Cornish Pasty Week 2019
Sunday sees the return of our favourite week of the year - Cornish Pasty Week! We are so proud to be a part of it again this year to celebrate the beloved Cornish Pasty. There's lots going on throughout the week, which ends with the World Pasty Championships at Eden. Have a read of the Cornish Pasty Association's official release for all the details below!
NEWS RELEASE, FEBRUARY 22 2019
Oggy-mania set to break out for second annual Cornish Pasty Week
Mr and Mrs Pasty’s Grand Tour and the search for the World’s Fastest Crimper are two massive highlights of the second Cornish Pasty Week starting on Sunday (February 24).
Last year Mrs and Mrs Pasty caused a stir by taking over London and this year they will be turning up the heat right across their home territory.
The well-crimped couple got in the swing of things by whizzing at 60 miles an hour down SkyWire, England’s longest and fastest zipline run by Hangloose Adventure at the Eden Project near St Austell.
Their adventures continue for Cornish Pasty Week when they will be making special appearances at classic beauty spots from Land’s End to the Tamar.
Having mastered the zipline, they could pop up anywhere as they turn their hands to some other challenges and activities throughout the week including, of course, a spot of pasty crimping.
It is unlikely they will be any match for the county’s top professionals, who will be battling it out during the week for the brand new title of World’s Fastest Crimper.
The heats are taking place on the morning of Tuesday February 26 at Heartlands, the giant playground and heritage centre built on derelict mining land at Pool, near Redruth. Anyone is welcome to drop in to support the contestants between about 9.30 and 10.30 am.
The four crimpers with the fastest fingers will take their places on stage for the final crimp-off at the World Pasty Championships at the Eden Project on Saturday March 2.
The rigorous adjudication process doesn’t only take into account speed – the judges will be checking that every pasty has at least 18 clearly defined crimps and is finished with a neat tuck.
Jason Jobling, Chair of the Cornish Pasty Association, the non-profit-making group of pastymakers who mastermind the week, said: “After a great start last year we’re ready to roll out Cornish Pasty Week again, a wonderful celebration of Cornwall’s most celebrated food.”
The association is confident that there will be keen competition among professional bakers to become the World’s Fastest Crimper.
Jason said: “Crimping is a real art, often handed down from generation to generation. Some professional crimpers can work at an astonishing speed – up to nine pasties a minute is possible – but still produce a remarkably consistent style. We felt it was time to shine a light on all those who work in the Cornish pasty industry in this critical role.”
The grand finale of Cornish Pasty Week is the World Pasty Championships at the Eden Project on Saturday March 2.
The event, now in its eighth year, attracts hundreds of professional and amateur pasty makers from Cornwall, the UK and across the world.
Alongside the hotly-contested competition, Eden presents a fabulous bill of entertainment, this year topped by celebrated shanty singers and soon-to-be film legends Fisherman’s Friends.
The group of friends from Port Isaac head a stellar line-up including Cornwall-based funnyman Steve Heller, acclaimed five-piece The Kingstons, all-female folk band The Trees, one-man blues band Thomas Ford, and Launceston’s finest The Countrymen.
The Fisherman’s Friends appearance comes shortly before the film version of their amazing story – also called Fisherman’s Friends – hits big screens on March 15.
There is still time to enter pasties for the championships at www.edenproject.com/pasty.
Throughout the week the Cornish Pasty Association will be sharing Mr and Mrs Pasty’s adventures on Facebook, along with a host of other pasty-fuelled antics.
