Every Thanksgiving I look forward to three things: spending time with my family, watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and eating pie. Thanksgiving is a time of year that brings a lot of joy to me because I get to spend time with my family and eat my favorite foods.  

My family holds a secret trait, one that comes to life during Thanksgiving. We are all pie addicts. Our pie addiction started before I was born and has only grown since then. My Mom creates two homemade pies yearly, sweet potato and pumpkin.  

By the end of the night on Thanksgiving, both pies are gone, and my family has gone through battles about who gets the last piece 

Every year the night before Thanksgiving, my mom starts preparing the pies to be baked early in the morning, with all hands-on deck we can get all the pies done by midnight. The best part of the pies is that they are homemade.  

Both of the pies feature warm flakey crust that just melts in my mouth. Not only that, but the filling is the perfect texture and taste. My tastebuds explode every time I take a bite.  

With my years of experience with tasting pies, I am officially considering myself a certified pie taster.  

There is something comforting about eating a slice of pie around this time of year, with the memories that it can bring. When I taste a pie, I focus on four things: the appearance, the crust texture, the smell, and the overall taste.  

The best things to look for in a pie is the flaky crust of the pie and if it is sweet or savory. Something else that makes a pie is that it tastes delicious, and it brings you happiness.  

I had an overwhelming want for pies and because I did not want to make my mom bake a bunch of pies before Thanksgiving, I set out to the best pie place in Omaha, Village Inn.  

With the holidays approaching, curiosity has gotten the best of me, and I have been wondering if my peers have the same love of pie as I do. I set out on a mission to discover the top three pie flavors of the people at Omaha North High School.  

After sending out a survey, after sending out a survey forty-one people responded with their top two pies. The top three most popular pies for the Thanksgiving season according to the Vikings are pumpkin pie with thirty-two votes, pecan pie with fourteen and lastly apple pie with thirteen. These three pies do not surprise me for being the most popular because they are all fairly good. 

To fill my curiosity, I set out to try these three pies. 

Going into Village Inn, I decided to grade the pies in three different categories: appearance, smell and taste.  

Walking into Village Inn, I noticed that you could buy either a whole pie or just a slice. I got three different slices of pie. A slice of Classic Pumpkin Pie that was $4.75. According to Village Inn, it was made with real pumpkin custard and baked inside a pastry crust.  

The appearance of this pie was very traditional. The pumpkin pie filling was nice and pumpkin orange with a nice golden-brown crust. 

The smell reminded me of a pie that freshly been taken out of the oven. The scent gave me a warm cozy feeling. 

When I took the first bite, my taste buds exploded. The taste of the pie was the best part. The filling was creamy then the right amount of crunchy pie crust, taking into account the three elements I would rate this pie an eight out of ten.  

The next pie that I tried from Village Inn was The Southern Pecan Pie which for one slice was $5.25. Immediately when I opened the pie box I was hit with the smell of sweet pecans, but I was also met with the scary scene of the pie. The pecans on top reminded me of dog vomit. This immediately made me not want to even try it. 

When I took a bite, I was met with a delicious crunchy pecan top and a caramel filling that was amazing. The crust also had the perfect level of flakiness which alone made up for the looks. Overall, I would give this pie a six out of ten.  

The last pie that I tried was The Country Apple Pie Slice which was $4.75. The appearance of this pie made me so excited that I did not want to wait to get home to try the first bite.  

It was light brown in color with a nice crispy and flaky crust all around. The smell was unreal.  

When I opened the container, the smell of warm fresh baked apples filled the air. The taste of this pie was by far my favorite. The apples were sweet and crisp and the flaky crust with had a perfect combination of cinnamon and sugar. For this pie I give it a ten out of ten and would recommend it to anyone who loves apples.  

After trying all of these pies I would say that it was a very successful trip. I would recommend all three of these pies to any person that needs to bring a pie to Thanksgiving. However, I personally plan to stick to my mom’s homemade pies and do not plan on switching anytime soon.