For King Charles’s Coronation, a Fancy Fish Pie Without the Fish

GLOUCESTER, England — The coronation of King Charles III and Camilla, the queen consort, on Saturday will contain lots of the identical historical traditions which were adopted for practically a thousand years. But some issues will likely be new: The royal horse-drawn carriage may have air-conditioning. There will likely be an official coronation emoji issued by Buckingham Palace.

And, in a break with eight centuries of culinary custom, a pie for the newly topped monarch has been baked not with lampreys — slimy, jawless, eel-like fish with a single nostril — however with pork.

At a ceremony on Thursday within the metropolis of Gloucester, about 100 miles northwest of London, Mayor Howard Hyman introduced the pie to a consultant for the king. Instead of precise lampreys, whose numbers in Britain have dwindled, the pie was adorned with two pastry lampreys. A 3rd pastry lamprey had fallen off.

Charles’s consultant, Lord-Lieutenant Edward Gillespie, accepted the pie on behalf of the king and donated it to an area charity specializing in starvation. He stated that it was proper that the custom had been up to date. “It would be inappropriate in these times to present lampreys to anybody,” Lord-Lieutenant Gillespie stated after the ceremony. “He wouldn’t like it,” he stated of the king.

While some in Gloucester lamented the change in custom, many stated it made sense to substitute pork for lamprey to mirror altering tastes.

“I’m not particularly fussed at what’s in the pie,” Alan Myatt, the city crier, stated on the ceremony, which about 100 individuals attended on the Folk of Gloucester museum, a constructing constructed within the 1500s. “The most important thing is we’re commemorating and celebrating the coronation by presenting a pie.” He applauded Gloucester for coming collectively to hold on the custom. “God save the king!” the gang chanted.

The custom of supplying the monarch with lampreys dates to at the very least the late Twelfth century, when lampreys, then plentiful within the native River Severn, had been served at royal banquets and feasts, stated Andrew Armstrong, an archaeologist for the Gloucester City Council. Even earlier, in 1135, King Henry I died after consuming too many lampreys, in accordance with “The History of the English People 1000-1154,” by Henry of Huntingdon, the Twelfth-century Anglo-Norman historian.

In 1200, King John fined the boys of Gloucester 40 marks — a major sum on the time — for failing to ship a lamprey pie. John’s son, King Henry III, was additionally an enormous fan, and his family accounts present entries of funds for lamprey orders for him and for his spouse, Eleanor, Queen of England, in accordance with the quick e-book “Royal Lamprey Pie of Gloucester,” revealed in 1953.

In the previous, lampreys had been marinated in crimson wine or salt after which roasted with spices, in accordance with English Heritage, a charity that manages historic buildings in England. By the 18th century, the lamprey pie recipe included lemons, Mr. Armstrong stated.

Queen Elizabeth II acquired a number of lamprey pies over her 70-year reign, although it was unclear whether or not she ever sampled any of them.

Robin Start, 96, who attended the ceremony in Gloucester on Thursday, was amongst a bunch of struggle veterans who delivered a 42-pound lamprey pie to Windsor Castle for Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953. Lampreys are “horrible, horrible things,” Mr. Start stated, describing how they latch on to different fish and suck their blood. “Would you want to eat a fish like that?”

Charles most probably wouldn’t. A longtime environmentalist, he has spoken out in opposition to overfishing and stated in a BBC interview in 2021 that he avoids meat and fish two days per week. The official dish for the coronation, in accordance with a recipe launched by Buckingham Palace, is a vegetarian quiche manufactured from spinach, tarragon, cheese and fava beans. The king and queen are encouraging individuals to serve this dish at avenue and backyard events that may happen throughout Britain over the lengthy coronation weekend, which begins on Saturday.

While lampreys have fallen out of vogue in Britain, they’re nonetheless eaten in elements of Europe. The Portuguese city of Montemor-o-Velho holds an annual lamprey competition, by which gourmands descend on town to pattern lampreys, that are ready by boiling them in their very own blood.

Other culinary traditions lengthy well-liked with European the Aristocracy persist at present. One of the best delicacies in France is the ortolan, a tiny songbird whose dwindling numbers precipitated the federal government to forbid its sale. Diners eat the fowl in a single mouthful whereas overlaying their heads with white napkins to cover their sin from God (and to savor the aroma). Former President François Mitterrand’s final meal earlier than he died in 1996 included the uncommon and unlawful ortolan.

Eating lamprey in Britain is just not unlawful, however catching one requires permission from the British authorities. The metropolis of Gloucester used lampreys in pies for Elizabeth in 2012 and 2015, although the lampreys had been imported from Canada, the place they had been thought of pests and a risk to native trout populations.

While Gloucester officers stated it was not acceptable to ship lampreys from Canada, given Charles’s concentrate on sustainability, the custom may probably be introduced again if conservation efforts in England are profitable.

“If we can restore them, they’ll no longer be an endangered species,” Mr. Armstrong stated, “and we’ll be happier about putting them in pies.”