Emily Hilliard, photo by Jess Schreibstein
About Nothing in the House
Hello! My name is Emily Hilliard and I am a folklorist and writer living in Charleston, West Virginia after stints in D.C., North Carolina, Vermont, Michigan, and Indiana, where I grew up. In 2005, Margaret Reges and I founded Nothing in the House, then a personal endeavor we thought might help us stay in touch through the pies we were baking. Since 2007, it has been written and maintained mainly by me, with occasional help from friends and guest bloggers. Pie, after all, demands to be shared.
The name “Nothing in the House” is taken from a genre of pie, sometimes called “desperation pies,” that became popular during the Great Depression and, with a dose of ingenuity, were made from few, inexpensive ingredients. The name speaks to our practical home-baker sensibilities, roots in the history of pie, and appreciation for all the women and men, past and present, who have used their ingenuity and wit to make something delicious and beautiful with what they have.
Nothing in the House is written for curious home bakers, scholars, food historians, and enthusiastic eaters interested in the cultural and historical underpinnings of American baked goods, particularly those from rural places. In this space, I use pie as a lens to explore topics including folklore and traditional culture, history, regionalism, and feminism.
Nothing in the House has been featured on Design*Sponge,
Food + Wine, Food52, Gourmet, Joy of Cooking, Refinery29, and the Washington Post Express, among others. It was a 2014 Kitchn Homie
Award finalist for Best Baking Blog, where it was a judges’ pick. You can find more press clips here and more of my work here.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope that this blog brings a little joy and inspiration to you, your kitchen, and your pies. If you'd like to get in touch with any questions, story queries, catering requests, or just to say hello, you can either leave a comment or send an e-mail to nothinginthehousepie@gmail.com
Yours in pie,
Emily
All photos by Emily Hilliard unless otherwise indicated
Logo designed by the wonderful Printed Appalachia