A NEW eating experience with its roots deep in Cornish tradition is on the menu in Fowey as the town welcomed "the tastiest pasties in the world".
TV presenter and chef James Strawbridge recently brought a new take on the humble pasty to the taste buds of curious South West diners as the Posh Pasty Co launched in Fowey.
The seeds for this newcomer to the pasty world were sown while James was travelling and filming for his TV shows, The Hungry Sailors and Saturday Farm.
He said: "TV presenting is great but the problem with it is that I spend a lot of time talking to other people about their businesses and their jobs and it sometimes feels like I'm not making or doing anything myself."
During a conversation with his wife Holly, the idea for the company began.
"I realised I wanted to do something within the food industry," added James.
"I was sitting with my wife and she asked which food is my favourite, I said pasties, and she said how about a posh pasty?"
With the name in the bag and a two-week break from filming, James went "hell for leather" to get the first gourmet pasties ready for tasting.
He said: "Although I was an incredibly experienced pasty eater, when it came to making them I was a complete novice.
"So, to get the seasoning exactly right, we basically lived off pasties, my wife's friends and their children came round to sit in the garden and eat pasties.
"It was very important not just to try it out on tourists; I wanted get the opinions of local hardcore critics, and, by the time we launched, I was really very pleased with the end product."
As well as looking at this Cornish staple from a new angle, with flavours such as rabbit, cider and mustard, or mackerel and horseradish with beetroot pastry, James also felt it important to promote top quality local produce and celebrate those producing it.
"Quite often with TV you never see the people you speak to again, so now I actually want to celebrate the people I meet and continue to work with them into the future as well. It's been really positive, turning a chance meeting through television into a lasting relationship."
To assist with the promotion of local producers, and to get the pasties out to a wider audience, James has recently launched a crowd funder where he hopes to raise the funds to put a Posh Pasty Co food truck on the road.
"The idea for a food truck and crowd funding is to try and get the local community involved by us being able to offer back awesome rewards for pledges of money.
"I want to get out there and sell direct to people which also means that I can talk to them all about the ingredients which come from the local farmers, cheese makers, artisans who I've formed good relationships with and am passionate about promoting them. We're basically laughing at ourselves and having a bit of fun with it.
"Our pasties offer something different than a traditional pasty, I won't say better, because although I feel our pasties are the tastiest pasties in the world, I would never turn down a traditional one."
