The Canadian Patty Summit of 1985

I’m a so so fan of patties. Rather, Jamaican patties, to appease the bureaucrats from the mid 80s. Typically because the meat tends to be dried out by the time I get one in a bag.

Late 1984 was when my family moved us out to Scarborough and I became more familiar with the Caribbean Canadian diaspora. Rosewood convenience was where a new Guyanese friend would lead us past Brimley Woods during lunch hour to get all manner of treats like sour drops, keys, cola bottle shaped gummy candies, jumbo freezies all costing from a penny, nickle each. (Yes, I’m aware that we broke rules as grade 6 and 7 kids in leaving school grounds but this was the 80s). If we were hungry had enough coins which I’d like to remember as $0.50, a beef patty from the warming oven beside the register. It would be a couple more years before I started seeing coco bread wrapped patties and the controversy had died down long before that.

This funny documentary puts me in mind of old Oliver episodes that I started watching when I was more involved with the Friends of the Poor and I had a good chuckle remembering things when high school took a bunch of us down to work in Kingston.

Back to the food. In today’s celebration of fusion cuisine, I’m thinking about patty meat in a steamed or fried dumpling. Moist and juicy. Hrmm.