As Falmouth welcomes some of the biggest tall ships in the World for the prestigious Magelian Elcano Race 2023, the Cornish Pasty Association was invited by the Ambassador of Mexico, Ms Josefa Gonzalez Blanco to attend a reception on the ARM Cuauhtemoc Sailing Tall Ship from the Mexican Navy.
Walking down the dock towards the Arm Cuahtemoc you are struck by the size of the ship and how impressive the height of the masks, along the biggest Mexica flag moving in the sea breeze. Once onboard the crew looking so smart in the military uniforms just wanted to show off the ship, it was spotlessly clean and all the brass was shining in the evening sun.
A warm welcome on board by the Captain and the Ambassador of Mexica, lovely speeches the captain explaining all about the ship and the crew. Ms Josefa Gonzalez Blanco talking about the relationships between the Cornish Pasty and Mexico, and how the Cornish miners provided Mexico not only with Football but most importantly the Cornish Pasty. The evening continued with drinks and excellent Mexican food!
Did you know the link between Mexico and Cornwall?
After our wonderful Tall Ships experience, we have been reflecting on the historical links between Mexico and Cornwall. In all began in the early 19th century when our tin miners started to look for work overseas, many heading to California and many went further south to Mexico to breath fresh life into the silver mines around Real de Monte.
The war of independence from Spain (1810-21) had left the mines with battered infrastructure flooded mines. Cornish miners arrived bringing their tools, skills and knowledge but along with that they also brought the infamous Cornish pasty.
The Cornish pasty, or paste as it is known in Mexico became part of the Mexican mining culture.
In Real del Monte’s today you will find many ‘paste’ shops, a Museo del Paste, which features a steel oven and rusty mining tools and an annual pasty festival (which we really hope we can attend one of these years) where festival-goers dance the tango, mambo and rumba into the early hours as well as partaking in pasty games and activities, including the baking and eating of a 12ft Mexican style pasty!
