A special pie for a cartoon milestone

Oscar Wilde once opined that life imitates art much more than art imitates life. But sometimes the latter does happen, as in the case with a recent episode of The Simpsons, the long-running cartoon. In the record-breaking 636th episode, we learn more about Homer Simpson’s backstory, which involves a special apple pie recipe. 

The cartoon flashes back to Homer’s childhood, where he bonded with his mother, Mona, over baking. We even get to see a brief flash of Mona’s famous apple pie recipe, handwritten onto a card. Homer cherished his mother’s recipes, but we discover that the prized recipe box in which they were housed was tossed off a cliff by Homer’s father, who was enraged when Mona left him. To make matters worse, Homer’s father lied to his son about what happened to the recipe cards, setting the boy up for a lifetime of disappointment and abandonment issues. 

Alhough the story is fiction, the apple pie recipe is real, and belongs to chef, author, radio host, and restaurateur Evan Kleiman. In addition to hosting the radio show ‘Good Food’ on NPR affiliate KCRW, she also organizes an annual pie contest. Kleiman tweeted that having the recipe included in the episode “might be the coolest thing I’ve ever been able to do.” You can find more information about the episode, along with Kleiman’s apple pie recipe, on indiewire.