• Sunday-What'sUP November 23 - 09:57 am

Our Shoebox Memory this week is about the turn of two centuries. Around 1900, school boys with caps and knickers were enjoying pasties for lunch, in Cornwall and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. A hundred years later, folks in the U.P. were still baking and enjoying pasties, but - how things had changed. At the 2000 Michigan Information Technology Summit I had the privilege of sharing the story of how Pasty Central began, which you heard if you stopped by last week. Today we conclude with the second half of that account.

Of course, the story didn't end in 2000. In the past 8 years, radical changes have occurred in our world, right up to recent days. But the U.P.'s favorite comfort food is still available for home delivery wherever you live in the 50 states. We are glad to be a part of carrying on that tradition, and are thankful for all of the friends who have taken part in this project over the years. Next week we'll update the history of Pasty Central since that summit in 2000.

Our thanks to the Proper Cornish Food Company in the U.K. for the photo. Their website gives some background of the pasty in the land where it originated: www.propercornish.co.uk

Have a good week and a wonderful Thanksgiving :o)

What an absolutely lovely picture. I wonder where it was taken. I have tried to make pasties a few times but not successfully. Guess I need a good recipe.

It is a shiveringly cold morning in downstate Michigan. Jackson has 14 degrees at 7am. We are supposed to have a high of near 40. Except for the lack of snow it seems more like January.

Good Morning All,
I just love the picture. My grandma was raised in Copper Country. and I have a family picture that could be identical minus the pasties. Her pasties were great but Aunt Bessies's were better, Don't tell Grandma!!! Hi, Big Bro, Baby sis!

Speaking of "the U.P.'s favorite comfort food", I just noticed that it was Thanksgiving week in 2004 (Nov. 28th) when the ol' Pasty meter rolled over 250,000, in only eight years and six months since its inception.

It looks like sales have been picking up.

If sales keep up at the present rate, y'all should hit 500,000 by September of next year, only 5 years and 10 months for the second quarter million!

Or sooner!

Charlie, I loved hearing the rest of the story.

Thanks for sharing it with us and for this great website.

My thanks to David for sending on those pastie recipies. When ad-libbing my way through making them a few years back, I forgot a few ingredients it seems. Does the lard make a real difference in the taste? I really am not an eater of pork products. Would butter be better in the crust or Vegetable shortening?

Charlie, Thanks for the story on the life of Pasty Central. I love your website and have shared it with many. It helps me through the long periods of time when I am not in the UP.