08/10/2023
As we look forward to celebrating the FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DEL PASTE on the 14th October in Real del Monte, we ask you... do you know how the Cornish classic PASTY ended up becoming a Mexican favourite, PASTE?
"Almost every year between 1825 and 1840, a new batch of miners would make the journey from Cornwall over to Hidalgo, and with them they brought their love for pasties. Wanting to maintain a level of familiarity in an otherwise unfamiliar country, the wives of the miners began making their husbands pasties to take down the shafts as they used to do back home. The traditional Cornish pasty recipe then started to be passed on to the locals, who began making them themselves and filling the pasties with some more typically Mexican ingredients.
Over time, the resulting Mexican pasty became known as a paste (pronounced past-ay), and these are still one of the area’s most popular dishes to this day. To look at them they’re pretty indistinguishable – generally slightly larger than a regular Cornish pasty, but still the same crescent shape and with the same crimping along one side. What does differ though is the filling, which can vary hugely. While a Cornish pasty must be filled with potato, beef, swede and onion (according to its PGI protected status, which it was awarded in 2011), you’ll find everything from red mole and tinga to fish inside the Mexican paste. This is partly due to the local climate – while the original Cornish miners tried to grow swede when they arrived in Hidalgo all those years ago, it proved tricky in the much warmer temperatures. Over the years, locals began looking for alternatives and the paste developed a personality of its own.
At the centre of the paste craze was, and still is, the gorgeous town of Real del Monte, which has a paste shop on practically every street, each boasting their own recipes which have been passed down through the generations. Many of these shops and bakeries even display the Cornish flag in their windows as a nod to the paste’s origin. Every October, thousands of Mexicans flock to this small town for the International Paste Festival, where people can try a number of different versions of the pastry from various street sellers and attend various events at the town’s Cornish pasty museum."
See the website https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/features/mexico-cornish-pasty #:~:text=While%20a%20Cornish%20pasty%20must,fish%20inside%20the%20Mexican%20paste. for more information and writing credit!