There is a wide variety of local cuisine in the county of Cornwall. No website addressing the subject could be considered complete without a description of one of the county's most famous food items, the 'pasty'. Often copied, but never bettered (in fact the Cornish claim some kind of commercial trademark to the term 'Cornish Pasty') the pasty has an interesting history.
There is as much folklore surrounding the Cornish Pasty as there are recipes. One story suggested it was bad luck for fishermen to take a pasty onto a boat, but then again modern day skippers still love their pasties. A very famous photograph from the late 19th century shows a group of tin miners at 'Croust Time' , that is meal time to you and I, tucking into very large pasties. The tin mining boom was largely over by the 1870's, but such large pasties encompassing a 'main course and sweet' would have meat at one end and a fruit filling at the other.
Whatever the truth there is no doubt that the pasty formed an important part of many a working Cornishman's diet, be they miners, farmers, or fishermen. With the decline of the mining industry in Cornwall many Cornishmen emigrated as far afield as the USA, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, taking a version of the pasty recipe with them.
Cornwall's close relationship with the sea and fishing has allowed it to capitalise on it's popularity and with a handful of high quality restaurants using fresh local produce and a good deal of attention from the media, eating out in Cornwall is experiencing a huge boom.
It is worth mentioning that while Cornwall is benefiting from the UK's increase in interest in seafood cuisine; interest has been for species such as swordfish, tuna, marlin and tiger prawns, all of which are not indigenous to Cornish waters.
However, whilst many Cornish eateries are either specialised fish restaurants or offer a greater number of fish dishes than meat, there is more than Rick Stein and fish menus to Cornwall's culinary prowess.
Cornwall's farmers are gaining a reputation for producing food of the highest standards in terms of the environment and animal welfare. Farm produce such as Cornish Yarg and Roskilly's Ice Cream is being sold not only in a growing number of farm shops and farmers markets but exported all over the UK. There has been a particularly strong growth in the organic produce sector over the last few years, reinforcing the public's trust in the wholesomeness and traceable origin of local Cornish meat and vegetables.