Natchitoches Meat Pies (Hot-ta-meat)

[Natalie Maynor]

Lynne Murphy wrote:

> These meat pies are a plot point in James Wilcox's novel _Modern Baptists_
> (1996).  At least I quite sure that's the book that had 'em.

I just went down the hall and asked Jim Wilcox about meat pies.  He
can't remember mentioning them in any of his novels but said that
it's possible -- and that I'd gotten him curious about how and why
he might have mentioned them.  I'll let you know if he discovers
that meat pies were indeed in _Modern Baptists_.

He said that he had always assumed that meat pies were English --
that they were one of his father's favorite foods and that his English
grandmother made wonderful meat pies.  (His grandparents moved from
England to the U.S.)  When I asked him if other people in Hammond
(where he's from) ate meat pies, he said that he didn't think so --
that he had always thought it was just his family.  He didn't know
anything about meat pies in Natchitoches.

He said that meat pies were regular pies (as in apple pies or whatever)
but contained ground meat along with things like potatoes and onions.
I asked him if they were like shepherd's pie, and he said sort of but
not exactly -- that he thought of shepherd's pie as more of a casserole-
type dish.
   --Natalie Maynor (maynor at ra.msstate.edu)