Pie floater
Encyclopedia
A pie floater is a meal available in Australia
, particularly South Australia
which consists of the traditional Australian style meat pie
sitting, usually inverted, in a plate of thick green pea soup
. It is typically covered with tomato sauce
and, although subject to the taste of the individual consumer, mint sauce
and salt
and pepper
are also traditionally added to complement the dish. Another popular condiment is malt vinegar. The pie floater is typically purchased in the street from pie-carts as a late evening meal.
, Joe Cocker
, Billy Connolly
, Nigel Mansell
, Shane Warne
and Angus Young
are high profile fans of the pie floater.
In 2003, the pie floater was recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon by the National Trust of Australia
.
The pie floater is probably best known in the metropolitan areas of the capital cities of South Australia and New South Wales.
Across the rest of Australia, a similar taste experience can be found in a pea pie, a meat pie with a layer of mushy peas
under the crust, often sold at local bakeries. A variation on the pie floater is to substitute the pea soup with mushy peas.
The pie floater also makes an appearance in the Discworld
novel The Last Continent
by Terry Pratchett
, where it is sold by Fair Go Dibbler, one of a number of similar characters who sell "regional delicacies" across the Disc.
/trailer/cart, (originally horse-drawn), with an elongated "window" along one or both sides where customers sit or (more usually) stand to eat their purchases. The pie-cart was typically moved into position at lunch time and in the evening. As traffic became busier and on-street car-parking in demand, the carts evolved to have one window on "the footpath side", and were moved into position after afternoon peak-hour traffic had ebbed. They do business until late-evening or early-morning, at which time they are moved to their daytime storage locations.
A well known version of the pie floater in Australia is sold from Harry's Cafe de Wheels
pie cart situated in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales
. Harry's Cafe de Wheels is listed on the National Trust Register as an historic icon. The current Cafe de Wheels has been permanently fixed on a masonry base for some years. Other Harry's Cafe de Wheels operate in the Sydney
city and metropolitan area, and in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales
.
South Australia has had pie carts in the Adelaide metropolitan area since the 1870s. In the evenings, the Norwood
pie-cart was located on The Parade
adjacent to the Norwood Town Hall
. It was also the only place where members of the public could buy draft Hall's
"Stonie" ginger beer directly from the keg.
In the Adelaide city centre
in the 1880s, there were 13 pie-carts operating in King William Street
and North Terrace
. By 1915 there were nine pie-carts in operation. By 1958 this had reduced to two: Balfour's pie-cart on North Terrace
outside the Adelaide Railway Station
, and Cowley's in Victoria Square
outside the G.P.O. When, in 2007, the Glenelg Tram
line was extended from Victoria Square along King William Street and North Terrace past the Adelaide Railway Station, the Balfour's pie-cart was forced to close.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, particularly South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
which consists of the traditional Australian style meat pie
Australian meat pie
An Australian or New Zealand meat pie is a hand-sized meat pie containing largely diced or minced meat and gravy, sometimes with onion, mushrooms, or cheese and often consumed as a takeaway food snack. The pie itself is similar to the United Kingdom's steak pie.It is considered iconic in Australia...
sitting, usually inverted, in a plate of thick green pea soup
Pea soup
Pea soup or split pea soup is soup made, typically, from dried peas. It is, with variations, a part of the cuisine of many cultures. It is greyish-green or yellow in color depending on the regional variety of peas used; all are cultivars of Pisum sativum.Pea soup has been eaten since antiquity; it...
. It is typically covered with tomato sauce
Tomato sauce
A tomato sauce is any of a very large number of sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish...
and, although subject to the taste of the individual consumer, mint sauce
Mint Sauce
Mint sauce is a sauce traditionally made from finely chopped spearmint leaves, soaked in vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. Occasionally, the juice from a squeezed lime is added. The sauce should have the consistency of double cream...
and salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
and pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
are also traditionally added to complement the dish. Another popular condiment is malt vinegar. The pie floater is typically purchased in the street from pie-carts as a late evening meal.
Details
The addition of the pea soup provides extra flavour and dietary fibre, and extends what otherwise may be considered a snack to a full meal. Anthony BourdainAnthony Bourdain
Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.A...
, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, Billy Connolly
Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname The Big Yin...
, Nigel Mansell
Nigel Mansell
Nigel Ernest James Mansell OBE is a British racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the CART Indy Car World Series...
, Shane Warne
Shane Warne
Shane Keith Warne is a former Australian international cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. In 2000, he was selected by a panel of cricket experts as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected in the quintet...
and Angus Young
Angus Young
Angus McKinnon Young is a Scottish-born Australian musician, and the lead guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the rock and roll band AC/DC. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with other members of AC/DC in 2003 and is known for his energetic performances,...
are high profile fans of the pie floater.
In 2003, the pie floater was recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon by the National Trust of Australia
National Trust of Australia
The Australian Council of National Trusts is the peak body for community-based, non-government organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's indigenous, natural and historic heritage....
.
The pie floater is probably best known in the metropolitan areas of the capital cities of South Australia and New South Wales.
Across the rest of Australia, a similar taste experience can be found in a pea pie, a meat pie with a layer of mushy peas
Mushy peas
Mushy peas are dried marrowfat peas which are first soaked overnight in water and then simmered with a little sugar and salt until they form a thick green lumpy soup. They are a traditional British accompaniment to fish and chips and sometimes mint is used as a flavouring...
under the crust, often sold at local bakeries. A variation on the pie floater is to substitute the pea soup with mushy peas.
