American Belgian Pie

‘“Simple Simon met a pieman going to the fair …” A modern simple Simon might be going to a kermis and he would most likely meet a Belgian housewife who had just finished making a batch of Belgian pies. This is kermis time in Door County …’ So starts an article in The Door County Advocate, dated 9 October 1969.

It is rather remarkable to discover a Belgian community in Wisconsin, USA. They celebrate Belgian traditions and foodways and hold annual kermises for which they bake Belgian pies in great numbers. They even live in towns they named after their Belgian counterparts.