A UK lawmaker wants protected status for classic Cockney dish pie and mash

A British lawmaker has joined campaigners calling for a cornerstone of Cockney cuisine, pie and mash, to be given protected status as a distinct traditional food.

Conservative legislator Richard Holden led a debate in Parliament’s Westminster Hall on Tuesday calling for the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed label for the dish: a pie filled with ground beef, accompanied by mashed potatoes and doused in a parsley sauce known as liquor.

Holden, who represents the Basildon and Billericay constituency east of London, said he wanted “to celebrate and really promote pie and mash, which has spread out from its beginnings in central and east London, down the Thames Gateway and out into the world.”

“They’re the original fast food,” he said.

The original pies eaten by working-class Londoners, known as Cockneys, often contained eels, and pie and mash is still often served alongside stewed or jellied eels. Traditional pie shops were once commonplace in London but their number has shrunk as the city and its culinary tastes have grown more diverse.

Britain and the European Union both have programs to give culturally significant foods the official stamp of tradition. Other British delicacies given the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed label include Gloucestershire Old Spots pork and Bramley apple pie.

Environment Minister Daniel Zeichner said in response to a question from Holden that gaining the status “requires agreement on the recipe that producers would need to follow to use the name in future."

The designation would mean that only meals made to such specific recipes or methods could be labeled as Cockney “pie ‘n’ mash.” Such labels are enforced with periodic checks to make sure that manufacturers are sticking to the rules.

Zeichner said the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would assess the case once a formal application is submitted.