Australian meat pie
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The meat pie, hand-sized pot pies containing largely minced meat and gravy and consumed as a takeaway food snack, is considered iconic in Australian culture and has been described by former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr as Australia's "national dish".[Sausage Roll Policy] The average Australian will consume an average of 45 meat pies per year and the popular brand Four'N Twenty Pie produce 50,000 pies per hour[[Citing sources citation needed]]. The meat pie is heavily associated with Rugby League and other sports as one of the most popular consumables whilst watching a game.
Commercial pie manufacturers in Australia
Manufacturers of pies in Australia tend to be state based, reflecting the long distances involved with interstate transport and lack of refrigeration capabilities in the early years of pie production.The Australian meat pie manufacturer Four'N'Twenty claims that their pie was invented in 1947 by L. T. McClure in a small Bendigo bakery, to become the brand Four'N'Twenty.
Other manfacturers predate this, and the pie manufacturer Sargent can trace their pie making back to 1906. Sargent meat pies were served at the opening of the Old Parliament House in 1927 — or rather 10,000 pies were not served and the left-over pies had to be buried nearby.
In Queensland, Yatala Pies is one of the most successful independent direct meat pie retailers in the world [[Citing sources citation needed]] and bakes on average over 2,000 pies and pastries per day, more in peak times.
In South Australia, Balfours has been making pies since the early 1900s and remains (with Vilies) one of two major pie manufacturers in the state.
Nutritional value
New South Wales Premier Bob Carr launched a Childhood Obesity Summit in 2002 where he told participants that feeding children a diet of meat pies, sausage rolls and chiko rolls was akin to child cruelty. However, in 2003 Premier Carr had suddenly warmed to 'Australia's national dish' in his election campaign. He called the press corps to a pie shop in his electorate and fronted the cameras. Carr stated: "I reckon anyone, faced with a choice between this (the meat pie held in his hand) and a sausage roll would go for this. It's the more Australian choice anyway. This is our national dish." [Sausage Roll Policy]In April 2002, the Australian Consumers Association conducted a study of 22 frozen meat pies available in supermarkets. They found three of them did not meet the minimum 25 per cent meat content requirement set by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), they also found that the fat content ranged from 15 to 35 grams of fat per pie. The ACA study was of a select group of frozen meat pies in supermarkets, thus the study does not account for freshly baked meat pies of which the meat content and nutritional value varies from bakery to bakery.
The meats allowed by FSANZ in a meat pie are beef, buffalo, camel, cattle, deer, goat, hare, pig, poultry, rabbit and sheep. Kangaroo meat, a leaner alternative, is also sometimes used.
Other cultural references
In the 1970s meat pies were mentioned in an advertising jingle for General Motors Holden Australia. The jingle — Football, meat pies, Kangaroos and Holden Cars, they go together underneath the Southern Stars — was an adaptation of an American jingle for the General Motors Chevrolet brand. Holden is owned by General Motors.Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, is famous for selling "meat" pies to his unsuspecting customers.
See also
References
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