The Perfect Pasty

When I think of that rugged, weathered peninsula fixed to the southwest of the isle of Britain, my first thought is of a pasty. It’s hard to think of much else when these savory delights appear in so many bakery windows, proudly displaying their Cornish heritage, in every town from Saltash to St. Ives.

A traditional pasty is made up of five simple, inexpensive ingredients that are easily found in Cornwall – golden half-moon pastry cases filled with morsels of beef, diced onion, and slivers of swede and potato – with a generous helping of salt and pepper. When you bite into a pasty, you’re not just having a meal, but experiencing a part of Kernow’s proud and rebellious culture. From the county’s history, to its mining, language, and lore, the pasty tells all.

Cornwall is physically cut off from the rest of England. Surrounded by ocean and having only one land border, Kernowyon have an identity that has evolved to be quite distinct from the rest of England. Their roots are not English but Celtic, their flag is void of color, and they dine on pasties not crumpets.

A vital source of income for Cornishmen has always been mining. The connection between mining and pasties is evident in the Cornish word for pasty, hoggan. It is the same word used for a miner’s bag and with it, they entered the heart of the earth. As a meal it serves many functions; its ingredients are cooked all at once, keeping warm for hours, and may include a separate section for something sweet. It also comes with a built-in handle, or crimp, which freed the miners from worrying about arsenic on their hands come lunchtime. Folklore tells us that crimps, which were left at the bottom of mines, kept ‘knockers’ happy – the noisy mythical spirits that indicated veins of ore. Without knockers, mining wasn’t successful and without pasties there were no knockers!

Never have I seen a food so engrained in a culture. Wherever you find a mine in the world, you find a Cornishman. And with him, a pasty.