


Under the crust

Tracking the noble pasty through south-west England

See article

Readers' comments




Pasties are great, although the over-emphasis on Cornwall is simple nonsense. Cornish history is almost identical to Devon history (including food, industry and language) and it seems that the Cornish are trying to assert their nationality by attaching the word "Cornish" to everything.


Pasties are a tradition for us when we visit our Michigan Upper Peninsula. We can start as early as the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula, in Mackinaw City. There, the Mackinaw City Pastie Company can be found a few blocks from the main tourist area, down the street from the smoked whitefish store.

We have a pastie shop in our hometown near Detroit. To my amazement, it has been in business for over ten years. Somehow, we never seem to patronize the store. Pasties need the right environment for their full savor.



Actually, one can also find pasties (or a version of them) in Hidalgo state, Mexico as well as Australia.

Info on Mexican pasties can be seen here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paste_(food)



I understood the traditional pasty would consist of savoury meat and vegetables at one end coupled with a sweet fruit (apple) filling at the other. Thus it was a two course meal in one convenient to carry (and edible) pastry container.

It's also nice to see that an Economist journalist is able to earn a crust even when on holiday ;-)

Jet Screamer

Aren't pasties those things that cover an alluring stripper's more enticing bits and pieces?

- In any case... here's me moving to Cornwall... good 'on you, wind-swept Cornwall, see (and taste) you soon!


Flynewhampshire: Do you have meat pies of any kind? (Steak and Kidney? (I doubt that....not kidneys) Chicken and Mushroom? Pork pies?)

Just fruit pies I think.

You don't know what you are missing!


It is with great pride that the descendants of Cornish tin miners who came to work in silver mines around Pachuca in the State of Hidalgo, Mexico in the 19th century, recreate the pastes of their forefathers with considerable flair. Although this is considered a regional dish, those who make them are fully aware of their origin. To my mind, the great variety of ingredients and the added Mexican spices enhance the original product considerably. The Cornish must be congratulated for introducing such a succulent addition to Mexican cuisine.


"Food critics" or "experts" is a conundrum in that land of fast food, the USA! How can there be such people in the country whose major contribution to international cuisine is rubbery MacDonald's hamburgers, plastic fruit and vegetables, saline injected bacon and ham, antibiotic/hormone fed beef cattle and other animals and genetically engineered crops?
As to the traditional Cornish pasty form Cornwall (as against its pale imitations) by all means it deserves an "AOC" label. Good food products deserve legal protection. And, by the way, Devon does not have the same cultural origins as Cornwall!


My father, who grew up in a Welsh coal-mining town, said his mothers pasties had such a hard crust you could put it in your pocket going down the mines, of off to school without fear of it crushing. Thank goodness for strong teeth!

rachel novak

One thing I noticed in the UK is that the pasties I saw/tried had more of a puff-pastry like crust, whereas the ones I'm used to in the states (mostly in the gold country of California) are made with a very plain shortcrust. But I lived in Scotland, so perhaps they are different down in Cornwall.


Delicious! There are puritans , but those who would enjoy the best life has to offer would try them all. If the crust is good, it beats any form of regular sandwich.
Here I am in the center of Texas, and we have a local British outfit that makes pasty's and thats the way it should be. (We also have a little British company here that makes "sticky toffee pudding" which is not as good as home made, but is very good.)


Pasties are almost unheard of in the USA (Apart from some parts of Michigan). Always surprised me as I feel they are an excellent fast food which should be successful in the US market. Maybe a business opportunity for an enterprising pasty maker, from Cornwall of course.

By the way I cannot find them in Singapore either.

ultraviolet catastrophe

kemubu: It's pronounced "PASS-tee." Another less than obvious pronunciation is "KEE-wuh-naw" for Keweenaw, as in the Peninsula on top of Michigan's Upper Peninsula (UP), home of pasty.com and purveyors of frozen pasties shipped around the US (sadly, but understandably, not during the height of summer). The Keweenaw was a big copper mining region years ago and the Cornish miners who moved there brought the pasty with them, passing along the tradition to the Finns and other locals. When I was growing up we'd make the drive from Detroit up to the ancestral family cottage on Lake Superior every summer and pass quite a few pasty stands along the road once we got north of the Mackinac (MACK-i-naw) Bridge. There are some Finnish enclaves around the country where pasties can be found, but they're mostly a UP delicacy. ;)


Please enlighten me: is "pasty" pronounced PAY-STEE or is it pronounced PAS-TEE ? (I'm in northern Michigan, I've eaten them, like them, but still don't know the CORRECT way to pronounce them!) Thanks!


I have tried hard to find (an authentic) Cornish Pasty made from Halal meat to no avail! Perhaps this might be a slight twist to be considered - after all plenty of younger (and older) British Muslims getting a taste for more 'traditional' British food. Perhaps unfortunately theres just not enough of us in Cornwall to make this suggestion worthwhile! But I wait in hope!


As a fellow pasty enthusiast, one of the best ones I ever had was at Muldoons Pasties in Munising Michigan. They are consumed widely in that part of the world and are known as U.P.(Upper Peninsula)Soul Food. Those Cornishmen got everywhere.

James Yarwood

steven314: 'I understood the traditional pasty would consist of savoury meat and vegetables at one end coupled with a sweet fruit (apple) filling at the other.'

I believe that is a Bedfordshire Clanger rather than a Cornish Pasty. Excellent nonetheless!

Jose Fernandez Calvo

I would venture that the pasties go way back in history to the arabs and, through Spain, the Celtic migrations around Europe took them to Cornwall. (See the "Empanada" entry in Wikipedia).

A variation of Pasties (known as Empanadas) were brought from Europe to the Americas by the early Spanish settlers.

It would make sense that the cornish miners adapted an existing dish to their mining life ... including the addition of the sweet desert at one end of the pasty!!


Latest blog posts - All times are GMT
Deportations: A kinder expulsion
Democracy in America March 14th, 21:38
Blasphemy laws: Wrong on so many levels
Erasmus March 14th, 17:20
Keynes and Hayek: Prophets for today
Free exchange March 14th, 16:43
Democracy in America March 14th, 15:55
Gay rights in Lebanon: Laws of nature
Pomegranate March 14th, 15:43
Airlines and hotels: Room at the top
Gulliver March 14th, 15:42


Products & events