Interesting bit of social history Mike. You forgot to mention how greasy pasties have to be -- by law! :-)
More food history: My Scottish grandfather always referred to a sandwich as a "piece". He'd say (if we were moaning about being hungry) - make yourself a "piece and jam" or a "piece and cheese". The reason was that when he was growing up, his family was very poor, and his mother would make a large amount thick porridge (with oats, water and salt), then would pour it into a drawer - yes, a drawer - allowing it to cool and set. This was the family breakfast for the next week or so. Every morning, my grandfather would cut himself "a piece" i.e. a square of the porridge from the drawer, and would eat it on the way to school. Sounds like something from Monty Python, but it's true. He swore it was the thing that kept him healthy, and he did live until he was 95, even though he started smoking at the unbelievable age of 8! Sarah At 1:29 PM +0100 02/01/2003, mike pritchard wrote: >I once had a girlfriend from Cornwall, home of the famous Cornish >pasty, and she told me that the pasties were shaped a little like >small Calzone pizzas i.e. they came to two little points at the >ends. The reason for this is, according to the ex, that this type of >food was typical in those parts, especially for the tin miners who >were once numerous in that area. The miners had dirty jobs and >therefore had dirty hands and so held the pasties with the tips of >their fingers on the tips of the pasties and chewed away at the >middle of the pasty
