The UNTOLD Story of Black Folks Love for Sweet Potato Pie  

I'm black, and I like and make both pies. The ingredients are the same. I stepped out of my comfort zone and made a butternut squash pie using the same ingredients. It was very good. Don't let people put you in a box.

My mom used to make sweet potato pie every thanksgiving and Christmas. My family will fight over the last piece of the pie so she made everyone their own pie. I miss her so much 🥺🥺

Sweet potato PIE, sweet potato FRIES, sweet potato PANCAKES...LOVE sweet potatoes cooked any way!

If there is any way that we can stop having one person describe us as if we're all the same in every way, that would be great.

I am white and I am from Europe. I am so glad I found channels like this one. The dark spot on history like slavery is not something I've been thought of in school. Thank you for the knowledge. ❤

Because sweet potato pie taste much better.

I eat pumpkin pie and drink pumpkin latte; speak for yourself 😂

I'm black, and I like both, but sweet potato pie is the pie of choice in my family.

I'm white and my lady is African American and she LOVES Pumpkin Pie with whip cream. Just goes to show you that not everyone falls into these old fashioned stereotypes! She loves Sweet Potato Pie too!

Fun fact: what's advertised as Libby's canned "pumpkin" or "100% pumpkin pie" is in reality a mixture of Dickinson squash, winter squash, butternut squash, sugar squash, and acorn squash. But because they're close cousins of the pumpkin family, the FDA lets the "pumpkin" label slide. Actual pumpkin is almost never used. My life is a lie.

I’m black and love pumpkin pie.

In 1969, I spent Thanksgiving with my parents in Delaware and then took the Amtrak Metroliner back to my home in New York City. As I was standing on the station platform in Wilmington holding the home-made Pumpkin Pie my mother had given me, I could see as it pulled into the station that the train coming from down south was very crowded and I worried I would have to stand all the way to New York. Fortunately, I found a seat next to a black guy traveling from Georgia and also going to NYC. And yes he had a pie on his lap. It was Sweet Potato. We talked the rest of the trip and he told me about some of the things mentioned here as to why his family preferred Sweet Potato Pie instead of Pumpkin. So I have known about this for a long time and this video brought back some very nice memories for me. Thanks for posting it.

Seeing people who are grossed out by either pumpkin or sweet potato yet love the opposite is as weird as seeing those who hate Pepsi but love Coke.

Thank you for the history lesson! Though I will add that Charlie and The Chocolate Factory was not an American story. Roald Dahl was a British author and the chocolate factory angle was inspired by his experiences as a young teen working in the Cadbury’s factory in Derbyshire. Also, his first name has no “n”. Roald, is pronounced like “row-ald”

I’m Black and from the north. My family ate both Sweet Potato and Pumpkin pie. Loved both.

I love me some sweet potato pie!! 🥧 😋

I grew up eating sweet potato pie, my mom didn’t cook pumpkin pie. But as an adult, I like them both.

My Family is Black and We Love "Pumpkin Pie" just like Potato salad it depends on Who made it 😅

I love both! I'm African American and love everything pumpkin ❤

I grew up eating pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, but I really do love both. My 90-year-old mom likes me to stick to traditions, which is why I keep having pumpkin pie even though I want to try sweet potato pie. She'll admit that even if she likes some other dish or recipe better, she likes to have the same ones as when she was growing up. Maybe this year I'll serve both!

I like both, but I think pumpkin has a milder, more bland flavor (no matter how many spices used). I'll eat either one though. I love pie.

I eat both!

That sweet potato “pound” is called “sweet potato pudding” or “pone” in the Caribbean!

I prefer pumpkin over sweet 🍠pie, because of the sweetness and the texture. I only eat sweet potato candied (a lil sticky & a lil burnt). Never knew the history behind it. Learn something everyday👏🏾👏🏾👍🏾

Thank you for making your videos! I learn so much, and it pisses me off how many things are not taught in public schools.

I'm an Afican American and I love sweet potatoes 🥔 any way they are prepared and pumpkin may not be everyone favorite buy it make a delicious bread.

