Where Did the Idea for Pie Come from?馅饼的创意从何而来？

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.

你听过“像馅饼一样简单（易如反掌）”这句话吗？意思是某件事很简单。但这可能会让你疑惑，馅饼哪里简单了？嗯，许多人倒是认为馅饼吃起来很方便。

馅饼是一种带皮的烘烤食品。有时饼皮在底部，但在其他馅饼中，饼皮在顶部。有些馅饼甚至在顶部和底部都有一层皮。

古埃及人、希腊人和罗马人都有各自的馅饼。他们把最初的馅饼做成盛放和烹饪肉类和其他食物的容器。馅饼皮可以当作一个盘子。早期的馅饼皮又厚又硬。人们经常吃馅料，但不吃坚硬的馅饼皮。

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

随着帝国的扩张，人们把馅饼带到了世界其他地方，如拉丁美洲、中亚和东南亚以及菲律宾群岛。厨师们用不同的配料制作了新型馅饼。在英国，厨师做肉馅土豆泥饼。它的表皮不是油酥皮，而是马铃薯皮。美洲定居者开始用新家园里种植的苹果等水果做馅饼。

看到这么多馅饼，你可能会想到自己吃过的美味的馅饼。你接下来想要尝试哪种馅饼呢？也许你可以和家人一起去当地的餐馆，看看那里有什么样的馅饼。

（英语原文选自：wonderopolis.org）