50 Pies 50 States | Stacey Mei Yan Fong
Suzy Chase: When two podcasts collide, magic happens. Welcome to Dinner Party, the podcast where I bring together my two hit shows, cookery by the book and decorating by the book around here. We're all about cooking, sharing stories behind recipes, and creating a cozy home. I'm your host, Suzy Chase, a West Village wife, mom and home cook. Inspired by Martha Stewart trying to live in a Nora Efron movie, surrounded by toile, plaid, cookbooks, decorating books and magazines, cooking in my galley kitchen and living my best life in my darling New York City apartment in the cutest neighborhood in the city, the West Village. So come hang out and let's get into the show.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Hey y'all. My name is Stacey Mei Yan Fong, and I'm the baker and author of the cookbook, 50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrants Love Letter to the country she's chosen to call home.
Suzy Chase: Today on the show I have something special lined up for election day in the United States. In honor of November 5th, I'm releasing the special episode with Stacey Mei Yan Fong, author of 50 Pies, 50 States, Stacey's unique journey of baking a pie for every state is both a culinary celebration of American diversity and a testament to her creativity in the kitchen. So whether you're listening on your way to vote or reflecting on what election day means to you, this episode is the perfect way to honor the rich flavors and voices that shape our nation. I just adore the fact that this cookbook is what you call an immigrant's love letter to the United States through pie and fun fact, at the end of the day, we're all immigrants. So why pie not cake?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Why pie not cake? I feel like this is a question I get asked a lot and I feel like the most American food I can think of is pie. And pie has kind of become this, I don't know, beacon of American abundance. When you think about the perfect American life, it's like a big pie where the apples are piled high and it's sitting steaming at a window. It's like your perfect Norman Rockwell style life. And yeah, apple pie seems like such a joyful thing. And also exploring the country through pie. It's a blank canvas. It can be savory or sweet. So yeah, it really was, pie is the limit for me when I started the project.
Suzy Chase: I think you got the essence of every state in this cookbook. Where were you born and how much pressure was it to really capture the unique identity of every state because people are so passionate about their home states. I know I
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Am. People are so passionate about their home states. So I was born in Singapore and I grew up in Indonesia and Hong Kong, and I ended up going to college in Savannah, Georgia, the very natural transition from Hong Kong to Savannah, Georgia. And you know what? I felt a little bit of pressure, but also none at all because I'm not American. I'm not a classically trained baker. It kind of gave me this freedom of creativity to do whatever I wanted. And the 50 pies in the book are my interpretations of the state. And I'm not saying this is the be all, end all. We're going to drop a law or this is the actual state for the pie. This is more like, Hey, this is what West Virginia means to me, or this is what Idaho means to me. And another layer of the cookbook is that each pie in the book is dedicated to someone that I know from that state as kind of like the love letter because the Statue of Liberty is cool. The Grand Canyon is amazing, but it's the people that you keep in your life that make it your home. And so yes, I got to eat pie with all of them and also chat to them about things about their home state. So that gave me a little bit more info on what I could do.
Suzy Chase: All your 50 friends?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: All my 50 friends, yes. 50 friends and counting. I'm very blessed. Yeah,
Suzy Chase: I cannot imagine the research you had to do for this cookbook, like the various state foods, the state berry, the state muffin, et cetera. How long did this research take?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: The project? I started in 2016 and I was still at the time working full-time as a handbag designer in fashion. So I was really only doing a pie a month. This was my passion project. When I started applying for my green card, it was a lot of reading books, looking up articles, researching things, talking to the person that I was going to give the pie to. But the beauty of America is that there is a state food, a state fruit, or some sort of very distinct regional cuisine. America really could be 50 different countries. And I think that's what's so wonderful about it is that if you grew up in Idaho, you probably had such a different upbringing as someone that grew up in New York City, but you are essentially all from the same country, which is so wild. So yeah, it took a lot of research. I love fun facts. So now if you ever need someone to come do trivia with you, I'm probably your best person If it has anything to do with the United States or Pie
Suzy Chase: In the cookbook, you have a category called Personal Pies. There are seven and all. I'm so curious about that.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: So when I first did the project, I just did the 50 states and DC and a flag pie. I did my little Betsy Ross moment when I started the project and made a pie that looked like the American flag. So when I got my cookbook deal and I needed to put something together, I was like, how can I convince people to go on a 50 state road trip with me? And I was like, okay, I'm going to think of these personal pies as the first three dates. So there's a pie for Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Brooklyn where I live, Savannah where I went to college, the bakery that kind of started it all four and 20 blackbirds. And then there is also the flag pie. So yeah, I call it my first three dates where you really get to know me and then you're like, okay, yeah, she seems pretty cool.
