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A Hoggan or Hogen, was a type of flatbread containing pieces of pork, and sometimes potato, that was eaten by Cornish miners in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries. Any food eaten by miners had to be tough to withstand the harsh conditions of the mines; hoggans were said by one mining captain to be 'hard as street tiles'.
Contents
A true 'hoggan' is slightly different from a pasty. The dough which was left over from pasty making was made into a lump of unleavened dough, in which was embedded a morsel of green pork and sometimes a piece of potato. A hoggan was a good poverty indicator that reappeared when wheat prices were high. Hoggans were often made from cheaper barley bread.
Sweet version - Figgy 'obbin
A sweet version made of flour and raisins and was known as a 'fuggan' or Figgy hobbin. Figgie/Fig/Figs are Cornish dialect words pertaining to raisins.
A pasty by another name
The name is sometimes given to a pork pasty which is where the term 'oggie' or 'tiddy oggie' derives. A Hobban, or Hoggan-bag, was the name given to miners' dinner-bag.