(Notes from 2026)
I forgot that I wrote this article! The link to this has since disappeared, lost in the great archive of great data. My POV still applies even with the rise of foodtok and food as clout.
Published 2017 in Asian Food Network
In 2010, I was visiting the Philippine mountain town of Sagada and made a stop at an establishment called Lemon Pie House. There were no smart phones or apps then, but there were blogs, and parents and grandparents had just started joining Facebook.
Lemon Pie House was the midway point between the twenty minute walk between Sagada town proper and the waterfall. It was easy to find but largely under the radar of the tourist sites from back then, marked only by being a bright yellow house and a chalk signage with its menu: “Lemon Pie, Egg Pie, and Wi-fi” (remember wi-fi was a novelty back then). The pies, I would learn, were made by the Lola of the house.
For some perspective, the pies were made family bakery, or panaderia style: 35 pesos for gelatinous lemon meringue or a flaky egg pie with a touch of cinnamon. The quaint bakery wasn’t aiming to be like the French master chef ran cafe closer to the town, but they wanted to be more than just another takeaway store. For the price point, the pies did their job, paired well with a mug of Sagada brew coffee priced at 45 pesos.
After I had my fill of the pie, brew, and wifi, I was more than happy to sign in their guestbook thanking them for being a sole refuge after a day of rappelling through the caves and hiking through the woods. But my heart fell as my eyes skimmed one entry before me: a long tirade from a tourist that visited before who felt the need to go into detail about what a “good pie” should be.
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