What's your favourite warm grab-and-go food?

A new tax in the U.K. would apply to hot foods including the Cornish pasty, pictured above. (iStockphoto)

Members of Parliament and citizens in the U.K. cannot agree on which take-away foods are hot enough to be charged a new tax. The humble pasty is at the centre of the debate.

It's been known as the "pasty tax" because it would apply to the Cornish pasty, a hot pastry filled with beef and spices that traces its origins to Cornwall.

According to BBC News, the new tax of 20 per cent would apply to pasties, rotisseries chickens and other hot foods bought from street vendors, bakeries and supermarkets with an "above ambient temperature."

But MPs cannot agree on just what foods qualify for the ambient temperature requirement. Labour MP John Mann said Tuesday that even the weather could disqualify a lukewarm pasty on a summer day.

"It is an extraordinarily complex situation when you are having to check with the Meteorological Office on whether or not to add VAT on pasties in Greggs," said Mann.

Prime Minister David Cameron felt the heat himself after incorrectly recalling the last time he ate a pasty, according to The Guardian.

"I think the last one I bought was from the West Cornwall Pasty Company. I seem to remember I was in Leeds station at the time," he said. He was later grilled when it was reported that the West Cornwall Pasty Company location in Leeds closed down years ago - the Leeds station houses a Cornish Bakehouse instead.

With a 50 pence price increase to a small pasty, U.K. baker's company Greggs said that the tax could take a bite out of its share prices, and has threatened legal action under the qualifier that their pasties, sausage rolls and similar products are sold warm rather than hot.

A Facebook group called "Say no to the pasty tax" has amassed more than 5,000 fans, calling pasty a symbol of Cornwall and say the tax could threaten thousands of people "employed either directly or indirectly by the pasty industry."

There's no talk of any kind of a tax on hot take-away foods in today's budget in Canada, but it did get us thinking about our favourite hot or warm foods.

What do you top your hot dogs from the street vendor with? How about donair in Halifax, or a fresh bagel from Montreal's bakeries?

What's your favourite warm grab-and-go food? Take our poll of suggestions, and share your favourites in the comments section below.


(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)