Can one slice of pie hold the key to everything that's good and bad in America? In fact, can a homemade slice of pie still be found in our fast-paced world? Restaurant critic Pascale Le Draoulec set out on a journey to answer these questions and discovered some of the tastiest slices of American life along the way.

Among her many discoveries, Le Draoulec finds that true American pie is a dying art. In our busy lives there is little time for making real pie. And the farther we, as a collective, move from homemade pie baking, the more intimidating the process becomes to novice bakers. Many Americans have learned to settle for less and believe that real pie crusts and pies can be found in the freezer cases of our supermarket chains. Sadly, it's only along the sleepy back roads or in out of the way restaurants that genuine pie can be found. 

Pie is as unique as the region in which it's made. It reflects the patchwork landscape of America...olallieberry pie in Pescadero, California...cherry pie in Michigan...sweet potato pie in New Orleans... Le Draoulec's hunt for pie led her to discover the unique personalities of many American small towns as expressed through the delicious slices of pie and bakers she sampled along the way. As she and her travel buddies ate their way across America, they acquired a tasty collection of experiences for this memoir.

As the proverbial princess had to kiss many frogs to find her prince, so did Le Draoulec need to sample many dumpster pies (her term for pies deserving a direct trip to the trash) before she found the pies that we hold dear in our collective memories. She found pies that make one sigh with comfort in the recipe boxes of the elderly and their descendants. Among the bakers who chucked fast-paced city life for small towns she found slices of pie that transported her back to simpler times. And in the pies baked by hands that sought to comfort their own troubled hearts, she found comfort and answers to her own personal quandaries.

One can only hope that the art of pie survives the onslaught of our modern lifestyle. Le Draoulec's book serves as a warning that it would be a shame to lose the simple culinary traditions of America that brought comfort to past generations and which, assuredly, our future will also need.