell me, do you have apple pies in Brazil, Japan, Argentina, Russia, South Africa, China, any Arabic country and so on?
John Chapman, a.k.a., Johnny Appleseed was actually born an Englishman in the American Colonies in 1774. Our revolution didn't start until 1776.
He is buried here in Indiana, where I live.
Another phrase is "As American as baseball, apple pie, motherhood, and Chevrolet." Now, about your question on why we have the monopoly on "As American as apple pie." We do this sort of thing to agitate the Brits { and anyone else who is not an American who loves apple pie }. America was founded in order to make all other nations mad. We love to imagine you guys getting red-faced and yelling at our hubris and arrogance. It seems to be working.
Disclaimer: The preceding comments are merely sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek ramblings.
It's not unusual for quintessential national dishes to have been borrowed from other cultures.
British fish and chips, for example. They didn't originate in Britain at all - we got the chips ( "frites") from the Belgians and the battered cod from Portuguese Sephardi immigrants.
And what could be more Italian than pasta? It's been an essential part of Italian cuisine ever since Marco Polo stole the idea of noodles from the Chinese.
And as for pizza...well, the Americans have certainly made that their own, haven't they? Pepperoni, bacon, pineapple : all sorts of toppings! Oops, I seem to have strayed into the wrong discussion there. Are we still allowed to talk about pizza toppings?
Of course! We have delicious apple pies in Japan :)
However American home-baked pies are the best!
My favorites are pecan pie, peach pie, mix berry pie, pumpkin pie and ......ah I love everything!
I used to live there and tried to be a pie master, that's how much I love American pies :D
