San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-01-07
WHAT IS MINcE PIE?

W1Al ID m44NSG 49,
Z Readers of news reports from Europe
. are likely to gain the impression that
the people of the Old World arc think
ing only in terms OF trouble. That con-
ception of some Europeans may be cor
rect. But there is one nation on the
other side of the Atlantic that is still
able to turn aside from the grave prob
. lens that infest the times, and to think
If things far less disagreeable than those
Of which the cable dispatches from that
part OF the globe give account.
"A Consider the possibilities in the sub
iect, "The History and Mystery of the
Mince Pie" OF all Europeans, who but
the English, in these troublous times,
would publish in a magazine OF interna-
.tional circulation, a comprehensive trea-
! tise on any phase of culinary art? An
! Entertaining, highly diverting article on
sithe subject quoted is to be found in the
December issue of the Nineteenth Cen
,tury and After, sandwiched between
8 'heavy" studies of politics and commerce.
! i International interest attaches to the
subject not only because the nince pie
represents traditions which many coun-
( tries hold in common, but also because
there has developed a difference OF
Opinion, as between English critics. and
{ American government officials, concern
ing the proper constituent ingredients
{ OF m1ncemeat.
( Il, The American definition, as given by
6ilr Pure Food Bureau, seems to be a
result of two laws-one requiring thai
packages containing food for sale mus
bear labels correctly describing the CON
tents, and the other forbidding the SALE
q alcoholic liquor. In listing the ingredi
ents of mincemeat the American author
tiles have to omit one that every Englisi
housewife regards as indispensable. Tit
English are constrained to admit, how
!eyer, that, save the official omission o
brandy, rum and the like, the American
recipe is the more faithful to the origina
custom in that it includes meat as 4;
necessary ingredient of mincemeat II
.}modern times the English, who used t.
put into mince pies various kinds o
,rneat-the only requirement was that i
must be 'free from skin and gristle"-
have departed somewhat from "the origi
nal and truer form" The English woulc
doubtless contend, though, that OF tn
two omissions the one indicated by tn
American governments definition is tn
more nearly fatal.
But, after all, in actual practice Eng
lish and American mince pies are no
! so greatly at variance, for the omission
by American housewives of the ingredi
,ent which the, English regard as indis
.pensable is largely supposititious.
~ This supposition OF which the Englis
writer takes account suggests a relation
ship between the American phenomena
called prohibition and a movement tina
marks disagreeable phase of Englis
history. 1t is without pride that tn
author of the article, "The History an
Mystery of the Mince Pie" recalls tn
time when fanaticism in his own countr
rose to such heights of absurdity tina
1.-THE making of such a melange was pre-
hibited That was the seventeenth Ger
fury when the Puritans had the uppe
hand.
Not only was the mince pie prohibited
as being symboliCal of religious doctrine
sbhorrent to the Puritans, but in 164
Parliament decreed that the festival {
1.-The Nativity of Christ, for which it wa
missionary for English housewives t
bake numerous mince pies, should Il
longer be observed. The entire Chris
mas fare that was traditional with I'll
English people was officially frowne
upon. The following lines describe Il
Situation:
fIhe High Shoe Lords OF Cromwell
paaking
k1Vere Not for Dainties, Roasting, Bakin
/ The chiefest food they found most good
@Was rusty bacon and bag pudding.
Plum broth was popish, and Mince Pie
O that was flat idolatry."