Cornish Pasty Given Protected Status

A pasty can now only be called a 'Cornish pasty' if it's been made in Cornwall from a traditional recipe. Pasties contain beef skirt, onion, potato and swede. No carrot, which in Cornish people induces vomiting. And definitely no chicken tikka, llama or spam, fillings used in pasties unworthy of the title 'Cornish', produced for the tourist market.

The Cornish Pasty Association has won its application to the European Union to gain Protected Geographic Indication status for its pasties. The Association said it wanted to protect the reputation of its product. That aim presumably excluded the so-called pasties churned out by Ginsters, a concern unfortunately based just inside Cornwall, which supplies inedible muck to motorway service stations.

It's taken nine years for the EU to deliberate on this matter, and finally reach a conclusion. Now, my local newspaper tells me, the pasty's status is on a par with roquefort, parma ham and champagne. But not everyone's happy; one Devon-based manufacturer of pasties has said the Brussels bureaucrats "can go to hell." All in all though, it's good to know our contribution to the EU's coffers isn't being squandered on anything useless.