Can Thanksgiving be Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie?

No! Absolutely not. But, if I had to, I would make a sweet potato pie, mmmm!

We never have pumpkin pie for thanksgiving. No one in my family really likes it. Pecan pie is way better, try that instead.

No, it isn’t! Nice, cold pumpkin pie with whipped cream, preferably homemade. /drool

What would there be to be thankful for?

So what do you all think about mince pie? I haven’t been able to buy one in years, although I can still get canned mincemeat (which oddly enough has no meat in it at all).

I couldn’t stand it with no pumpkin pie. I could eat one all by myself. :-/ There was a shortage here for a while. The shelves were bare. But then it all came in & I got 4 big cans. I’d have gone to sweet potatoes if necessary, but thankfully I didn’t have to do that. There’s plenty on the shelves now.

I don’t like either pumpkin or sweet potato pie (I know, heresy!), so for me, every Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving regardless of pie supply.

My daughter’s deep-dish apple pie is the iconic T’day dessert. We have thrown away uncountable pumpkin and pecan pies over the years, with only one sliver removed. So this year we are sticking with apples but adding a blueberry crisp. Blueberries from Whole Foods.

Sure it can, have a sweet potato pie instead! That´s what I did!

@Darwin I don’t think there IS meat in it at all. It’s all raisins, currents, apples, etc. That’s what the jarred has been for years. It used to be said that the real meat in it was from a hog’s head. I’ll just take it WITHOUT the meat, thank you!

Just make sure you have pie.

Last year we had some ridiculous number of pumpkin pies—15 I think. Almost enough for everyone there to have half a pie. Of course, there were a ton of other desserts as well.

If fewer people bring pumpkin pie this year I think we’ll get by. I’m planning on making a few. I grew my own pumpkins so the shortage won’t affect me.

Even so, a Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie would still be Thanksgiving, thank God.

Yes, thanksgiving is still thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. All you need is loved ones gathered around a lovingly prepared meal. If it includes turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce so much the better, but nothing is mandatory. I screwed up my pumpkin pies a couple years ago and they were inedible. Thanksgiving was still great.

Also, I doubt the pumpkin shortage. You can always buy a locally grown pumpkin, roast it, put it in a blender, and make pie. It’s not terribly hard.

The article does have some scary implications for food security in general though: “It plants a special strain of pumpkin at a farm in Morton, Ill., which provides nearly all its supply.” That’s scary. Right now there are plenty of other foods and local farms that grow pumpkins, but if this kind of industrialization of agriculture continues, we could see massive food shortages nationwide due to local weather conditions, pests, or diseases.

If I had to pick the most crucial part of Thanksgiving dinner it would be the turkey or cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie is close behind.

French Canadian Sugar Pie is tasty. It’s very rich/sweet!

I prefer pumpkin, though. I’d miss it.

@jbfletcherfan – Actually, during the Middle Ages up until Victorian times there was minced meat in mincemeat. For some reason we no longer put any actual meat in it, but good mincemeat should still be made with suet. It was originally a way to make slightly off bits of meat into a tasty dish by using lots of spices, dried fruit and sweetening.

They still make a variation of the Medieval form in Montreal, where it is called Tourtière.

@Darwin mincemeat pie is my absolute favorite!

@J0E – At last! A true soul mate!

I like sweet potato pie WAY better than pumpkin pie. My mom’s apple pie is a necessity. And she and I make a peach pie with fresh vanilla bean and cardamom… it’s to die for.

This year I’m making pecan pie because it’s my hubby’s favorite. I’m practicing this weekend ;)

@Darwin My grandma makes it once a year for Thanksgiving, I can’t wait!

Tourtière is delicious. An ex girlfriend’s Mom used to make a Tourtière pie for each of her kids at Christmas. Now, mincemeat I can’t stand.

I’ll just stock pile more pumpkin this year in the basement. Last year I bought 10 or 12 cans. I make pumpkin bread/muffins during the year, as we all love pumpkin here. This year I’ll buy about the same amount. That way I won’t have to worry if there aren’t any cans for Turkey Day.

Our Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete with out the pumpkin pies.

@Snarp How can you doubt the pumpkin shortage? It’s a fact that Morton’s Libby plant processes over 80% of the world’s canned pumpkin. I live 5 miles from Morton, IL. It’s a big business here. Farmers in this area have had one of the worst years ever this year due to all of the rain that we have had. We still have crops that haven’t been harvested.

@SpatzieLover If you love pumpkin that much you should really consider doing it from scratch. It’s not too hard, and you can freeze it in recipe sized batches. The only problem is you can quickly end up with a lot of pumpkin. Sounds like you would use it up.

Also, see if you can find a recipe for Pumpkin Empanadas. Awesome, and you can freeze them and bake them up whenever you want.

@jonsblond Poor wording on my part. I don’t doubt that Libby’s has a an issue due to their decision to base their entire pumpkin business on one area. That doesn’t mean that people can’t get enough pumpkin for their pies. Pumpkins are grown and sold nationwide, so there may be a shortage of canned pumpkin, but if people are willing to do a tiny bit of work they can support local agriculture and still have pumpkin pie.

So it’s not a pumpkin shortage, it’s a canned pumpkin shortage.

Definitely. I’ve never liked pumpkin pie anyway.

Apple pie solves this problem.
Challenge yourself to break out of traditional molds.

If you’re going to break out of traditional molds you might as well not celebrate Thanksgiving.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic I makeys the apple pie, too. ;)

@J0E Curmudgeon!

