Lamprey pie facts for kids
Lamprey pie is a special pastry dish made from a type of fish called sea lampreys or European river lampreys. Long ago, lampreys were a very fancy food for wealthy people in medieval England. They were often given as gifts to kings and queens to gain their favor. It became a tradition for the city of Gloucester to give the monarch a lamprey pie every Christmas. In 1200, the city was even fined a lot of money for not sending the pie! This yearly custom ended in 1836, but a pie is still given on special occasions like coronations (when a new king or queen is crowned) and jubilees (big anniversary celebrations).
What Are Lampreys?
Lampreys are unusual fish that live in both saltwater and freshwater. They don't have jaws like most fish. Instead, they have a round, sucking mouth. In Europe, the sea lamprey and European river lamprey have been eaten by people for a very long time. The Romans ate them almost 2,000 years ago, and they were seen as a high-status food.
In medieval Europe, lampreys became very popular. They tasted like meat, which was important because people often couldn't eat meat on certain days, called "fast days." Christmas Eve, for example, was a fast day, so lampreys became a popular Christmas food. Kings and queens especially loved them. It's even said that King Henry I (who ruled from 1100 to 1135) died after eating too many lampreys!
The River Severn near Gloucester was a main place to catch lampreys for the English royals. Landowners often gave these fish to the king or queen to get on their good side. Lampreys were a very expensive luxury. For example, the Earl of Chester once gave King John (who ruled from 1199 to 1216) just one lamprey and received a palfrey (a type of riding horse) in return! King John even made money by selling special permits for common people to eat lampreys. The best time to catch lampreys is in March, April, and May, so they were hard to find around Christmas.
The Royal Pie Tradition
By the year 1200, it was a custom for the city of Gloucester to send the English king or queen a lamprey pie every year. King John even fined the city a large sum of money because they didn't send a pie at Christmas. By the time King Edward III ruled (1327–1377), lampreys were a bit cheaper, but still expensive enough that only the rich could afford them. The custom of Gloucester sending the monarch a lamprey pie, often decorated with gold, at Christmas finally ended in 1836. It was simply considered too costly.
Lamprey pie remained a fancy food in England until the early 1800s. It was sometimes even called "Politicians' Pie." In 1795, a writer named Margaret Taylor described a lamprey pie recipe. It involved cleaning the lampreys, seasoning them, and baking them in a pastry crust with lemon. Other recipes suggested baking them in syrup in a tall pie crust. After baking, wine and spices would be poured into the pie. The lamprey would then be sliced thinly and served on bread.
Why Lampreys Became Rare
The number of lampreys in English rivers started to go down in the 1800s. This might have happened because more weirs (small dams built across rivers) were put in place. By the mid-1800s, lampreys were said to have disappeared from the upper parts of the River Severn. Their numbers continued to drop after 1865. Today, lampreys are rarely caught in the Severn or the Bristol Channel. They are now a protected species, which means they are safeguarded by law.
There is only one place left in Britain where lampreys are still caught for sale. This is on the River Ouse in Yorkshire. Here, they are mostly sold as bait for fishing. However, lampreys are still popular in countries like Scandinavia, the Baltic States, and along the Atlantic coast of Europe, where they are still eaten as a special food.
Lamprey Pie Today
Gloucester still presents a lamprey pie to the King or Queen of the United Kingdom on very special occasions. A 20-pound pie was given at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Even though a Gloucester company made the pie, the lampreys had to be brought in from a different place called Grimsby. A pie was also presented at the Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977. By the time of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012, no British lampreys could be found. So, lampreys from the Great Lakes in North America had to be used instead!
