Isabel Arriaga Lozano fills a small pastry with meat, potatoes, and chili pepper. She is making a “paste” (pronounced PAH-stay). The snack is beloved across Mexico.

Each year, people gather in Real del Monte, Mexico. They celebrate the International Paste Festival. It honors a delicious heritage.

Where did the pastries come from? British miners introduced them to Mexico in 1824. Hundreds of men traveled to Real del Monte to work. They mined silver, copper, zinc, gold, and mercury.

The miners came from Cornwall. They had experience mining that region on the southwest of England. They brought this snack. In England, it was called a “Cornish pasty.”

Cornish pasties were popular with working class families. Meat, potatoes, rutabaga, and onion filled a simple pastry crust. The cook then crimped the pastry at the side. That sealed in the ingredients.

The crimped side served as a handle. A miner could hold onto his lunch without getting the rest of the pasty dirty.

Visitors at this year’s festival tried an array of treats. Pastes in the United Kingdom often have fillings such as “full English breakfast” or lamb and mint. In Mexico, there are local flavors. Try frijoles (beans) or mole (a rich sauce made with chiles). Some pastes have sweet fillings such as pineapple or blueberry with cheese.

Mrs. Arriaga has made pastes for 30 years. “It’s above all the love we put into every paste that makes it a good product,” she says.

Pastes are such an iconic snack in Real del Monte that the food has its own museum.

The annual festival features the Mexican, British, and Cornish flags. That highlights the unique link between Real del Monte and Cornwall. Those towns are more than 5,000 miles apart. But they share a piece of history that goes back 200 years.