Where Did the Idea for Pie Come from?餡餅的創意從何而來？

Have you ever heard the saying “Easy as pie”？ It means that something isvery simple. But that might make you wonder， what is easy about pie？ Well， manypeople think pie is easy to eat.

Pie is a baked1 food with a crust2. Sometimes the crust is on the bottom3， butin other pies， it is on top. Some pies even have a crust on the top and bottom.

The ancient4 Egyptians， Greeks， and Romans all had their own types of pies.They made the first pies as containers5 for holding and cooking meats and otherfood. The pie crust could be a dish. These first pie crusts were thick and hard.Often people ate the food in the pie but not the hard crust.

The crust also kept the food fresh6. When kept cool， the crust kept the meatcooked inside. The meat could be eaten later. Pies also made it easier to keep thecooked food.

As empires7 grew larger， people carried pies to other parts of the world， suchas Latin America， Central and Southeast Asia， and the Philippines. Cooks came upwith new types of pies with different ingredients. In Britain， cooks made Shepherd’sPie. Rather than8 pastry9， it has a potato crust on top. Settlers10 in Americabegan making pies with fruits， like apples， that grew in their new home.

With so many pies， you may think of delicious pies that you have eaten. Whatkinds of pie would you like to try next？ Maybe you can visit a local restaurant withyour family to see what kinds of pie there are.

你聽過“像餡餅一樣簡單（易如反掌）”這句話嗎？意思是某件事很簡單。但這可能會讓你疑惑，餡餅哪里簡單了？嗯，許多人倒是認為餡餅吃起來很方便。

餡餅是一種帶皮的烘烤食品。有時餅皮在底部，但在其他餡餅中，餅皮在頂部。有些餡餅甚至在頂部和底部都有一層皮。

古埃及人、希臘人和羅馬人都有各自的餡餅。他們把最初的餡餅做成盛放和烹飪肉類和其他食物的容器。餡餅皮可以當作一個盤子。早期的餡餅皮又厚又硬。人們經常吃餡料，但不吃堅硬的餡餅皮。

餅皮也保持了食物的新鮮。在冷藏后，餅皮能保存里面煮熟的肉，肉可以以后吃。餡餅也使熟食更容易保存。

隨著帝國的擴張，人們把餡餅帶到了世界其他地方，如拉丁美洲、中亞和東南亞以及菲律賓群島。廚師們用不同的配料制作了新型餡餅。在英國，廚師做肉餡土豆泥餅。它的表皮不是油酥皮，而是馬鈴薯皮。美洲定居者開始用新家園里種植的蘋果等水果做餡餅。

看到這么多餡餅，你可能會想到自己吃過的美味的餡餅。你接下來想要嘗試哪種餡餅呢？也許你可以和家人一起去當地的餐館，看看那里有什么樣的餡餅。

（英語原文選自：wonderopolis.org）