Pasties account for 6% of Cornish income, and steak slices and cheese onion pasties are a national institution. But it’s possible to make plant-based versions that are kind to animals and better for your waistline! Vegan cheese & onion pasties (The Veg Space) use vegan double cream.
Keep these recipes away from pets due to unsafe ingredients like onion, mushrooms and faux meats – also keep fresh dough away from pets, if making pastry. Read more on food safety for people & pets.
The problem with most pasties on sale is that the pastry contains palm oil. So it makes sense to learn how to make your own pastry (simple with just a few ingredients, and you can freeze the rest). This frees you up to make all kinds of baked treats, and be orangutan-friendly too!
Vegan Pasties with Mushroom (The Veg Space) are ever-so-slightly posh by a classically-trained chef who prefers pasties to nut roast! These are made with flat-cap mushrooms, puy lentils and thyme (and a little sneaky red wine) wrapped in flaky pastry.
what’s with vegan steak bakes?
The problem now in England is that we tend to live our lives by marketing. So why the media rave about a vegan sausage roll that is very high in fat, tasteless and contains palm oil? Every single ‘vegan steak bake’ on sale (Gregg’s, Gingsters, Quorn, Aldi) contains palm oil. All are simply a cheap mix of ingredients by companies getting on the plant-based bandwagon, not taking any notice of the fact that ‘real vegans’ these days won’t touch palm oil. Make your own vegan steak bakes (School Night Vegan) and stick them in a reusable lunch box!
vegan pasties from Cornwall!
Cornish pasties account for around 6% of Cornish income, and many producers are not happy about plant-based alternatives (hence the heading above, you’re not allowed to use the name for vegan versions!) A bit like French pig farmers unhappy about La Vie vegan bacon, which is flying off the shelves. Time to get real: we don’t have enough land for everyone to eat free-range meat.
This recipe for a vegan Cornish pasty (A Vegan Visit) is so good, you’ll never buy from chain bakers again. Use Naturli vegan butter block (not the spread), then pack with cubed potatoes, swede and mushroom.
Although nostalgia is sometimes good, it’s important also to be authentic. Most ‘Cornish pasties’ sold in shops are from factory-farmed animals with palm oil and plastic packaging, they are not from local farmers and butchers in Cornwall. The main brand sold in England (which also makes pork pies) uses ‘farm-assured beef’. Sounds good? Compassion in World Farming says this means nothing.
And why the backlash against a woman who created a ‘vegan pasty’ in her native Cornwall. She was forced to change the name. Yet companies that use palm oil (imported from Indonesia) are allowed to call them ‘Cornish pasties’, even thought unlike her, they were not supporting local swede and potato farmers. In fact, critics should research their history. Cornish pasties were created back in the 1200s, so miners could use the ‘crimped edge’ to hold their hands (often covered in asbestos). They would eat the pasty, then leave the crimp ‘to keep ghosts’ happy in the mines. Although one half had meat – the other half had fruit. So they were partly ‘vegan pasties’ all along!
