Give protected status to traditional pie and mash, campaigners urge

Campaigners hope to secure protected status for traditional pie and mash to celebrate the “original fast food” and its London origins.

Conservative former minister Richard Holden and producers have made representations to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) about an application for Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) status for the dish.

Mr Holden, the MP for Basildon and Billericay, will lead a parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall on Tuesday to further press the case for the “cracking” products to get the “recognition they deserve”.

Defra said an application for TSG status requires agreement on the recipe that producers would need to follow to use the name in future and they will assess the case once a formal application is submitted.

The recipe involves a minced beef pie served with mashed potatoes and a parsley sauce known as liquor.

Mr Holden said he has written to more than 40 MPs who have a pie and mash shop in their constituency, telling the PA news agency: “It’s part of a campaign to celebrate and really promote pie and mash, which has spread out from its beginnings in central and east London, down the Thames Gateway and out into the world.

“We’re wanting to celebrate it and I’ve got a couple of pie and mash shops in my part of the Basildon new town. I’ve got Stacey’s Pie and Mash and Robins Pie and Mash. Robins is part of a small chain run by a family right across Essex and east London.”

Mr Holden added: “There’s a geographical scheme that covers things from specific areas, like champagne and Cornish pasties, but there’s also a traditional methods scheme which is what we’re trying to get this one covered by.

“For example, how you make a Bramley apple pie if you want to call it that it has to be done in a specific method etc. so we want the same sort of thing.

“I’ve been to these pie and mash shops, they make them on site, every day, they’re the original fast food, pies made in advance and they are made by artisans, it’s a nice thing and I think it’s something that’s been a bit underappreciated.”

Mr Holden went on: “There’s huge local pride in it and also I think, perhaps, pie and mash has been a bit looked down on, maybe, and it’s right that given these are actual, individually artisan-made products that they get the recognition they deserve.”

He said talks are already happening with Defra and he is “hopeful that over time that will move further in the right direction”.

Asked about his experiences of eating pie and mash, Mr Holden replied: “Cracking. Original pie and mash was an eel pie but when the Thames was polluted during the industrial revolution basically eels were no longer there so they switched to having mince in it.

“The crucial thing is they kept the liquor from the original eel pie, which is why you’ve got the parsley sauce because traditionally parsley liquor would always have gone with a fish dish.

“Personally I prefer mine also with vinegar, some people have chilli vinegar – it’s not for me. It’s not malted vinegar, it’s a specific sort of vinegar that they have with it.”

On whether the campaign will be successful, Mr Holden said: “I don’t start campaigns I can’t win.”

Environment minister Daniel Zeichner, replying to a written question from Mr Holden, said: “Defra officials have already discussed the application process for Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status with a representative of the producers.

“They are clear that an application for TSG status requires agreement on the recipe that producers would need to follow to use the name in future.

“They also understand that all those wishing to use the name would need periodic verification of their practices.

“Once a formal application is submitted, a full assessment of the case can be made.”

Mr Holden also tabled an early day motion in the Commons on Tuesday.

It said: “That this House recognises the need to protect Cockney heritage, including pie and mash, a staple dish of Cockneys for nearly 200 years; notes that the Cockney diaspora have moved out of East London to at least 42 constituencies across parts of the east and south east; and supports the over 100 pie and mash shops, cafes and restaurants that still offer this dish as an important part of our Great British culture.”