Pi Day is a holiday celebrated all around the world. It was created to celebrate the interminable and ageless irrational number pi which represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, or 3.14159…etc. Accordingly, Pi Day takes place every March 14. This marvelous occasion is spent discussing the wonders of math and eating pie.
According to The Exploratorium, people have been approximating pi for thousands of years. The earliest approximations were done by ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, but the first person to calculate pi was Archimedes of Syracuse. Regardless, pi as a representation of the ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle is something much more recent. It only came into common use after William Jones, a Welsh mathematician, used the symbol the way it’s used today in his second book, published in 1706.
Here in Middleton, Hubbard Avenue Diner makes hundreds of pies each year. Hubbard is known for the sweet treats and retro atmosphere it creates, but it is a local hotspot for its delectable pie. Their popular cherry pie has a sweet red filling with tart cherries and a flaky crust with sugar on the top that melts in your mouth. Hubbard sells a limited edition Pi day T-shirt every year which if you go to Hubbard you get a deal of a slice pie being $3.14 all year. Additionally if you wear one of the Hubbard shirts on Pi day you get a slice of pie for free. Pi Day at Hubbard is particularly hectic; locals form a line going out the door throughout the day, and popular flavors sell out quickly.
Humans have been eating pie for thousands of years. According to Time magazine, pies originally were not meant to be sweet. In medieval England, they were often filled with meat, usually spiced with pepper or dates. Pie dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, and it was thought that Greeks made the first pie crust. In Rome, pie was considered a dessert for nobles. In 1796, the first sweet pies were recorded in old cookbooks from pilgrims. Gradually, people began to make more sweet pies, and in 1947 the Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking listed 65 different varieties of sweet pies.
Pi Day has evolved into an important and festive tradition for people all around the world, including Middleton. Whether you spend your Pi Day enjoying various pie flavors or trying to memorize as many digits of pi as you can, take some time to find beauty in the intersection of what all of humanity shares: science and food.
