Pasty Critic Arouses Cornwall

When an American food critic derided the Cornish pasty as more suitable as a doorstop than a delicacy, he sparked what is turning into a national movement to defend the small savory pie.

One baker in Cornwall burned an American flag to protest William Grimes’ recent New York Times column, which asserted that the region in southwest England offers “more bad food per square mile than anywhere else in the civilized world.”

And one of Britain’s biggest pasty makers, Ginsters, is launching a national advertising campaign to defend the traditional Cornish treat, a small pie (pronounced PAHS-tee) that contains potato, beef and vegetables.

“In urgent meetings with our advertising agency over the last 24 hours, we even discussed the possibility of placing a poster outside Mr. Grimes’ office in New York,” said Peter Judge, Ginsters’ sales and marketing director. “We hope he will eat his words.”

But Grimes said Friday that he stands by his July 21 column.

During two one-week trips to Cornwall, he said he tried dozens of pasties - none of which lived up to the hype.

“I understand it’s dear to their hearts, but they need to make a better pasty,” said Grimes, who describes the pasties he ate as “awful, bland, football-shaped objects that were nearly inedible.”

Those are fighting words to the Cornish.

“I’d find it hard to believe anyone who said he didn’t like a pasty, because pasties come in every shape and size,” said Chris Curtis of the Trades and Standards Office of the Cornwall County council, who called the treat a worldwide “ambassador” for Cornwall.

Ann Muller, who burned the American flag, said Grimes’ column “went out to millions of people in his country and it could put them off coming to Cornwall. Fishing, farming and mining in Cornwall have already been decimated - and now this.”

Muller, who has run the Lizard Pasty Shop for 11 years, said she burned the flag Thursday after drinking a glass of wine - and deeply regrets it.

“I feel terrible about doing it … but I was driven to it. It’s the only way I could express my feelings about this,” she said.

For centuries, Cornwall was a mining community, so the pasty developed as a natural miners’ lunch - it was easy to transport, its thick crust stood up to being knocked or dropped and its crimped edges provided a natural finger-hold.

“The whole idea was that you had a complete meal wrapped up in a pastry,” Curtis said.

Curtis noted that his staff regularly inspects pasties in the region to ensure they are at least 12.5 percent meat.

But Grimes said clearly more needs to be done to make the pasty tasty.

He attempted to make his own version, buying fresh Cornish potatoes (“still covered in fragrant earth”), fresh vegetables and lard. Even that didn’t satisfy his discriminating palate.

Now, however, he vows to persevere.

Since his article was published, he noted, Cornish people have called him to take issue, but also to empathize and assure him that the only edible pasties are homemade.

“It’s brought more attention than anything I’ve ever written in my journalistic career - everything combined,” he said.

The next time he makes a pasty, Grimes said he will use butter instead of lard.

“I want a flakier crust,” he said, ever the food critic.