Cornish Pasty makers raise £14,500 for food poverty charity

The Cornish Pasty Community Fund has raised £14,500 to help tackle food poverty in Cornwall.

Local food redistribution charity Devon & Cornwall Food Action is the beneficiary of the funds, which will be used to purchase an additional van to specifically service marginalised families living in Cornwall. The charity currently receives up to 15 tonnes of donated products a week including fresh, frozen and packaged food that would otherwise go to waste.

The £14,500 total was collected from donations made by makers and sellers of genuine Cornish pasties during Cornish Pasty Week 2023 (27 February to 5 March), which returned after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The initiative was organised by the Cornish Pasty Association (CPA), a not-for-profit collective of certified pasty producers in Cornwall. With a mission to ‘champion and protect the authenticity and distinctiveness of the genuine Cornish pasty’, the association administers the PGI designation granted in 2011 by the EU to the Cornish pasty name.

“We are overwhelmed by the support this initiative received from the Cornish pasty community in its first year,” said CPA chairman Jason Jobling. “For hundreds of years the Cornish pasty has been an inherent part of our culture here in Cornwall. It seemed appropriate, with so many people facing enormous challenges right now, that we should get together to help provide meals for families in need.”

Businesses that contributed to the Cornish Pasty Community Fund included Phat Pasty, West Cornwall Pasty Co, Warrens, Ginsters, The Cornwall Bakery, Cornish Premier Pasties, Prima Bakeries, Rowes, South Coast Baker, Berrymans, The Pasty House, The Cornish Pasty Store, Cornwall Airport, St Dominick Community Shop, Country House, The Great Cornish Food Store, Sanders, and Proper Cornish.

Devon and Cornwall Food Action chairman Alan Dunne said the donation means they are able to reach even more families facing food poverty in Cornwall.

“It has been amazing to be the first recipient of the Cornish Pasty Community Fund and we can’t tell you how grateful we are for the money raised through this great idea,” he added.