June 1st, marks National Meat Pie Day here in Australia, a dedicated time to celebrate this absolute legend of a dish. It's not just any old meal, the meat pie is considered a national dish in our great country!

The meat pie holds a truly significant place in Australian culture. Just how significant? Well, it's estimated that we Aussies munch our way through a whopping 270 million meat pies every single year! It's a staple at sporting events, a go-to for a quick feed, and generally just woven into the fabric of everyday life.

Now, while we've well and truly adopted the meat pie as our own, giving it that quintessential Aussie flair, its story actually stretches back much, much further than Federation. The origins of the meat pie can be traced back to ancient times. Believe it or not, there's evidence suggesting early versions existed in places like ancient Egypt as far back as the Neolithic period, around 9500 BC! Early civilisations like the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were experimenting with using pastry, often made from bread dough incorporating nuts, honey, and fruits, as a vessel for cooking and carrying meat. These weren't exactly the savoury delights we know today, and often the pastry wasn't even intended to be eaten!

Fast forward to the Middle Ages, and the pie truly came into its own as an ingenious way to preserve meat. With no refrigeration or modern baking dishes, a tough pastry case was used both as a cooking container and a preserver. These were often called "coffins", made from very hard rye flour that could be up to seven inches thick and wrapped around the meat before baking. This incredibly robust casing could actually preserve the meat for up to a year!

Interestingly, the rock-hard "coffin" pastry wasn't for everyone. It was typically given to the poor, or if you were wealthy, it was crumbled up in the kitchen and used to thicken soups. So, while today we see the pie as a bit of an egalitarian symbol, enjoyed by everyone from tradies to share traders, it was originally a food for the rich, simply because only the wealthy owned ovens. It wasn't until Victorian times that the pie really became street food and gained widespread popularity among all classes.

So, how did this ancient, class-divided creation end up becoming such a beloved Australian culinary symbol? It boils down to practicality. When settlers arrived, all the necessary ingredients were readily at hand. Pies could only truly thrive in countries that had wheat and dairy or pork. Combine that with a focus firmly on meat, a low priority for vegetables, and the ability to make them from just about any kind of meat available, and you have the perfect settler food. The earliest pies brought over, those "coffins" or "coffyns", were savoury with tall, straight-sided crusts and sealed tops. Those without lids were known as "traps". The meat pie as we recognise it today, with its iconic pastry and savoury filling, likely evolved from these earlier forms, particularly with the arrival of British settlers in the 18th century.

Today, we get to celebrate that evolution and our unique relationship with this delicious dish. So whether you grab one from your favourite local bakery, whip one up yourself, or just appreciate its place in our history and culture, take a moment this National Meat Pie Day to celebrate the humble, yet mighty, Aussie meat pie!