The “truth”
To qualify as a true Cornish pasty,your pie must indeed be edged
with anexaggerated, crimped ridge. But there’s no historic evidence
to suggest that the ridges went uneaten. In fact, 19th century
photographs of miners at their snap show the pasties being eaten
from one end to the other, while the far end is held in the cloth or
paper in which itwas carried. The crimp has to be a strong one so
as to seal in the juices and the steam, since an important part of
pasty preparation is the post-baking period of resting, in which the
ingredients continue to cook inside the pastry. The fold also provides
structural strength and heat retention.Sources
http://www.cornwalllive.com/whats-on/food-drink/potted-history-pasty-who-
invented-1255086; http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10280993/
A-taste-for-tradition-the-history-of-the-Cornish-pasty.html; https://warrens
bakery.co.uk/2016/05/09/the-curious-origin-of-cornish-pasty-crustsDisclaimer
There are probably more arguments per minute about Cornish pasties
than about any other topic on Earth. For instance, I refuse to accept
that they traditionally held beef;you’re telling me early proletarians
had meat as part of their daily diet? So feel free to send in
your corrections, clarifications and prejudices.MYTHCONCEPTIONS
by Mat Coward240: CORNISH PASTIESThe myth
The reason a traditional Cornish pasty has such a big edge on it is
because the tin miners, who took the pasties to work with them,
were likely to have traces of arsenic on their hands. They’d use the
edge as a disposable handle, a safety zone between their hands
and their mouths. They’d eat the pie, and chuck the handle. This
had the added advantage of providing leftovers to propitiate the
“knockers” – spirits or LittlePeople who inhabited tin mines. In
someversions, throwingaway the pasty’s handle isexplained by
either arsenic or fairies; in others, by both.Mythchaser
Did corsets really makeVictorian women faint, asksa
reader. Letyour answers be unrestrained.FT383 23FROZEN STOWAWAYS
John Baldock, an Oxford
University graduate in his
20s, was sunbathing in his
back garden in Offerton Road,
Clapham, south London, on
the afternoon of Sunday, 30
June, and fell asleep. At about
3.35pm hewas awokenby a
loud “whomp”.The frozen
body of a man,wearing a
blue shirt and denim jeans,
had landed 3ft (90cm)away,
shattering a concrete path
and making a crater in the
lawn. One neighbour said
the impactwas so loud they
thought a bomb had gone off.
A stowaway, describedby a
witness as “frozen like an ice
block”, hadfallen more than
3,500ft (1,070m) from aKenya
Airways flight from Nairobi
as it approached Heathrow
Airport. (A plane spotter who
had beenfollowing the flight
of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
on an app from Clapham
Common had seen the body
fall). It could have beenmuch
wors e: had the bodyfallen two
seconds later, it would have
landed on a packed Clapham
Common, just 300yards away.
On inspecting the aircraft,
policefound a bag containing
food, water and clothing at
the rear left landing gear. The
6,840km (4,250-mile) flight
from Nairobi takes eight
hours and 50 minutes.The
stowaway would have been
starved of oxygen and enduredtemperatures of around minus
60 ̊C at an altitude of 40,000ft
(12,200m).
A witness looking out of
a window said therewas
“blood allover thewalls of
the garden” adding: “I spoke
to Heathrow. Theysaid this
happens onceevery fiveyears. ”
In 2010, a 20-year-old man
from Romania survived in the
undercarriage of a private
jet on a flight fromVienna
to Heathrow. In 2012,Jose
Matada fell to his death from a
British Airways flight inbound
from Angola. Mr Matada,
originally from Mozambique,
was found on the pavement in
East Sheen on 9 September. An
inquest into his death heard
he is believed to have survived
freezing temperaturesfor most
of the 12-hour flight. Kikmet
Komur, 32, froze to death in the
landing gear compartment of
a British Airways plane inJuly- Hewas trying to enter
the UK to see his girlfriend.
CarlitoVale from Mozambique
was found dead on theroof
of notonthehighstreet.com’s
headquarters onKewRoad,
Richmond, having clung to
the undercarriage of a British
Airways plane inJune 2015.
A second man miraculously
survived the same 11-hour
flight fromJohannesburg,
South Africa, while hiding
in the undercarriage of the
plane.D.Mirror, BBC News, Eve.
Standard, 2July 2019.
ABOVE:The force of the body falling from theKenya Airways plane dented paving
slabs and astro-turf in John Baldock’s garden in Clapham, southLondon.ILLUSTRATIONSBYHUNT EMERSON© SWNS