As American As Apple Pie

Those who savored a piece of apple pie for dessert this Christmas may have some understanding of the answer American soldiers’ shipping out in World War II gave journalists who asked why the young men were willing to fight in the war. With all the bravado of youth, their typical reply was, “for mom and apple pie.” It wasn’t much of a leap from there to the declaration that X, Y or Z was “as American as apple pie.”

But the funny thing is, apple pie is not American.

Apples are not native to North America. Apple trees were not cultivated on the continent until 1625. Which means there was no apple...