I can go through a road trip of America with her to circle back to the Four and Twenty Blackbirds pie. So before I started the project, I baked my way through the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Cookbook. If you don't know about it, it is a pie store in Brooklyn and it's my favorite pie store in the city. And I was like, I'm pretty good at baking pies. Well, not pretty good. I was okay at baking pie at the time, but in a very poetic way. I ended up working at Four and Twenty Blackbirds for a couple years, so I got to go to full on pie bootcamp.
Suzy Chase: You just talked about the Stars and Stripes Pie and that kicks off the cookbook. You said you felt wrong going straight to the first state. What was that about?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: So I love to do things in order. I'm a card carrying Virgo. You can't even imagine the amount of Excel spreadsheets that came with this project, but I thought it's like it's so ceremonial raising a flag or singing the national anthem before a football game or a hockey game. And it's I think a beautiful way to start this big journey. It's like ceremonious. So I was like, I'm going to make a pie that looks like a flag. I'm going to listen to John, a lot of John Prine because I think he's one of the best American storytellers. And then I'm going to set off on this absolutely crazy journey that I decided to put myself on.
Suzy Chase: I'm originally from Kansas, but live in New York City here. And I'd love to chat about the Kansas pie. You say this pie nods to all Kansas has to offer cows corn and wheat. Chat a little bit about this pie.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: So the Kansas pie is inspired by a Russian pastry called a Bierock. So it's a little flaky dough with a meat filling. And all through the Midwest there's all these different versions of pastries that immigrants have brought over. I wanted it to be the perfect stick to your bones. You're eating it at dinner pie and I feel like I have yet to go to Kansas. It's on my list to check off, but I feel like I wanted it to feel really warm and homey. So it is a whole wheat crust filled with a beef stew and a savory crumble on top. And the photo in the book, it's kind of like the setting, I wanted it to be a dinner table at five 30. It's kind of golden hour and it's being washed by this soft warm light. And I put little my Taylor Swift Easter egg, so there's little salt and pepper shakers that look like Dorothy slippers and then a light gingham tablecloth on the top. So if you get a copy of the book, 50 pies, 50 states, there are all these little clues for each state to make it unique and it took a lot of thought, but this is the stuff that I love is getting lost in the details.
Suzy Chase: So I made this pie
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Love,
Suzy Chase: I'm going to post the pictures on Instagram. They're not as good. That's the problem with doing this show is whatever I make is never as good as the food stylist, but that's neither here nor there. But it really tasted like home to me because we literally had steak and potatoes every night of the world.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: You saying that truly means so much to me because think about it, we grew up so differently on two different sides of the planet and it's like I feel the thing in life is you just want to be understood, right? You want someone else to be like, oh my God, I see you. I know what Kansas is like. Or if you tried something from Singapore or Hong Kong, you were like, oh my gosh, I know exactly how Stacey might feel when she ate that. I feel like that was kind of the whole ethos of this project is an understanding. And also to spark a conversation with someone that maybe I might not have met if I didn't start the project or I might not have met if I didn't move here. And easing into conversation is made so much better when you're talking about pie, because everybody wants to talk about pie.
Suzy Chase: Isn't that the truth?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Yeah.
Suzy Chase: My last point about the Kansas pie is at the end of the recipe you wrote best enjoyed sitting at a table with a wonderful sunflower arrangement. I mean, you just drilled down so far on just the little nuances of every state.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: I just wanted to really understand the states as best that I could and my ability. And through book tour I've gotten to go to so many wonderful places and meet so many wonderful people and also learn more about their version of the state or if anything was different. And I know some people have said that I've gotten some of the states wrong or I didn't do a good job, but I honestly open that criticism and I love it. I want to know why do you think I didn't do it right and how could I have done it better? And what was your experience growing up in the state? It's good to start a conversation and it's always really nice to talk to someone because then they get to also see their home state at a totally different light. I feel like you're born somewhere, you're like, this is my small town, this place that I couldn't wait to leave after I left high school or I was going to college.