Now I want some sweet potato pie hella bad

I love me some pumpkin pie.. it’s always been a fav of mine.. yum😊

*My Montserratian grandma would make both sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Her pumpkin pie is great! However, she makes her sweet potato pie with dark brown sugar instead of light and it is one of my top three favorite pies!!! It's amazing how one ingredient can completely change the taste of a dish! Absolutely delicious!* 🤤😋🥧

Thank you for this bit of history! I actually like both pies but just thought they were different pies - like apple, blueberry etc. This historical context is fascinating - and I’ll think of it at least every thanksgiving. Oh, and I AM a white New Englander. I appreciate these looks into black history and culture. We’ve been ignorant of this part of American history for too long.

I love me some Black history!💯⚜️👍🏾

I'm a white guy and I love them both.

I love pumpkin pie , I will jump over 10 sweet potato pies to get to one pumpkin pie 🥧🥧🥧🥧🥧🤪🤪🤪

Country boy you are doing great work talking about sensitive issue s with. calm Straightforward talk bravo

I grew up on pumpkin pie as a white kid. I wanted to continue the tradition after my mother's passing. I waited too long that season to buy pumpkin pie I'd thought I'd try sweet potato pie. I incorporated another region's specialty into my own holiday celebrations. I haven't gone back to pumpkin pie.

I eat both but most of my family you better not even think of offering some pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving 😂

But wow I really dig these stories of my peoples❤❤❤❤❤

My sister did not like sweet potato pie so she started making pumpkin pie. I did not care for the taste of pumpkin. She blended sweet potato spices with the pumpkin pie and it is good. She taught me to like pumpkin pie. My sister is now deceased so I no longer eat pumpkin pie.😕🥲

In Baltimore, I met a vendor in a bus depot that sold mini versions of seasonal pies, each variety was tasty but I was really surprised and impressed by the Navy Bean Pie. Absolutely delicious 😋

We always had pumpkin pie and candied sweet potatoes for the holidays.

Gotta have both, won't refuse either ❤.

Thanks for that awesome information

My boyfriend is Bahamian, not African American, but he’s mentioned at least a couple times that he loves sweet potatoes. When he comes to the US, I’m going to have to make sweet potato pie for him.

I’ve been black my whole life, and I love both pumpkin, and sweet potato pies. My grandmother used to make both on Xmas, and Thanksgivings, and I ate both.

Interesting history about pie. I made sweet potato pie one year in the fall to see if it could be something I brought to my family's Thanksgiving, but to me it tasted just like pumpkin pie. A few weeks later, I was close to a food truck parked in a mall that was run by an older Black gentleman, and I saw he had sweet potato pie on the menu. I got my lunch and after finishing it went back to ask for a slice telling him about my attempt. He told me (nicely), "You must not have made it right," and he handed me a slice of his and told me to take a bite out of it. After I did, he said, "You can taste the difference now, can't you?" and grinned. "Sure can!" I lied, which pleased him. 😁 I must not have a very developed palette.

Im black and my mom raised us eating pumpkins and sweet potatoes but i like pumpkin pie better , my nine sisters and brothers like swee potatoes i guess its just a difference in people 😊

I love me some pumpkin pie.

That was very informative about the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory story 🤯

I love both, especially with it mixed together.

Good morning, I'm going to benge listen to your videos, I've missed a few. Thank you again for sharing the information and how we as blessed black folks fit into it all😊😊❤❤

Sweet Potato Pie is one of my favorite desserts

I eat both but only one publicy 👀

I like both pies; and I’m a 66 year old black man.

Slowly raising my hand as a Black woman that loves pumpkin pie better than sweet potato pie. 🙋🏾‍♀️😅 It’s a milder, denser pie that’s sweet, but not overtly so. I won’t turn down a slice of sweet potato pie, but pumpkin pie wins my heart. Kev On Stage knows what I’m taking about. 😁🥧😋

I like both pumpkin and sweet potato pie! Thank you for this video! ❤

I'm a Black woman who actually loves pumpkin pie over sweet potato pie. I found that not a lot of my friends had even had pumpkin pie before, but though I love sweet potatoes, but as a pie, to me pumpkin pie is creamier and tastes better warmed up with some whipped cream and ice cream! It's the bomb!

