When Mince Pie Eating was Illegal

Step away from the Mince Pie, step away from the Pie

On the Tube last night after coming home from yet another Christmas night out (Mecca's Publisher's Jo Hemmings' Birthday Party - if you're interested - and it's my ex employer Justgiving's Xmas Party tonight), I saw some drunken people tucking into some Mince Pies on the Piccadilly Line. In the days of Oliver Cromwell, it's likely they would have been punished for doing this, as I learnt on the radio that Oliver Cromwell banned mince pies.

"Oliver Cromwell's Puritan Council abolished Christmas on December 22, 1657. In London, soldiers were ordered to go round the streets and take, by force if necessary, food being cooked for a Christmas celebration. The smell of a goose being cooked could bring trouble. Cromwell considered pies as a guilty, forbidden pleasure. The traditional mincemeat pie was banned."

The DJ, Jamie Theakston took this a bit further as he reckons that the law hasn't actually been repealed, so we could all find the police knocking on our door on Xmas Day sniffing out Christmas goodies!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, December 21, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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