Brickbat: Looking a Little Pasty

Greggs, a bakery in England, sells some 61 million Cornish pasties a year. But it won't sell any starting in 2014. Oh, it will still sell a beef pie, but it can't call it Cornish pasty anymore. The European Union awarded the dish protected geographical indication status, which means anything called a Cornish pasty must be prepared in Cornwall. Greggs is located in Plymouth. And a Cornish pasty can only contain beef, potatoes, onions and rutabagas. Greggs' pie also contains peas and carrots. But even some pasty makers based in Cornwall may have to change. European Union rules state that a Cornish pasty must be crimped on the side, while some bakeries crimp them at the top.

Comments

[db]

I see the Statists have kicked off their 2014 Nothing Left to Cut World Tour early.

[PM]

So now if I were to say "Cornish pasty sounds disgusting", I would have to further specify that "Plymouth meat pies with carrots and peas also sound disgusting"?

[Redmanfms]

You think a meat pie in a puff pastry wrapping sounds disgusting? WTF is wrong with you?

[Redmanfms]

I was wrong, it's not a puff pastry, it's a shortcrust (no leavening).

But still, meat pies are fucking awesome. The only good thing British cuisine has managed to produce.

[PM]

I mean, Idon't mind a calzone, but I don't know, it just seems gross.

[Live Free or Diet]

Must not be much rutabaga in them. I used to eat them, way up in Scotland BTW. Don't think I ever went to Cornwall.

Plymouth Pasties sounds better anyway.

[sarcasmic]

Meat pies aren't just a British thing. Most cultures have meat pies of some sort. My personal favorite is tourti?re with cranberry on the side. Yum.

[lap83]

That sounds good. Although I'd probably prefer veal to pork.

I'm partial to bierocks.

[Redmanfms]

I realize this, but the way the Brits did them is certainly different. And they did/do them well.

It was really the only thing that made the year I spent in Britain working a contract palatable. Lots of strong bitter and the various wonderful meat pies.

I wonder if some association of morons will push the EU to provide protected geographical indication status for Yorkshire pudding or Cheddar cheese or Lincolnshire sausage???

Every time I think America is terrible, something like this idiocy comes along and reminds me how awful the rest of the world (especially Europe) is.

[Cdr Lytton]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T.....gal_status

[RishJoMo]

Sounds like some very serious business dude.

http://www.BeinAnon.tk

[Frank_Carbonni]

I can kinda see this when it comes to non-perishable food or drink that tends to be associated with a specific region like Champaign or certain kinds of cheeses, but something like a Cornish Pasty? That is like outlawing calling something a Philly Cheese Steak if it is not in Philadelphia or Chicago-style pizze if it is not being served inside the Loop.

[Bill Dalasio]

You raise a good point. In the long run this may well prove bad for the Cornish Pasty business. People tend to want food like this prepared fresh. If "Cornish Pasty" becomes associated with roughly the equivalent of a frozen pot pie (not customized to local taste preferences), it's quite plausible that the demand for the product will dwindle.

[Steve G]

Uh oh, Buffalo Wild Wings is fucked. It's neither in Buffalo nor made from wild chickens...

[Live Free or Diet]

OK. What part of the buffalo are they cut from?

[PM]

Uh, the wings. It's in the title.

[PM]

or Chicago-style pizze if it is not being served inside the Loop.

That's the least of the reasons Chicago style pizza should be banned.

[Stilgar]

I think the EU would be all over this were you to open a cheesesteak shop over there.

[Scarecrow Repair]

If the rationale is to prevent crap copycats from damaging the region's brand / trade name, then crap products will do a damned sight better job of it themselves without some fool government making it to. People are really good at knowing which foods are worth how much to them. All government will do is the usual -- protect the crap which has the right name and punish the good which has to use some other name.

[db]

Next: the EU starts fining and arresting people for claiming european heritage who weren't born in Europe.

[Mock-star]

If they were allowed to continue calling it a Cornish Pasty, the the terrorists would have won.

[Longtorso, Johnny]

Will Reverse Polish Notation be banned for non-Poles, or banned as racist against Poles?

[DontShootMe]

Yes

[Moe19]

Man, for an article about pasties, I sure am disappoint.

[Rich]

"Breathe, my pasties friend, *breathe*!"

[SugarFree]

"Dees oggies are burn'n me raspberry ripples!"

[Kaptious Kristen]

Think I'll go make some Cornish pasties for dinner tonight, here in the..errr...beautiful....nice...somewhat attractive...DC metro area. Not even in the British Isles! I might even use chicken instead of beef just to stick it to the Man.

[Suthenboy]

For a certain kind of statist control freak this kind of behavior is compulsive. Once all of the big things they want to regulate are regulated they go after this kind of shit. They simply cant stop. Power and control is an end in itself.

Once they have run out of little things, once nothing whatsoever is untouched, then they start arbitrarily changing regulations they have already made. The next thing you know bizzaro shit like changing your underwear every half hour is no longer a parody.

[Warren]

I don't have so much of a problem with defining stuff. Not so much the regional thing. They make whiskey in TN that tastes just like the bourbon they make in KY. But you can't put pea gravel in a can and sell it as peas.

If there's no peas and carrots in a "Cornish Pasty" then so be it. Call it something else.

[PM]

Consumers can sort that kind of thing out on their own, either by demanding better labeling from companies or by suing companies for false representation of their product. Any company dumb enough to put pea gravel in a can labeled "Peas" deserves the bankruptcy that would result from the ensuing lawsuit - and what incentive would there be to do that anyway?

[Voros McCracken]

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