Perhaps even more iconic than thongs and barbies, the
meat pie has been a staple Australian food since the nineteenth century – and
it is the subject of an upcoming pop-up exhibition at Toormina Library.
Defined as: ‘a single serving, enclosed in pastry with a
filling of meat in gravy, and typically eaten for lunch or as a snack food’,
the origins of the meat pie are traced by the display from the ancient world to
the home freezers and sports terraces of today.
In the earliest
days of European settlement, wheat came by ship from India, but meat pies
didn’t become a popular meal until a steam-driven mill that could grind wheat
into flour in commercial quantities was erected in Sydney in 1815.
By 1821, Sydney had
11 mills and 52 licensed bakers producing bread, pies and other baked goods.
The trade attracted
eccentric characters such as Sydney’s Flying Pieman, William Francis King, who
sold pies to people getting on the Parramatta ferry at Circular Quay, then raced
around to where they disembarked to sell a second helping.
breaks down the history of the meat pie into bite-sized pieces including the
introduction of tomato sauce, distribution by goat carts, the different
manufacturers, its place in popular culture and how it’s viewed today.
The ‘Meat Pie: Australia’s Own Fast Food’ will be on
display from Wednesday, August 17, for four weeks at Toormina Library, Minorie
The display is the
outcome of a project by ASHET, the Australian Society for History of
Engineering and Technology, to research and record the history of the
Australian meat pie.