Lunch for working people

[hwinpp]

Won ton noodles! They look better than the ones I get here! I envy you.

[Deleted]

I think the won ton there is totally exceptional because there is a jumbo prawn inside each one instead of just fragments mixed with the usual stuff.

[spaceneedle]

Mar 5, 2010 21:38:06 GMT kerouac2 said:

I think the won ton there is totally exceptional because there is a jumbo prawn inside each one instead of just fragments mixed with the usual stuff.

K2, are the prawn won tons a regular item on the menu there? If so, I am going there the next time I'm in Paris!!

[Deleted]

Yes, that is on the menu every day. The pho is only available on Wednesday and Thursday.

[Deleted]

It's just a hole in the wall, you know.

[bixaorellana]

Is that you in the lower left corner?

[onlymark]

Don't forget that there are many workers who don't work in offices or building where there is a canteen, nor can they leave their place of work to seek food. Or shift workers.
One such group are miners. I worked in that industry for many years and we took sandwiches in a 'snap' box. An old style one can be seen here -


They were called a 'snap' box because of the sound they made when being closed. The food inside, whatever it was, was also referred to as 'snap' as in "Wot's tha got fo the snap youth?" (What delicious delights has one brought for one's lunch my friend?)

Also never forget the ultimate lunch for a working man - the Cornish pastie



Exported around the world in one form or another but originates, reputedly, with the Cornish tin miners who would grip the crust to eat it and then throw the dirty part away.
A variation was the pastie in two parts, the savoury end and the sweet end for desert -



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty

[Deleted]

There is a strange kinship between the pastie and the calzone.

[bixaorellana]

Mark, you won't believe how tickled I am to finally know the origin of the word "snap" used in that way.

When I was a kid I had a book I loved about a Cornish family of tin-miners who immigrate to the US. I was enthralled by the depiction of Cornish culture, including pasties. I remember how thrilled I was when, as a young married woman, I discovered a recipe for pasties.

On my list of must-visit places is the town of Pachuca, Hidalgo -- birthplace of Mexican soccer and home of Mexicanized pasties.

[onlymark]

Mar 6, 2010 18:42:55 GMT kerouac2 said:

There is a strange kinship between the pastie and the calzone.

It's a little known fact that there is actually a connection.
Around the world there were several sources of tin in ancient times. One of these, apart from Cornwall, was Monte Valerio in Tuscany.
The Etruscan civilization of around 800BC were mining the tin in this area, but as it was of small quantity they eventually had to import it from not only the Iberian peninsula, but Cornwall.

As a result of their need, several Cornish tin miners eventually made their way to the Monte Valerio area as advisers and tradesmen.
One of them, Carlyon Trecothick, brought the recipe with him but found he was unable to source the proper pastry and ingredients.
So he had to adapt what was there already, thus he folded over a pizza.

This new dish, though, didn't have a name. Carlyon didn't know what to call it either, but the locals began to refer to it as "Cals own" pastie. Over time this has become simply enough - calzone.

It's amazing what I know, isn't it?

[onlymark]

Bixa - unfortunately with the society of lazy good for nothing unemployed and unemployable adolescent pillocks that now inhabit the area of the 'snap' box and food, the reference is now dying out. It's lives strong amongst the older generation but with fewer and fewer manual workers and convenience food the call of "And don't forget your snap in the morning" from the women of the area to their hard working husbands is quickly falling from favour.

[lagatta]

Not too bad for that neighbourhood, k2! Surprised you could find a meal soup at that price in poshville.

I know that empanadas are found pretty much throughout the Spanish-speaking world, but there is a kinship between those in the "Cono Sur" countries and pasties, though actually the British-Celtic* miners down there tended to be Welsh. Many an empanada has gone down a Chilean copper mine.

*British-Celtic as Galicians are also Celts.

[existentialcrisis]

onlyMark, where on earth did you hear such a story? I'm not buying it.

[Don Cuevas]

"This new dish, though, didn't have a name. Carlyon didn't know what to call it either, but the locals began to refer to it as "Cals own" pastie. Over time this has become simply enough - calzone."

Nor am I buying it. "Calzone" meant a pair of pants (in Mexico, a pair of underpants.)

More bollocks have been written on the subject of pasties back in the day on the Thorn Tree Get Stuffed Branch, by earlier denizens ChrisyBoy and Grecian.
(Can I say that name here???)

[onlymark]

The tone I read in your post Mr. Cuevas gives me the impression you've had a sense of humour failure. I presume I am wrong and you actually took my post in the light hearted frame of mind it was intended?

[Deleted]

Some people here are not aware of OnlyMark's fantastic literary talent.

[onlymark]

K2, I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.

[onlymark]

Funnily enough, a few days after mentioning the Cornish pasty -
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/8559896.stm

[bixaorellana]

Thank god. I was worried sick about that.

A question: is it pronounced paysty or pahsty? Or even paasty? (flat a)

[bjd]

I must admit that as much as I like empanadas, the only time I tasted a pasty ( it was in York but advertised as Cornish) I found it revolting. Greasy and awful. There was a huge line-up to buy them, the English guy who took us there ate his with appetite, but I ended up feeding the crumbs to the pigeons and throwing out the rest.

Of course, I'm not a tin-miner's daughter, so maybe I'm not genetically pre-disposed to liking them.

[onlymark]

bjd, no problem with that at all, they're not exactly culinary excellence, but they shouldn't be greasy.

bixa - listen to this -
www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=pasty&submit=Submit

[lagatta]

Of course calzone refers to some kind of big breeches. Lots of Italian food names are rather comic.

[bixaorellana]

Thanks, Mark. That's a nifty site. I've bookmarked it and will never again sound like a boob. ;D

[onlymark]

Your welcome, though pronunciation obviously varies from area to area, e.g. I notice the word 'castle' isn't how I say it.

lagatta, reminds me of a village in Andalucia, Spain called Venta de Pantalones. I must call there one day, I've often passed it.

[Don Cuevas]

Mar 7, 2010 4:40:55 GMT onlyMark said:

The tone I read in your post Mr. Cuevas gives me the impression you've had a sense of humour failure. I presume I am wrong and you actually took my post in the light hearted frame of mind it was intended?

OnlyMark, I knew from the first line that your post was a long leadup to a pun.

[bixaorellana]

Ah, it seems DonC was not trying to crimp your style of pahsting, Mark.

[onlymark]

Mar 10, 2010 17:57:15 GMT bixaorellana said:

Ah, it seems DonC was not trying to crimp your style of pahsting, Mark.

Oh dear. You're all at it now.

[bixaorellana]

I so admire you, Mark. Aldough you could have rolled out the insults, you didn't even tell him to stuff it.

[hwinpp]

I quite like the pasties I can get here in the bars. There are a couple of Brits here who make all sorts of specialties including pasties, pies, sausages and black pudding.

[Deleted]

I have not yet learned to appreciate pasties but perhaps I have just never had a good one.

The same goes for sausage rolls.