There is debate at this moment in time as to whether the Cornish Pasty should be awarded a PGI (Protected Geographical Identity) by Europe. The argument has been brought to the fore by a collective of Cornish bakers who deem that the Cornish Pasty should only be called so if it’s true origins are Cornish and that it meets a certain anatomical criteria. It is apparent that there are inferior products being sold through regional bakeries in the UK which are being labelled as “Cornish Pasties”, when they clearly do not meet the standards, content or shape. This really is stirring up a cloud of annoyance with the manufacturers and retailers of Genuine Cornish Pasties. The criteria which determines a Cornish Pasty are set out as follows:-

• D Shaped
• Crimped on the side not on top
• A chunky filling of potato, onion & swede with peppered seasoning
• Contains not less than 12.5% meat content
• Is golden in colour after baking

The Cornish Pasty Association has been established to draw attention to this application and to fight for the PGIs approval. Since 2002 the Cornish Pasty Association has gathered a huge amount of support to ensure that the Pasty receives it’s birth right to the name that it proudly carries and to further deter inferior products and practices assuming the same name. Champagne is no different to the Cornish Pasty, claim the CPA, nor is Parma Ham or Stilton Cheese. More recently Smoked Salmon received full PGI approval. With the full support of DEFRA, the application is undergoing it’s process and the Cornish bakeries, who employ a body of workers totalling 1800 across 40 bakeries, wait with baited breath for the final decision. What are your thoughts on the application? Should the Cornish Pasty be awarded it’s PGI, there is a great deal of provenance and tradition behind this South Western pastry delicacy!

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So far, history dates the Cornish Pasty as far back as the 13th century. The Cornish Pasty can be traced back to the time of King Henry the III, when he discovered the culinary delicacy during his travels around the UK. Over time, Cornish Pasties became the main diet of the Cornish tin miners, blacksmiths and engineers.

However, according to other tales, the local fishermen considered the pasty to be bad luck. There are several local Cornish superstitions in circulation suggesting that the pasty was responsible for keeping “the devil out of Cornwall”, the devil would never cross into Cornwall for fear of being baked into a pasty.

Some tin mines built huge ovens at the pit head on the surface to keep the miners’ lunch hot until lunch time. The pasty is also known as Oggy, Hoggan,and Oggie; this definition just depends on what part of the country you are in.

The reason that the Cornish Pasty became the main diet of the tin miners was that they needed something easy to eat while working. The pasty’s contents were usually the leftovers for various meals so they further enhanced the taste of the meals with pepper seasoning. Legend also suggests that the crimp knot was discarded as a protection from the devil and perhaps more realistically it was discarded to protect the miner from the traces of arsenic that was on his hands from mining the tin. The wives of the men tried to make two courses in one pasty. One end was the main savory meal and a desert-like filling on the other to make a complete meal in one pasty casing. The way that the wives managed this was to partition off the two parts with a pastry section in between. The wives would sometimes engrave their husband’s name on the crust so they could go back to the leftover at a later time in the day.

As the pasty spread thought the country, there were variations of the pasties in Devon, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cumberland amongst many others. According to British culinary history, the pasty format travelled as the tin miners migrated to find alternative work when the mines were closing. The Cornish Pasty has travelled to far off shores with traces to the USA and Scandinavia when the Cornish migrants departed the UK in search of mining work overseas, the Cornish Pasty is prevalent in Michigan.

There is a tradition stretching back to 1908 when the Cornish Rugby team were to play an important match, a giant pasty was hoisted over the bar before the game. A contest in 1985 by some Young Farmers in Cornwall had made the largest pasty at that time. It measured thirty-two feet in length and took seven hours to bake. Then the record was broken by some Falmouth bakers in the First Pasty Festival.

As of 2002, the Cornish Pasty Association submitted an application to the United Kingdom government, Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; to obtain Protected Geographical Indication status for the Cornish Pasty. This will firmly secure the Cornish Pasty as the World Wide recognized brand of Cornwall and it’s bakers!

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