Love pumpkin pie. Grew up on it. My granddaughter lovs it too.

Depending on how well the pie is made determines if I will like it or not. Some people know how to make delicious pies and some people don't.

Please continue this content. It is valuable. Thank you.

That's crazy the truth behind things we don't know. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Very interesting history. I am black and I love pumpkin pie. In fact, I have created a maple walnut pumpkin pie recipe, which I make every season. I grew up in Boston and have always had pumpkin pie for holidays. My wife, who is from New Orleans, loves my pumpkin pie and makes me bake 1 or two, every year.

I don't care to eat pumpkin pie because I don't care for all that doggone freaking spice. 😬

Fascinating! Especially the Willie Wonka background, wish that was included in your title for easy google or YT search.

My mother liked pumkin pies,so I learned to cook them for her. My family originally preferred sweet potato pies. Over the years they have gotten used to eating my pumkin pies, and request their own personal pies. I have one sister who will still make a couple of sweet potato pies. But them pumkin pies is what's happening! Me Ive always liked both. 😊😊😊

The best is Sweet Potato Casserole with a Pecan Topping. It’s both a side dish & dessert in one. The base is basically a sweet potato custard (smoothly, mashed up sweet potatoes, white sugar, evaporated milk, pumpkin pie spice) that you put in a buttered baking dish & top with pecan topping (is softened butter, flour, brown sugar all rubbed together into a paste & then mix in the chopped pecans). Bake at something like 350 for 45 minutes. The pecan layer should completely cover the surface & not be too thin, & it’s kind of like the melted sugar topping on creme brûlée. It’s the same smooth custard on the bottom & the pecan layer on the top. Somebody is going to have to make it before Thanksgiving this year. 😋

I'll have an occasional piece of pumpkin pie far in between. Potato pie is good all of the time. Yay 🖐️😁🎉!

There is a difference between pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie based on the nature of the vegetables themselves. Pumpkins are part of the squash family, and they're much like spaghetti squash, butternut squash, and zucchini while the sweet potato is a root vegetable, so the very texture is going to be different. However, they use much of the same spices to derive their flavor, so that's why most people see them similar in taste. BTW, when everyone goes nuts over "pumpkin spice" flavored stuff every fall, it's not that everything tastes like pumpkin; instead, it's the mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and vanilla.

I love both! 🤣. I loved Pumpkin for so long until I started making sweet potato pie. SP is better but I also still love Pumpkin pie.

I love pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie - they're delicious. I had no idea about the history of these pies.

It's crazy how things like fruits and vegetables can become so divisive; like for a country which would one day have an obesity epidemic, the irony there'd be conflict the ingredients of random baked goods shouldn't be lost on anyone. Also Roald Dahl's name is pronounced "Rolled" not "Ronald"

Love Sweet Potatoe Pie. I never like the taste of pumpkin pie.

I am black and like both pies but prefer sweet potato🥧🥧

Haha! I introduced my white husband to sweet potato pie and casserole. He loves it all now. Doesn’t even remember pumpkin pie!😂

My dad is black and he loves pumpkin pie. I find it strange hearing about this for the first time.

wait... what? I'm black and I've NEVER heard this. pumpkin pie is my (and my family's) favorite

I love both pumpkin and sweet potato pie and make breads from both

That is not true! Of course I love sweet potato pie more ! However in NYC we have excellent pumpkin pie! And yes I am African American! Lol 😅

My Maternal side is Black* via the Northeast* originally; and I've always eaten "Pumpkin Pie*." My Paternal side is also Black; via Southeast*. My Paternal relatives have always prepared "Sweet Potato Pie." I had a neighbor during childhood whom was from the Southeast; and her "Sweet Potato Pie" was scrumptious*!" However; I have a preference for "Pumpkin Pie*" which was prepared upon my Maternal* side for years since the late 19th. Century (1800s). Sister H.D.B.3

An older lady from Tennessee that I worked with gave me her recipe for sweet potato pie. She used a pumpkin pie recipe but omitted the spices and put in a teaspoon of black walnut extract. She made a crumb topping with chopped walnuts in it. She said that when she was growing up they seldom had the luxury of spices. This pie is Fantastic, worth trying ❣️

I love both but Sweet Potato pie is my all time favorite that’s why during the holidays I make 10 Sweet Potato pies and one Pumpkin pie. I only can enjoy both when they’re cold.

