Wordblog

The silly season has come early to media blogging this season. Jeff Jarvis started it with a picture of a Pukka Pies sign and one of those “aren’t foreigners funny comments”: “Puke a pie? no thanks.”

I suppose we should not expect him to know Britain’s rich heritage of of Indian words. Collins defines pukka as “perfectly done” and derived from the Sanskrit, via Hindi.

Neil McIntosh has provided Jarvis with a full explanation, including the football ritual. In this context the name of the blog, completetosh, may not encourage full confidence among Americans. But, I assure them, he is right.

Jarvis is remaining true to his roots, writing, “Surely one can’t eat a piping-hot gravy-and-grease-filled pie as if it were something truly sensible like a hot dog. I’m betting he’s trying to trap me.”

Now, I am worried about the adulation of Pukka Pies. I am nostalgic about Fleur de Lys steak and kidney pies which were essential sustenance in my early days as a reporter in the Midlands.

Today if you order a pie in a pub it comes with chips and salad. You can’t eat it standing at the bar as you phoned your copy — the landlord would put the phone in front of you before pulling the beer. The last time I was able to order an unadorned pie was in Edinburgh. Can you still order “a pie and a pint” in the Scottish capital?

The king of pies were those from Fleur de Lys, named after the pub where they were first made. The landlord started selling them to other pubs and then opened a factory on the banks of the canal in Warwick. Every piece of meat was cut by hand and no hint of gristle was permitted.

They came in just two flavours, steak and kidney, and chicken and mushroom. The man who started the business eventually decided to retire and sold his thriving business to big pie.

They thought corners could be cut (machine chopped meat) — the Fleur de Lys pies lost their flavour, and nasty bits stuck between your teeth.

I am not the only nostalgic pie eater. The Birmingham history forum is full of them. Someone who asked where the original Fleur de Lys pub was got this reply:

The pub is at Lowsonford which is near Lapworth. Unfortunately the menu has now gone up market, with meals like wild boar, venison and pheasant etc.but no pies. :’(
Mind you, I find PUKKA pies are quite a good alternative. ^-^

A Technorati search for “pukka” brings up 1,439 results including one that mentions pukka pies and the Glastonbury Festival.