And then you get older and you kind of get a little more nostalgic and then you start thinking about things. And when people ask you certain questions, you're like, oh my God. Actually, it was really cool that we went to football games every Friday night or it was really cool that me and my friends all just hung out in this Kroger parking lot. And it's like, for me growing up on the other side of the world, all of the stuff felt so foreign. It just felt like what a quintessential American life or their version of what a quintessential American life was. And yeah, I was just curious. I always love to know,
Suzy Chase: Are you going to do a follow-up called something like I Got This Pie, right?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: No, I feel like everybody is entitled to their opinion. Freedom of speech, right?
Suzy Chase: Yes.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: And just as I am, I was entitled to feel the state was like this because again, it's my book and it's my journey, and it was not my journey. Not wrong. Exactly. Just different. It's never wrong, it's just a little bit different. Yeah. It's kind of how I like to look at life.
Suzy Chase: That's my motto.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Yeah.
Suzy Chase: Talk about how the movie Julia and Julia inspired you.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: So I love Julia and Julia. I love that movie. I am a big Nora Ephron fan. I dunno if you can see off camera, but I have my puppy with me. Her name is Nora. She's named after Nora Ephron.
Suzy Chase: Oh my gosh.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Yeah. I adopted her when I turned in my manuscript for my cookbook. So yes, she was my little gift to myself. But Julia and Julia was such a wonderful movie to me because it's like and book, because you're kind of figuring out life as you go through this weird project and the project feels like the main event. But really the 50 Pies project was this thing that I'd given myself. But what I was really trying to do was figure out what home meant to me and then also figure out how to fully express how I felt about all of these people that made this place my home. I come from a Chinese household, it's not the most, you don't outwardly say I love you all the time. It's not very huggy or touchy feely. And I feel like through this project I was trying to flex the muscle to give my friends the roses they deserved because yeah, like I said it before, America is great, but without the people that I have in my life, it would be nothing. Just another the rock floating in space.
Suzy Chase: So where do you feel most at home in the world?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Whoa. I feel like that's such a loaded question for me because obviously I've moved around so much. I think now it's like wherever my dog is, and then she's being very naughty right now, and it's wherever I think I feel safe and surrounded by love. So I'm currently upstate at my friend Jenny's house, and I feel so safe and so loved here. So I think wherever I feel most comfortable and I'm with someone that I love, that's home. I know they say you shouldn't make homes out of people, but you shouldn't really make homes out of places either. Homes should be somewhere deep within yourself or as I like to say, the beauty of America and what home really is buried in the center of Dolly Parton's chest. And I feel like that's kind of where I try and center myself is Dolly Parton's chest is where I would feel the most safe.
Suzy Chase: God bless America
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: God bless America
Suzy Chase: Now for my segment called The Perfect Bite where I ask you to describe your perfect bite of a favorite dish.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: So I feel like I have to talk about pie, but my favorite little section of pie is the back left corner. You've just cut the pie. It's a little bit warm. You've put the ice cream on top. It's not fully melted, but it's melted a little bit. And so the ice cream is slowly cascading down the crispy crunchy crust with the big fruit filling. I'm imagining an apple pie here because apple pie, even bad apple pie is still good. So yeah, apple pie girly. But yeah, that little back corner where it's like a little bit warm, a little bit cold, and a little bit crunchy, that's my perfect bite. It never fails to make me feel very, very happy.
Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web and social media?
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: I'm 50 pies, 50 states on Instagram. And yes, if you like a copy of the cookbook, 50 pies, 50 states, it's sold wherever books are sold. And yeah, it's a fun read and I'd love to know, DM me or send me an email, let me know if I got your state right or if I didn't, then you can tell me what you would've done instead.
Suzy Chase: Well, thanks so much for celebrating Election Day with me today, Stacey, and thanks for coming on Dinner Party Podcast.
Stacey Mei Yan Fong: Thank you so much. I have the best time.
Suzy Chase: Okay, so where can you listen to the new Dinner Party podcast series? Well, it's on substack suzy chase.substack.com. You can also subscribe to Dinner Party for free on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Additionally, the episodes will be available on both Decorating by the Book and Cookery by the Book. Long story short, you'll be able to listen to it virtually everywhere. Thanks for listening. Bye.
