World Pie Recipe: Message Pie

Pot lids, Woyo peoples, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola Late 19th–early 20th,Wood. Fowler Museum at UCLA X99.26.10, X99.26.24, X99.26.28; Museum Purchase with funds provided by Jay T. Last

Good Food’s Annual Pie Contest will hit the Fowler Museum at UCLA this year, and given the museum’s focus on world culture, they’ve provided us with a few recipe ideas inspired from objects on display at the museum.

In some cultures, supper is served along with a not-so-subtle message to the diners! Among the Woyo peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, women used specially carved wooden lids on the ceramic pots in which they served food to convey certain kinds of messages to their husbands. The designs on the lids formed a visual language of proverbs and moral stories through which a wife could express fundamental aspects of a successful marriage or relay her displeasure with her husband’s behavior. As husbands ate communally with other men, a wife’s grievances were made public, signaling that household harmony was a community issue.

The bird at the center of one pot lid may refer to the threats of a neglected wife to leave her husband.So, how about a pie encrusted with a message?

Try this traditional pot pie recipe would work great in a pot with a decorative lid.