6 Min English Cornish Pasties

BBC LEARNING ENGLISH
6 Minute English
Is the pasty really Cornish?
This is not a word-for-word transcript
Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.
Rob
And I’m Rob.
Neil
Fancy a game of ‘food connections’, Rob? I’ll name a place and you say the first
food that comes to mind. Ready?
Rob
Yeah, sure, let’s go!
Neil
Italy.
Rob
Erm…’pizza’ – or ‘lasagne’.
Rob
New York?
Neil
‘Hot dogs’, of course. Or maybe ‘bagels’. How about… Cornwall from the UK?
Rob
If it’s Cornwall, it must be the famous ‘Cornish pasty’, right?
Neil
That’s right! Cornwall, the region which forms the south-western tip of Britain, is
as famous for its pasties as New York is for hot dogs. In this programme we’ll be
finding out all about Cornish pasties. We’ll hear how it’s gone from humble
6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020

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beginnings to become a symbol of Cornish identity and spread around the world
to Jamaica, Argentina and Brazil.
Rob
But what exactly is a pasty, Neil? Somewhere between a pie and a sandwich,
right? A piece of pastry which is turned over and crimped along the side to make
two corners…
Neil
… and filled with different ingredients - which brings me to my quiz question for
today, Rob. What is the traditional filling in an authentic Cornish pasty? Is it:
a) Chicken, avocado and brie

b) Beef, potato and turnip
c) Pork, onion and chorizo
Rob
Well, chorizo is Spanish isn’t it? And avocado with brie doesn’t sound
traditionally Cornish, so I’ll say b) beef, potato and turnip.
Neil
OK, Rob. We’ll find out later if you were right. What’s for sure is that the Cornish
pasty has had a long history as BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme discovered.
They spoke to Dr Polly Russell, a public life curator at the British Library. Here
she is reading from one of the earliest mentions of pasties from the late 17th
century:
Polly Russell, Public Life Curator, British Library

There’s a lovely bit here where he’s describing what a housewife in Hertfordshire
does and he’s talking about her way to make pork pies and pork pasties: pies may
be made and baked either raised in paste earthen pans or in pewter dishes or in
the shape of a turnover, two-cornered pasties. So that’s a very early reference to
a pasty in the shape, I think, that we know it but also being made specifically for
labourers - to be feeding labourers on a farm at harvest time.
Rob
The earliest pasties were made in pewter dishes – a traditional cooking plate
made of a silver-coloured metal called ‘pewter’.
Neil
And they were eaten by agricultural labourers – workers doing physical farm
work during harvest time – the weeks in autumn when crops like wheat are cut
and collected from the fields.

Rob
But it wasn’t only farmers and labourers who ate pasties. As well as its farms and
fishing, Cornwall was famous for tin mines, as Ruth Huxley of the Cornish Pasty
Association explains:
Ruth Huxley, Cornish Pasty Association

Pasties would have been eaten by lots of people who went to work but it just
worked perfectly down mines, and Cornwall became the world capital of mining.
And so lots of pasties were made, lots of pasties were eaten and then that mining
community went all over the world and took the pasty with them.
Neil
Pasties were eaten by hungry workers involved in the mining industry - digging
up materials such as coal or metals like gold, or in Cornwall tin, from the ground.
Rob
So far we’ve been talking about Cornwall. But you said the Cornish pasty has
spread around the world, Neil. How did that happen?
Neil
Well, that’s connected to the tin miners we just talked about. Here’s Polly Russell
again:
Polly Russell, Public Life Curator, British Library

This is replicated, not just in Mexico but with migrants moving to America, to
Minnesota, to Canada, to Australia. So anyone who travels to many of those
places now will see foods which are incredibly reminiscent and familiar and just
like Cornish pasties.
Neil
In the 19th century, many Cornish tin miners emigrated, moving abroad to start a
better life. Their pasty recipes were replicated – or copied exactly, in the new
places where they landed, from America to Australia.
Rob
And that’s why in many places around the world you can find food which is
reminiscent of pasties – meaning it reminds you of something similar, in this case
the original Cornish pasty… with its traditional filling of… what’s was your quiz
question again, Neil?
Neil
Ah, yes. I asked you what the traditional Cornish pasty filling was? You said…

Rob
I said b) beef, potato and turnip.
Neil
And you were right! ‘Keslowena’, Rob – that’s Cornish for ‘congratulations’!
Rob
‘Heb grev’, Neil – that’s ‘no problem’!
Neil
In fact those other fillings – chorizo, avocado and brie - really did feature in
pasties entered for this year’s Annual World Pasty Championships, held in
Cornwall every spring. Other pasty-inspired ideas include Argentinian
chimichurri empanadas and spicy Jamaican patties.
Rob
So the pasty is still going strong, both in Cornwall and around the world.
Neil
Today we’ve been discussing Cornish pasties – a kind of filled pastry from the
south-west of England, originally made in pewter dishes – a silver-coloured
metal dish.
Rob
Pasties were eaten by agricultural labourers – farm workers bringing in the
autumn harvest – the time when crops are cut and collected from the fields, and
also by workers in the tin mining industry – digging up metals like tin from
underground.
Neil
Later, when these miners emigrated to new lands, pasties were replicated –
cooked again in the same way.
Rob
In fact Cornish miners moved to so many new countries that today, almost every
corner of the world has food reminiscent of – or reminding you of, the original
Cornish pasty.
Neil
That’s all for today. Join us again soon for more topical discussion and
vocabulary on 6 Minute English. Bye for now!
Rob
Bye.

VOCABULARY
pewter dishes
traditional dishes made from a silver-coloured metal called pewter
labourers
people who do physical work, especially outdoors
harvest
the time of year when crops like wheat or barley are cut and collected from the
fields
mining
digging up materials such as coal, diamonds or metals like gold and tin from the
ground
replicated
done again in exactly the same way
reminiscent (of)
making you remember a particular person, place or thing


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BBC LEARNING ENGLISH

6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020

a) Chicken, avocado and brie

Polly Russell, Public Life Curator, British Library

6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020

Ruth Huxley, Cornish Pasty Association

Polly Russell, Public Life Curator, British Library

6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020

6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020

6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020

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