The Great Cream Tea Controversy

The Great Cream Tea Controversy

Despite providing a seemingly never ending stream of internationally famous TV cooks, rightly or wrongly, food is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Britain. If pushed most foreigners firstly mention fish & chips then maybe roast beef. Some, after some thought, may add “....and cream teas”.

A week or so ago three of us were trudging across the wide sandy beach to St. Michaels Mount in Cornwall. Instead of taking the stairs leading up to the monastry we headed straight for the refreshments. Although I don't have much of a sweet tooth I decided to do the tourist thing and go for a traditional cream tea. I should have known better!

Cream teas consist of scones (small cup-cake/muffin sized breads), clotted-cream (indirectly heated and slowly cooled cream from fresh full-cream cows milk) and strawberry jam

Although you can find cream teas all over the British Isles they are generally associated with the counties of Devon and Cornwall in the south-western tip of the British Isles.

But beware, the humble cream tea although disguised as a pleasant afternoon snack is the cause of many heated discussions and bitter arguments all of which pretty much start the same way. “How do YOU pronounce scone”? Do you rhyme scone with stone, cone or telephone or with gone? This debate has been going on for what seems like forever and will continue despite a recent survey, yes there was a serious survey on the subject, indicating that 51% of the respondents preferred the 'gone' variation.

However this is just the prelude. It's when it comes to how the scones should be consumed that things get really sticky! Should the jam be put on first and then the cream (The Cornish Method) or the cream first and the jam on top (The Devon Method)? At this point lines are drawn, positions are taken and vigorously defended. Even mentioning the wrong method in the wrong county will cause voices to be raised in anger and disbelief! If you actually topped your scones incorrectly I think there would be street riots, deportations and/or lynchings.

I've heard these discussions frequently, in fact, every time I've made the mistake of ordering a cream tea. This time I decided to risk my nephew's disapproving comments, the angry stares of strangers and the chance of being burnt as a witch. I thought I'd do my own little bit of research!

Aim: To find out what all the fuss is about.

Method: I took my two scones and sliced them horizontally, forming four discs, this is acceptable in Devon and Cornwall. I then proceeded to spread the cream on the top and bottom slice of scone 1 before adding a layer of jam. The remaining two discs I firstly spread with jam and then attempted to spread a layer of cream on top,.

Result: They both tasted pretty much the same. Scone 1 looked quite attractive, scone 2 was a mess.

Discussion: THe portion of clotted-cream came in a tub, had the consistency of butter and I was issued with a knife. Any outsider would, I think, spread the butter-like substance first. However sometimes the cream is served in a dish which comes with a spoon, in which case spreading the jam first and then topping it with a spoonful of cream would seem the obvious thing to do. Historically, in Devon clotted-cream was actually used as a substitute for butter which may well may go some way to explaining the regional differences. 

It does not, however, explain why people take it all so seriously!

I can only speculate that this due to: 

a) an increased desire for a regional identity in the face of increasing globalisation,

b) the human (and media) tendency to divide people into two opposing groups or

c) a clever marketing plan by the combined Cornish and Devon tourist boards......

whatever....

Conclusion: My advice when visiting Devon or Cornwall: 

do what one of my companions did that day: ORDER THE CHOCOLATE CAKE !