References to
humble pie, (originally also known as "
Umble Pie"), are most commonly found nowadays in the phrase
"to eat humble pie", meaning to display
humility.
Traditionally, "humble pie" was an actual dish which was commonly eaten in Britain hundreds of years ago and came to the fore as a Christmas tradition in the 17th Century. In those days, the word "humble, (or "umble"), referred to animal offal. While the lord and lady of the house would be dining on the finest cuts of meat, for example, the servants downstairs would bake "humble pie" made from the internal organs of the slaughtered animal. Thus, the association of the phrase "humble pie" with lowliness and self-effacement.