Y e Olde Cornish Diaspora

I think a Cornish pasty would be my death-row meal.

As a boy living in Penzance, my friends and I would argue which bakery was number one in town. Some said Lavenders, some said Warrens. Either way, they were - and are - miles ahead of anything you can find outside of Kernow. Beware of the catfish pasty outside London’s train stations.

Us Cornishmen are obsessed. I actually had a friend who when starting uni, brought with him a mini-freezer full of home-grown Penwith pasties. And another who had them sent up country by his Cornish nana.

People in the UK are more or less familiar with the pasty origin story. Cornish miners working long shifts underground needed something robust and filling to get them through the day. The pasty with its thick crimped crust handle fit for dirty hands.

For me, what’s far more interesting is that Cornish miners, being some of the most sought-after specialists of the 19th century, were invited overseas to share their skills and knowledge. They travelled across continents, including to Mexico, Michigan and Australia, helping to modernise foreign mining systems and steam technology. But they couldn’t help but bring their favourite lunch along.

In Michigan and Australia, the pasty became a culinary pillar of the local mining culture. But in Real del Monte, Mexico, it developed into paste - still recognisably descended from Cornwall, but over time taking on new fillings, flavours and a Mexican life of its own.

I never would have thought something from our humble little county, so quintessentially Cornish, would have a Mexican cousin.