Apple pie has long been a symbol of American life, closely tied to the idea of motherhood.

The writer recalls baking pies with his family, where his mother guarded her grandmother’s secret recipe.

When his girlfriend joined them for the first time, his mother said she would now have to marry him, which she did.

The pie’s American identity was claimed even though it did not come from the United States.

Colonists brought apples over, and Johnny Appleseed spread them widely.

Reports from the last century often used “mom and apple pie” as a short way to describe beloved Americana.

Soldiers in both world wars missed apple pie, and one Texas mother sent one to Nikita Khrushchev in New York, causing a bomb scare.

In the 1960s, McDonald’s introduced a fried apple pie, which the writer studied in a postwar American history class.

For an assignment on symbols of America, he submitted a photo of a bald eagle, but his teacher was not impressed.

Two other students presented a McDonald’s pie as a symbol of corporations replacing home cooking.

The teacher kept that pie on his blackboard for years, and it looked fresh when he later checked it.

The writer says that mass-produced pie marked a change in how he saw America, with its strains and conflicts.

McDonald’s has brought back the fried pie for the nation’s 250th anniversary.

Still, the writer prefers a homemade version, though he will not share the secret recipe.