Of Pasties and Crickets
Staff with the British NGO National Trust have tracked down an elusive and rare beach cricket thought lost after a storm with the help Cornish pasties and cat food.
The cricket was rediscovered in a search by Adrian Colston, National Trust property manager for Dartmoor.
He said: ‘After walking along the shingle beach and drawing a blank I changed my tactics in the hunt for this elusive cricket.
‘I set five pitfall traps at various points on the beach at Branscombe using cat biscuits, pieces of apple and a bit of my Cornish pasty as bait.
It turns out–who knew?–that crickets really dig stuff like “stale bread, poultry mash, cornmeal, powdered dog or cat food, tropical fish flakes, pond fish pellets, [and] rabbit chow.” Mmm.
Pasties, for those unfamiliar with them as a food (rather than as an unwelcome adornment), are akin to empanadas, saltenas, and other transportable baked meat pies (often) popular in mining cultures. And, having spent many summer vacations eating pasties in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where many immigrant Cornish miners settled (that includes my uncle’s ancestors), I thoroughly endorse the tastiness of pasties.
Pasties aren’t just for crickets–they go well with cricket (the sport), too.
Bonus: Pasties are so fantastic that they recently saved a man’s arm in Australia.
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