On this first and coldest day of the season, I decided to enjoy the classic American breakfast combination of Apple Pie and Coffee.
There is a back story to this. When our family migrated from Cuba and I did not speak English, and neither did my parents. They taught me two phrases. ‘ I know nothing about politics’ and ‘ Apple Pie and Coffee’. Those were the first words I memorized learned how to say.
Apple pie is associated with all things American, like baseball, the Statue of Liberty, and Uncle Sam. And somewhere along the way, it also emerged as a symbol of American pride and prosperity. USA 🇺🇸 soldiers might have helped grow the myth during World War II. When asked why they were going to war, the stock answer they reportedly gave was, “For mom and apple pie,” which later morphed into the American expression, “As American as motherhood and apple pie”.
Years later, growing up in our home, no holiday meal was complete without an apple pie. The delicious fruit-filled pastry, so to this day it still has a very special meaning that my older brother Antonio and Jorge shared decades ago.
Some folks would argue that apple pie hails from Europe across the pond. The first recorded apple pie recipe was written in England in 1381 and may have included also figs, raisins, pears, and saffron. By the way, my dad used to enjoy singing, I'm just wild about saffron... They call me mellow yellow, a tune recorded by Donovan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQG0gWyTup8
When the colonists arrived in North America, they found crab trees, so apple seeds had to be brought from England to be planted. A man named John Chapman, who later became known in American folklore as Johnny Appleseed, helped accelerate the spread of apples across America by planting extensive orchards.
As it turns out, these many years later since becoming a citizen of the #USA I still have no political affiliation. However, I was recruited by The Whitehouse and served as a GM-15/10 for USIA-TV.
So here is to my late Mother Margarita and Father Antonio, whose wedding anniversary they are now celebrating in heaven. In the meantime, I will celebrate down here with apple pie and my favorite morning drink... CAFE.