"unauthorised pie scoffing"
Doesn't exist. Pies are allowed any time, night or day. Never unpopular here in the north of England due to Yorkshire Thrift (i.e. cheap). Pie and a pint, can't beat it.
Market research outfit Mintel has revealed an interesting side-effect to the global economic recession: pie sales are up as cash-strapped Brits look to cheap, "hearty" fare to fill their grumbling bellies. Indeed, sales of pies rose five per cent last year, reaching an impressive £941m. Mintel senior analyst Vivianne Ihekweazu …
... but how many of them are useless air-filled pap.Proper hearty pies, properly filled with quality fillings are out there and my mission in life is to track them down.
So far my research indicates that mass-produced pies for major retailers are under-filled, over-priced and bland. Support your local butcher & baker.
You mentioned Melton Mowbray Pork Pies. Those deliciously artery-clogging pieces of heaven which aren't available over here at all.
Thanks for ruining my weekend. The only way it could get any worse now is if something reminded me of Garner's pickled onions or mature Cheddar cheese.........DAMN!
"... but how many of them are useless air-filled pap.Proper hearty pies, properly filled with quality fillings are out there and my mission in life is to track them down."
Then look no further than the Kean’s Head in Nottingham (http://www.castlerockbrewery.co.uk/site/?page_id=22).
Breakfast Pie.
Oh yes!
A full English breakfast...
...in a pie!
And proper beer too. Mmmmmm.
Dash it all, how am I ever going to regain my 28" waist?
from the site.............
"We have now sourced locally grown leaves for all our salads. Grown by a local organic co-operative and travel less than 2 miles from field to plate."
... .................
We use both sides of our bog roll, halving it's use and our shelves are at ground level so the lettuce doesn't get tired climbing...
What an M&S
Oh so its this economic down turn causing a rise in pie sales is it? Got actual real proof of that, Mintel mintoes or whatever you name is?
They could equally argue climate change is causing sales of pies to increase, or even blame it on a rise of the number of cats put into wheelie bins!
I reckon its either because people just fancy pies slightly more often than before or its John Prescott causing the rise single-handedly due to comfort eating now Labour's out!
This all reminds me of visits years ago to Nelsons Butchers in Red Lion Square in Stamford, stacked high with wonderful pies and other goodies. And after a quick Google I find they're still there and now sell on-line - yippee!
As soon as the diet's over, I'll see if they're as good as I remember.
The important thing is that a bowl of stew with a sheet of cardboard 'pastry' popped on top (as served in far too many pubs) is NOT a pie!
I think it's important to find out what quantity were short-crust and puff pastry. As a previous poster mentioned a bit of pastry, cardboard or otherwise, dumped on some meat does not constitute a pie, I think there is a need for a Pie quango authority, I'll happily head this up, I feel it's my duty to make sure Britain produces proper pies (pastry top, bottom and sides).
I'll be accepting applications to become board members as soon as central gov assigns me an office block (all glass and steel please) and large wads of cash on a regular basis and preferrably an additional benefit of a gym membership as well.
"...as a versatile snack or viable main meal.”
'viable' main meal? As against toxic, explosive or filled with fishhooks perhaps.
As for your 'versatile' snack, I can suggest an unusually versatile use for a snack, salestwonk, to be repeated until you finally grasp the purpose of language.
Sorry 'bout that. Normal griping on the subject of climate change & fossil fuel use will now be resumed. Nosh on (can't join you, don't know of any veggie pies. Can't imagine tofu, lentil & lettuce pie be any good).
Are hard to track down in supermarkets - no profit margin
There's an outfit called North Country Lass who tour farmers' markets and the pies are so well filled that they appear to be made from neutronium - the weigh at least twice as much as an equivalently sized pie from Tescos.
And it's Market day tomorrow.
Oh joy...
And think of the knock on benefits of this story - with us all eating all the pies, we'll soon need new clothes to encompass our ever increasing girths, which should give a boost to the clothes industry, then we'll all feel guilty about our size, and start buying diet and exercise books to shed the pie-induced pounds, maybe even going to gyms or buying bikes. This could be the end to the recession as we know it!
In fact, it's our public duty to go out and eat all the pies. And if they come with a pint, so much the better.
Pies have stopping me shopping, which is why retail sales are expected to drop.
What they don't tell you is that it won't be long until we're all so fat, that if we stood close enough together, we'd collapse under our own gravity. And ya don't wanna be nearby when that happens.
Less pies might be a good thing, frankly...
I really don't think so. Not unless the people eating it are Chatham-clotheshorse anorexics, which frankly is unlikely given that it's a pork pie. A big pork pie serves 4, provided there's sufficient salad, spuds and other stuff. i've been known to scoff one in a single sitting though (but to be fair I felt rather ill afterwards).
Anyway, Melton Mowbray pork pies are crud. Sure they're an improvement over Tescos Value, but compared to a proper pie made with real meat and pastry that doesn't taste like it could double as underlay, Melton Mowbray pies are properly awful.
The increase in pie consumption is actually attributable to the state of the UK's education system and the A Level Plus Maths question this year (which if answered correctly, actually earned the respondent a degree):
"Are you familiar with pi and who d'you most closely associate with its discovery?"
Of the papers I have marked this year, 100% of the students answered the first part of the question in the affirmative, whilst the second part was answered as follows:*
1. Tesco 28%
2. Lidl 22%
3. Me Mam 19%
4. Bloke who runs the chippie down our street 16%
5. Argos 9%
6. Steve Jobs 12%
7. DHSS 11%
8. Mr M. Mowbray 5%
(* I appreciate, the sums may not add up, but that doesn't matter at A Level Plus.)
I was looking for Archimedes, but screw that, then.