Pie floater facts for kids
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| Type | Street food |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | South Australia |
| Main ingredients | Australian meat pie, pea soup |
The pie floater is an Australian dish particularly common in Adelaide. It consists of a meat pie in a thick pea soup, typically with the addition of tomato sauce. Believed to have been first created in the 1890s, the pie floater gained popularity as a meal sold by South Australian pie carts. In 2003, it was recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon.
Pie carts
Pie floaters were typically purchased in the street from pie-carts, as a late evening meal. Pie-carts are typically a form of caravan/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, after which they were returned to their daytime storage locations.
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 Adelaide General Post Office. In 2007, the Glenelg tram line was extended from Victoria Square along King William Street and North Terrace past Adelaide railway station, and the Balfour's pie-cart was forced to close.
In 2003, the South Australian National Trust traced the history of the pie floater: an impressive history tracing back 130+ years. The pie floater was recognised as a South Australian Heritage Icon by the National Trust of South Australia, although it is now available at a very few locations, among them are the Café de Vilis, Enjoy Bakery on Norwood Parade, The Kings Head Pub on King William Street and the Upper Sturt General Store. Floaters using traditional pea soup or the more new age pumpkin soup can also be found at Prices Fresh bakery outlets.
See also
In Spanish: Pie floater para niños