The pie floater also makes an appearance in the Discworld
Discworld
Discworld is a comic fantasy book series by English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants which, in turn, stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin. The books frequently parody, or at least take inspiration from, J. R. R....
novel The Last Continent
The Last Continent
The Last Continent is the twenty-second Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. First published in 1998, it mocks the aspects of time traveling such as the grandfather paradox and the Ray Bradbury short story "A Sound of Thunder"...
by Terry Pratchett
Terry Pratchett
Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
, where it is sold by Fair Go Dibbler, one of a number of similar characters who sell "regional delicacies" across the Disc.
Pie-carts
As already mentioned, pie floaters are typically purchased in the street from pie-carts as a late evening meal. Pie-carts are typically a form of caravanCaravan
-Specific automobile models:*Dodge Caravan*Nissan Caravan*Opel Omega Caravan*Opel Astra Caravan*Chevrolet Caravan -Airplane models:*Cessna Caravan, a utility airplane*C-76 Caravan, an American 1940s medium military transport aircraft-Other:...
/trailer/cart, (originally horse-drawn), with an elongated "window" along one or both sides where customers sit or (more usually) stand to eat their purchases. The pie-cart was typically moved into position at lunch time and in the evening. As traffic became busier and on-street car-parking in demand, the carts evolved to have one window on "the footpath side", and were moved into position after afternoon peak-hour traffic had ebbed. They do business until late-evening or early-morning, at which time they are moved to their daytime storage locations.
A well known version of the pie floater in Australia is sold from Harry's Cafe de Wheels
Harry's Cafe de Wheels
Harry's Cafe de Wheels is an iconic pie cart located in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on Cowper Wharf Road, near the Finger Wharf and Fleet Base East of Garden Island Navy Base, opposite the Woolloomooloo Bay Hotel....
pie cart situated in Woolloomooloo, New South Wales
Woolloomooloo, New South Wales
Woolloomooloo is a harbourside, inner-city eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woolloomooloo is located 1.5 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. The suburb is located in a low-lying, former...
. Harry's Cafe de Wheels is listed on the National Trust Register as an historic icon. The current Cafe de Wheels has been permanently fixed on a masonry base for some years. Other Harry's Cafe de Wheels operate in the Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
city and metropolitan area, and in the city of Newcastle, New South Wales
Newcastle, New South Wales
The Newcastle metropolitan area is the second most populated area in the Australian state of New South Wales and includes most of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas...
.
South Australia has had pie carts in the Adelaide metropolitan area since the 1870s. In the evenings, the Norwood
Norwood, South Australia
Norwood is a suburb of Adelaide, about 4 km east of the Adelaide city centre. The suburb is in the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters, the oldest South Australian local government municipality, with a city population over 34,000.-History:...
pie-cart was located on The Parade
The Parade, Adelaide
The Parade is an Adelaide road in the eastern suburbs, running East-West from the Adelaide city centre to the foothills, connecting to suburbs such as Kent Town, Norwood, Beulah Park, Rosslyn Park, Auldana and Skye...
adjacent to the Norwood Town Hall
Norwood Town Hall
The Norwood Town Hall is the seat of the City of Norwood Payneham & St Peters. It is located on The Parade in the suburb of Norwood, Adelaide, Australia, five minutes east of the city centre....
. It was also the only place where members of the public could buy draft Hall's
Geo. Hall & Sons
Geo. Hall & Sons, better known as Hall's soft drinks, were a soft drink manufacturer in Adelaide, South Australia. Although they produced a wide range of soft drinks, they were best known for their Passiona and their "Stonie" ginger beer....
"Stonie" ginger beer directly from the keg.
In the Adelaide city centre
Adelaide city centre
The Adelaide city centre is the innermost locality of Greater Adelaide, known by locals simply as "The City" or "Town". The locality is split into two key geographical distinctions: the city "square mile", bordered by North, East, South and West Terraces; and that part of the Adelaide Parklands...
in the 1880s, there were 13 pie-carts operating in King William Street
King William Street, Adelaide
King William Street is the part of a major arterial road that traverses the CBD and centre of Adelaide . It was named by the Street Naming Committee on 23 May 1837 after King William IV, the then reigning monarch, who died within a month...
and North Terrace
North Terrace, Adelaide
North Terrace is one of the four terraces that bound the central business and residential district of the city of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It runs east-west, along the northern edge of the CBD.-North Side of North Terrace:...
. By 1915 there were nine pie-carts in operation. By 1958 this had reduced to two: Balfour's pie-cart on North Terrace
North Terrace, Adelaide
North Terrace is one of the four terraces that bound the central business and residential district of the city of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It runs east-west, along the northern edge of the CBD.-North Side of North Terrace:...
outside the Adelaide Railway Station
Adelaide Railway Station
Adelaide Railway Station is the central terminus of the Adelaide Metro railway system. It is at on the north side of North Terrace, west of Parliament House. The Adelaide Casino is in part of the building that is no longer required for the station....
, and Cowley's in Victoria Square
Victoria Square, Adelaide
Victoria Square is a public square in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. The square is in the centre of the city's grid of one square mile, and was named by the Street Naming Committee on 23 May 1837 after Princess Victoria, heir presumptive of the British throne. Less than a month later the...
outside the G.P.O. When, in 2007, the Glenelg Tram
Glenelg Tram
The Glenelg Tram is a route from the centre of Adelaide, South Australia to the beach-side suburb of Glenelg. It is Adelaide's only remaining tramway, running at approximately 15-minute intervals, and is part of the integrated Adelaide Metro public transport network...
line was extended from Victoria Square along King William Street and North Terrace past the Adelaide Railway Station, the Balfour's pie-cart was forced to close.
External links
- Excerpts from Billy Connolly's Tour of Australia (including a description of a pie floater)
- Pie Floater Article (includes a photo of the South Australian version of the pie floater)
- http://www.thepiecart.com.au/piefloater.html