To many people in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the pasty is much more than food, it is an identifying cultural mark that gives them their own identity. When the Cornish came to the copper mines of the Upper Peninsula, they brought with them a lot of mining knowledge which the other ethnic groups did not have.  The
pasty was the standard lunch for miners.  The pasty
became popular with these other ethnic groups because
it was small, portable, was very filling, and could
stay warm for 8-10 hours.  Pasty rivalry occurred
between the Finns, Swedes, Irish, Poles, Germans,
Scots, Italians, and French with each group
contributing something in the way of seasoning
and other ingredients.  All groups agree that
pasties must contain two things, potatoes and onions.                               The portability of the pasty not only made it easy to carry, but if it                         should get cold it would be relatively easy to heat up.  This was done by putting the pasty on a shovel and holding it over a head-lamp candle.  Miners never ate a pasty with a fork, they ate it end to end, and held it upright to keep the juices in.  Since entire families worked in mines and each member of the family wanted different ingredients in the pasty, the wife would stamp the bottom corner of each pasty with an initial.

The Myth Surrounding the Pasty

According to the Cornish Recipes, Ancient and Modern, "The true Cornish way to eat a pasty is to hold it in the hand, and begin to bite it from the opposite end to the initial, so that, should any of it be uneaten, it may be consumed later by its rightful owner.  And woe betide anyone who tak's another person's corner!"  There was a superstition among the miners that the initial corner should not be eaten, instead it was dropped on the ground for the mining gremlins (also known as Knockers) to eat.  These "gremlins" caused mischief in mines, causing accidents and mine collapses, feeding them supposedly kept them out of trouble.

The pasty is a simple food and can be described as a portable meat pie.  It remains relatively unchanged today, a few places have put in healthier vegetable shortening instead of lard, and a coupld of other minor changes like the cut of meat used.