Pie has somewhat different meanings in different countries.
In the US pie refers almost exclusively to a desert, some sweet concoction with pastry uon one side (bottom or top) usually served as a slice of a larger pie.
In the commonwealth (UK et al) pies are more likely to be savory with pastry on all sides. Sometimes baked large, and served as a slice, (pastry on top) but that's not as common.
A "real" pie would be consumed by hand - think cornish pasties, pork pies and so on. Some supermarket / gas station pies would have very thin pastry and need a container for structure, but that's more a quality /cheapness issue than a naming problem.
Of course pie, like sandwich or salad is not a definitive term. Food terms almost never are. Taxation attempts to rigoursly categories but ultimately fails, having to arbitrarily group more precise terms together.
Just about every generic food description has this vagueness leading to this same "argument" over and over. What is "bread"?
In the US pie refers almost exclusively to a desert [...]
But you see people in the US refer to pizza as a pie all the time, which considering the overall frequency (pizza seems more popular than other/actual pie, at least online) would argue against that.
As a Scandi, a sandwich is a double sandwich (since a sandwich is open-face by default). Complicated.
In the US pie refers almost exclusively to a desert, some sweet concoction with pastry uon one side (bottom or top) usually served as a slice of a larger pie.
In the commonwealth (UK et al) pies are more likely to be savory with pastry on all sides. Sometimes baked large, and served as a slice, (pastry on top) but that's not as common.
A "real" pie would be consumed by hand - think cornish pasties, pork pies and so on. Some supermarket / gas station pies would have very thin pastry and need a container for structure, but that's more a quality /cheapness issue than a naming problem.
Of course pie, like sandwich or salad is not a definitive term. Food terms almost never are. Taxation attempts to rigoursly categories but ultimately fails, having to arbitrarily group more precise terms together.
Just about every generic food description has this vagueness leading to this same "argument" over and over. What is "bread"?