Growing up my family never made pumpkin pies but always made sweet potato pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I always thought it was because they never liked the taste of pumpkin pie and for so many years I never ate or made it because I didn't like the taste of it growing up. I had no idea the history behind both pumpkin and sweet potato were connected to slavery. I also had no idea that one of my favorite childhood movies had such an impact that the NAACP got involved regarding representation of our people and that the story was based on a black little boy. Now having a family of my own, I make both pumpkin and sweet potato pies and it's just a matter of choosing which one I'll make during the holidays. Thanks so much for posting.

We are not monolithic. I love pumpkin pie AND I’m Black. Omg how could this be? 🤯

Fascinating! I only had sweet potato pie once and it must have just been a bad one but I will definitely need to make one myself and try to do it right! I will never look at Charlie the same way again.

I'm black and I LOVE pumpkin pie! Took a minute, though. But eventually, I became a big fan. #MmmmMmmmGood 🥧

I absolutely love Pumpkin Pie, matter of fact I love all things Pumpkin in the fall. I tried Sweet Potato Pie once and didn’t care for it but to each his own 🤷🏽‍♀️

Pie is a treat made by the talented cook! I really enjoyed these slices of history! You opened a lot of windows to view, thank you! P.s. That author's name was pronounced ROE-uld Dahl, no "n" in it. I thought it was a typo when I first read it, too. His feelings won't be hurt...

I love Sweet potato pie and cake 🤗

My college cafeteria labeled something sweet potato pie and I got it. I told people it was spoiled or something "if you got it, throw it away!" My boyfriend tasted mine and told me it was pumpkin pie. I had never had pumpkin pie before. I thought I was saving lives.😂

I’m a country negro and I love pumpkin pie, sweet potatoe pie etc.

AWESOME!!!!!☺History of Us! Keep up the Great work Sir!😉

When I was young and had moved out on my own I MISTAKENLY bought a pumpkin pie. I thought it was my lucky day as I was far from my grandma's house. I cut into that thang and literally cried.😭

Pumpkin isn't a potato. I don't understand how you can compare them together. You can use sweet potatoes to make pies 🥧. Yam can be use for candied Yam. But it doesn't matter, you can switch or mix them together. They will taste the same. The same with white potato, when making French Fries, potato chips or Mash potato. You want know the difference. Food manufacturers does this a lot.

I love them both! What is fascinating about pygmy culture is that they know how to make nets and snares from plants that are around them. They know what is poisonous. What is medicinal,what is edible. They are masters of their environment! They literally can create and survive in their environment perfectly. They are masters. Ultimate survivalist and I am in awe and greatly appreciate them. If I were to choose a population to colonize a habitable planet,somewhere out there,Pygmy and Romonian pastoralist would be the first on the list. They could survive and adapt anywhere and would be the ultimate asset.

My mother used to boil sweet potatoes in pineapple juice, mash them with butter, brown sugar, a little cinnamon and nutmeg, then bake in a casserole dish, and brown some marshmallows on top at the end. There was never left overs of that.

Very insightful video, and I learned a lot. Thanks.

I love both sweet potato and pumpkin pie. Delicious! How about bean pie--YUM😋

I love pumpkin pie 😂😂😂 I'm black ass hell 🎉

I've had bad sweet potato pie and bad pumpkin pie. I love both pies when made well. And in most cases, I can't tell the difference between the two. You put it in front of me and I'll eat it. 😋

Despite the controversy on sweet potatoes vs. pumpkin- this video is Gold. I was 55 years old before I knew the truths in this video! Thank you.

I am a proud southerner, and always have delicious pumpkin pie from an old recipe from my dear friend in Georgia.