Who doesn’t like a nice pie? I’m not talking mince or fruit pies. I’m not talking pasties. I’m talking pies.  A pastry base with pastry sides and a separate lid. Well I do and I was fortunate enough a couple of weeks ago to be invited to be a pie taster at Clive’s Pies just outside Dartmouth. There I was seated at the table with a tray of 21 newly baked pies before being told to ‘fill me boots’ by Esther the managing director!

“You look like Sweeney Todd my friend laughed!” Funny but hardly appropriate as these were vegan pies many gluten free! Now take that look of your face just because you like meat. I am neither vegan nor vegetarian but can tell you I tasted each and every one of those pies and would happily do so again!

Its funny how even in this day and age with a growing number of vegetarians and gluten intolerant people out there, 8.5 million according to latest figures, some of us still have fixed ideas on how ‘these people’ look. I remember years ago doing my teaching practice at a school in Kent and a rather scary teacher homed in on me and tried to convert me to vegetarianism. She showed me lurid pictures of the innards of cows and meat eaters, which apparently highlighted why humans shouldn’t eat meat! I hate to be shallow but what really put me off was her appearance. She was bone thin and pale faced, wore drab, badly hand knitted cardigans and a stained tweed skirt, thick surgical stockings with open toed sandals and always seemed to surrounded by a cloud of boiled cauliflower! Well happily things have changed since then with a greater understanding of nutrition and health, if not fashion, which means there is no reason why vegetarians should not be healthy and look any different from meat eaters. But it seems when it comes to veganism… well many still think it’s the work of the devil! As if to illustrate this Esther told a funny story about going out to lunch with her husband and two children, one of whom has not quite made the move to the ‘dark side’, and they ordered the only vegan option on the menu which happened to be burgers. They watched as the waitress came out of the kitchen with a tray loaded with their food, looked around, then went back into the kitchen repeating this another 3 times before Esther stopped her to tell her it was their order. The shocked waitress looked her, and her family, up and down before declaring,

“You don’t look like vegans!”

In fact, just back from far parts, Esther sported a golden glow that put my pasty face to shame! That waitress was out of touch because things are changing with veganism on the rise and something like 12,000 restaurants now offering ‘vegan friendly’ options. Well Esther’s staff is very friendly. It might help that they are encouraged to take home as many pies as they want to every night! They were only too pleased when it was suggested that I might join them on the production line.  Decked out in my white coat, hairnet and rather snappy rubber shoes I was encouraged to fill the pastry cases to the brim with an ice cream scoop as they rotated on a machine in front of me. It doesn’t pay to be out on the timing I can tell you!

Well that’s another job ticked off my list of dream jobs.

Now if anyone can offer any ice cream tasting please feel free to get in touch?

Read all about it in the Western Morning News