Gord, I think you're really, really reaching for it here. A bad case
of grad-schoolitis, maybe? :-) Or maybe just mistaking the silliness of
a sentimental gesture (mock apple pie) for the irony of a
counterproductive clinging to tradition (such as insisting that an
institution like the electoral college is important for democracy, when in
fact it actually impedes democracy)?
It's true that apple pie is a symbol of hearth and home for USA'uns, and
we cling to it as such. But the use of mock apple pie isn't a matter of
people being deluded about the nature of their symbols; quite the
opposite, it means that people understand the symbolic nature of something
like an apple pie and are willing to put up with a lesser substitute in
order to participate in a ritual, of sorts, that confirms identity. The
uses of the mock apple pie that you are citing, in pioneer days or during
shortages in WW2 or the Depression, aren't instances of people being
tricked into indulging in a fake. Rather, they are making do with the
best they can afford under hard circumstances. There is no irony in these
gestures, simply the assertion of a will to survive and prevail and to
not let the bastards of fate grind you down.
I'll grant there's a natural irony in the human condition, that we place
importance in symbols that often trumps the importance we place in facts,
but the mock apple pie case isn't a very good example of that irony
because it's a *knowing* manipulation of the power of a symbol. More
ironic is the value we place on the electoral college as an institution of
democracy, when in fact it was created to keep things from getting
excessively democratic....
Or perhaps a better irony of life in the US is that the more urbanized we
get, the more we mythologize our "pioneerness" in order to reassure
ourselves of our rugged heritage. Hence we see all these advertisements
for SUV's running wild in the wilderness, when in fact SUV's are used
almost exclusively to ferry kids to and from schools in urban and
suburban settings, and their tires almost never touch anything but
pavement, and they just crowd and pollute the wilderness we supposedly
revere.
That sort of thing.
On the other hand: it's also true that in the last hundred years or so
apples in the US have tended to become homogenized and bland thanks to the
techniques of mass agriculture; where there used to be hundreds of
regional varieties, each with a unique taste, now supermakets tend to
carry only a couple of varieties that are pretty much standardized from
east coast to west; and the flavors of these varieties have become muted
because of the emphasis on size, not taste, as the indicator of value.
If the ability of a mock apple pie to fool people's tastebuds is a
consequence of the drop in quality of apples, which are a symbol of
national identity, and if those mock pies are used to assert national
identity, then THERE is some good irony for ya. :-) But if mock apple
pies were good imitations even back in the mid-19th century, then maybe
it's just because people are clever with recipes when they want to be.
On Mon, 4 Dec 2000, Gord Sellar wrote:
> At 10:36 AM -0400 04/12/2000, Marvin Long, Jr. wrote:
> >I'm afraid I don't see the weirdness---it seems to me that this was a
> >recipe invented as a way to cope with poverty and/or produce shortage,
> >kind of the way coffee used to be spiked with chicory when it was scarce
> >or when the economy was depressed in a region (or when coffee sellers
> >wanted to gouge customers).
>
> Quit talking about the Sellars that way. We are good folk. Really. ;p
>
> >I can understand serving it as an April Fool's joke, but I think you're
> >finding a political subtext that escapes me....
>
> Oh. Well, it's kind of the fact that one of those things that is seen as
> emblematic of nationality in the USA (isn't the saying something like Mom
> and Apple Pie? something like that) having to be produced synthetically for
> the War Effort -- and actually, even as part of the pioneer effort, though
> it wasn't "Ritz" crackers specifically back then. I would be equally amused
> if they produced synthetic Maple Syrup in Quebec during the Separation
> Wars. *evil grin* The thing that makes us what we are is not what we think
> is the thing that makes us what we are, is the ironic subtext. It's more
> about the idea of apple pie than apple pie. And it is on those grounds
> that, even when something is not healthy or working, people will accept it
> on the grounds of it being tradition. This heightens the irony because
what
> is apparent to me is the possibility that someone could be fooled by such a
> trick into thinking they are consuming something wholesome and wonderful
> and good for them and expressive of positive intentions (and it is made
> with such intentions), like an apple pie made with real apples, when it's
> mainly just baked animal fat with a little flour in it, with (of course)
> sugar added to fool you via the easiest route: sweetness on the tongue. Ha,
> I suppose the degree of irony you see in *that* depends on your view of the
> North American economic and "cultural" status quo of today.
>
> Also, I just wanna make one of those pies and see if it really does fool
> people, and so I get giddy just discussing it. :)
> Gord
>
>
>
Marvin Long
Austin, Texas
