The Pasty

Originally written on August 23, 2007 -- Camp Soldner

Some answers to questions I had about the U.P. area… (the second in a series):

Question 2): What the heck is a "pasty"?

One of the first things a person notices when traveling around Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula are signs everywhere promoting something called "pasties". No snickering please... the word has a short-a pronunciation, like the "a" in sap or apple, and with the accent on the first syllable. These signs almost universally claim the #1 voted pasties in Alger County (or whatever city or county you're in), or the #1 voted pasties in the entire Upper Peninsula. It's almost as if it's a requirement that anyone selling pasties MUST add "voted #1" to their sign. I'm not sure who is voting in these polls; they never tell you that.

Well, my curiosity got the better of me so we headed off to our first pasty experience a few weeks ago in Mackinaw City at a place claiming the best pasties (voted #1) in all of Michigan. What we got was a pie-shell-like pastry that completely envelopes a meal of chopped and diced potatoes, beef, onion, and rutabaga. After the diced and chopped inside stuff is prepared and wrapped in the pastry shell, it's baked, like a pie, then eaten, or cooled and stored for future use. It could be described as a dry casserole turn-over. Recently, in a fit of irreverence to tradition, some have been making a chicken version to stay in step with the national obsession with anything that isn't red-meat. Can a veggie version (gasp!) or a taco version be far behind? I've heard it said that you'll always be chasing that first pasty experience... that it's hard for any subsequent pasty to measure up to that first one. Pasties are often offered with gravy (which moistens them up a little), and some people smother them with catsup. What does that tell you?

So, how was that first pasty? I found it to be a good, but not great, basic food. It won't knock your socks off, but I could see how it'd be possible to develop an occasional craving for them, much as you get a craving for a gyro or McDonald's quarter-pounder or a White Castle burger... you just gotta have one, but not more than one every month or two. Since that first experience with the #1 pasty in Michigan, we've had almost a dozen more #1 pasties at different places around the Upper Peninsula. There are subtle differences but you'll never be surprised by what you get -- basic, quick food.

And where'd these things come from? Pasties were supposedly introduced into the culture of the Upper Peninsula by Cornish miners in the mid-1800's, as they came to the U.P. in increasing numbers to work in the copper mines. The pasty was prepared ahead of time and taken into the mine as an "all-in-one" lunch -- perhaps the first fast-food. They were reportedly set on top of hot mining equipment for heating, and were able to be eaten with a minimum of fuss or mess. They provided the needed calories for miners to keep their energy-level up during long days in the mines.

I think it's important to celebrate local-isms like the pasty and to, in some small way, fight the total homogenization of our society and culture. I'm sure that by the next time I get to the U.P., I'll be getting one of those cravings for another pasty.

T