CR5 Issue 169 June 2019

Tales from Britain’s
food war’ zones
Many Brits – perhaps hoping
for a repeat of last summer’s
heatwave – have decided
against travelling abroad this
year.
Of course, it’s great news
for our home-grown tourist
industry, and if you’re planning
to take your annual holiday in
Britain this summer, you might
be looking forward to the
opportunity to sample local
brews, cheeses, cakes and
puddings on your trip.
Locally sourced foods are
very much in vogue at the
moment, but before you tuck
in to all that delicious produce
you should be aware of the
strong emotions a well-loved
local dish can inspire. Say the
wrong thing about a regional
speciality in some parts of
the UK and you could end up
starting a riot.
Cream tea and pasty wars
As you enjoy the gentle, rolling
hills and gorgeous coastal
scenery of the West Country,
you’d be forgiven for thinking
this was a place of harmony
and contentment. While it’s
true that the people of Devon
and Cornwall are generally a
peaceable lot, you could find
some serious anger issues
lurking behind those pictureperfect
thatched cottages and
sun-bleached beach huts.
In 2018, the National
Trust was accused of
cultural vandalism
Believe it or not, one of the
main causes of strife between
Devon and Cornwall is the
innocent cream tea: that
heavenly mixture of freshlybaked
scone, home-made jam
and clotted cream particularly
loved by tourists. Ask a native
Devonian to eat a cream tea
and she or he will split the
scone, pile clotted cream onto
each half then add a dollop of
jam on top of the cream. Serve
someone from Cornwall the
same teatime treat and they
will split the scone, spoon on
some jam and finally spread
the cream on top of the jam.
Residents of both counties
insist that their version
is right and are may be
offended by any suggestion
that the method practised
by the neighbouring county
is somehow better. Last
year a National Trust poster
designed to attract Mother’s
Day visitors to Lanhydrock
House in Cornwall caused
outrage amongst locals
(including accusations of
“cultural vandalism”) when it
used a photo of a cream tea
with the jam on top of the
cream. In response, locals
threatened to boycott the
National Trust property, while
one indignant Facebook
member commented: “There
are some things you don’t do
National Trust, and putting
a picture of a DEVON cream
tea for a CORNISH cream tea
event is disgusting.”
Even the humble Cornish
pasty has caused its fair share
of discord, as historians have
suggested that the snack
was actually invented in
Devon. Their claim rests on a
document dating back to the
early 16th century, which lists
a cook’s wages for baking
pasties served at a civic event
in Plymouth. More recently
food historian Peter Brears
has suggested that the pasty
known today as a ‘traditional’
Cornish pasty was actually
invented in London. Brears
claims that the capital’s 19th
century bakers re-imagined
the recipe to produce “an
economical savoury nibble
for polite middle-class
Victorians.” This was achieved
by shrinking down the huge,
vegetarian pasties enjoyed by
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