@Snarp No, traditionalist. We get the pumpkin from Native Americans. It wouldn’t be “Thanksgiving” without some Native foods on the list.

@Snarp Hey now! I’m not a crusty, ill-tempered, old man (thanks dictionary) I just appreciate holiday traditions.

@SpatzieLover Well, I for one love pumpkin pie and think it’s great to have on Thanksgiving, and I generally like a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but there’s nothing wrong with shaking things up a bit. Here’s a few foods we can thank Native Americans (including South Americans) for giving us that we could consider to keep things “traditional”:
turkey
corn
avocado
beans
bell pepper
blueberry
cashew
chocolate
huckleberry
manioc (cassava, yuca)
papaya
peanut
pecan
pineapple
potato
squash
sweet potato
tomato

So sweet potato pie, pecan pie, blueberry pie, and even chocolate pie and tapioca pudding would all be acceptable as Native foods.

@Snarp Blueberries would NOT have been in season at the first Thanksgiving. possibly they would’ve used some dried ones We do all of the traditional foods available during the last harvest, as would have been done then.

And the list in my area of Native foods is much longer. ;)

@SpatzieLover Well, if you want to duplicate the possible foods at the first Thanksgiving, that’s another matter altogether. I expect you should include venison, and the pumpkin might not have been in a pie. But the real problem is that this would exclude green bean casserole, and it is definitely not Thanksgiving without green bean casserole! ;)

@Snarp We roast our veggies instead of smothering them with lard and salt ;P My husband’s family used to do the casserole thing. We don’t do venison cuz I chose to save the deer in my area instead but we have friends that own a red-tail deer farm, and their Thanksgiving feast is even more traditional than ours. I usually make a variety of squashes, etc. Maybe in my locale Wisconsin it’s just more “native” than around the US?

@SpatzieLover We like to do all sorts of things with squash, but my in laws will eat nothing but turkey, stuffing (preferably stovetop), mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. When I make something “different” it usually is only eaten by me, my wife, and her grandmother. The rest won’t touch it.

@Snarp UGH! I can’t stand the typical “American” tastebud eaters. My mashed potatoes still have the skin on ‘em and are mashed just enough so they are more ‘rustic’. We make cranberry relish and cranberry sauce from scratch, too. YUM! I can hardly wait now. ;)

@SpatzieLover They do eat my scratch cranberry relish, but I can’t imagine anyone who would deny that it is ten times better than canned cranberry sauce.

During the 20 years that mu daughter was with her Canadian SO, he made tourtière with pork and a mashed potato crust for either Thanksgiving or Xmas eve. MY family made lots of rude jokes about lard but scarfed down every crumb.

I’ll spare you the story of our veggie Thanksgiving last year. All the adult children whined for turkey this year.

I’m thinking about making a fig pudding for Christmas this year. Have to find suet first.

My favorite pie is Strawberry Pie and as long as I have that I am happy as a pea pod.

But the idea that there might not be pumpkin pie because of a shortage of pumpkins seriously bums me out. I love pumpkin pie during the holidays.

No pumpkins? No bueno!
I saw an awesome recipe for pumpkin-banana-meringue pie on the food network and I really want to try it out this year.
– Cut the tops off two small pumpkins and bake them for (15?) minutes at 350 until they are soft on a flat pan. Scoop the insides out of the pumpkins. Put three or four whole bananas on the pan- leave the skin on, and bake for 10–15 more minutes until the bananas are soft. Take the skins off the bananas and put them in a blender with the pumpkins, some sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, milk, and egg. Pour it into a pie crust and bake some more. Whip some egg whites until stiff peaks form, and pour on top of the pumpkin-banana mixture, then bake until it is brown on top.

My backup plan is apple crisp or pecan pie. But it’s really not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie. :(

@Haleth: ah, Tyler Florence.

I love pumpkin pie, but I’ve heard Garrison Keillor say something a couple of times that I can’t help but agree with.

The best pumpkin pie you’ve ever had…? Probably not really that much better than the worst pumpkin pie you’ve ever had.

no!

It can if you make it with buttercup squash, which is even tastier.

I definitely love pumpkin pie, and even more so pumpkin cheesecake and beer, but I think Thanksgiving would be just fine for without any of those since it’s more about being with people I love than the food. I don’t think I could make it more than two years without pumpkin beer however. :(

No. Because I’m lazy, I will not research your statement and instead take it as fact because it’s cheap enough for text my mom and ask her to buy a few extra cans of pumpkin mush for next year. I will have pie

I just saw this question, but no absolutely not. Saying it could be is ridiculous. If @qingu is around, I hope he reads this.

He has the bizarre idea that pumpkin cheesecake is an acceptable substitute. The bizarre and incorrect idea.

It always is at my house – we hate pumpkin pie!

@janbb What…??? What…?? All of you…??

@RedPowerLady Well, I’m not sure about my older son – he married and went to the“Dark Side” – but the rest of us, yes. My husband’s family is English, anyway, so they have a different take on it. My brother-in-law says they celebrate Thanksgiving six weeks earlier – when the Pilgrims left!

And for those of you who missed it on the other thread because I posted it too late, here’s where pumpkin pie filling really comes from according to my husband. (May take a while to load.)

Darwin-I love mincemeat tarts which my Mom used to make. It gives you that yummy filling with even more crunchy delicious crust! As for Pumpkin Pie I am not a fan. I have been making Sweet Potatoe-Pecan Pie for the past few years. Everyone seems to love it. No leftovers!