What’s behind the Pie & Mash revival?

 ... Although some shops serve a range of pies (including fruit pies – particularly cherry pies – with custard) the quintessential pie is minced beef, with a suet base and a flakey pastry crust. There’s nothing unusual about the mash, but the liquor (parsley and potato water) and eels (stewed or jellied) are unique. Why eels? Because until recently they were one of the few species that could survive in the filthy, polluted River Thames. Ironically, now the Thames is a lot cleaner, fish are thriving and the eel population has plummeted, so the eels in London’s Pie & Mash shops mainly come from abroad. ...