Our amazing crew at Clive’s is headed up by Esther Pearson who deals with all the day-to-day management of making and selling our scrumptious pies.
A moment of spiritual enlightenment in the 1970s transformed a Devonshire man called Clive from ordinary bloke to animal loving plant pie-oneer. Vouching to do right by all living creatures, he dedicated himself to making amazing pies purely from plants.
Now that he’s retired, Clive’s is no longer one person, but all of us, proud to share his original vision and can-do attitude. Read more about our story.
Clive’s can be found in the fridge or freezer in most good health food shops, also nationally in Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Asda, or if you prefer home delivery try Ocado, Abel & Cole, Vegankind and many others.
Try our pie finder for your local retailers.
Being totally organic is an essential part of our history and values. Organic means that we support farming methods that don’t use pesticides, fertilisers, GMOs or any chemicals. Organic ingredients might be 20% more expensive and harder to source, but we believe it’s worth the effort. We champion clean ingredients that are better for you and the planet, oh and they taste better too!
We lovingly prepare our pies to the same size and standard every time however, as a handmade product, there is often some variation. We pack our pies full of fresh Riverford Organic veggies and pulses from growers like Hodmedods, being organic means ingredients can be a bit smaller, larger, darker or lighter than the batch before. We never use ingredients that we wouldn’t serve to our own friends and families at home and think it’s only right to love veg in all its natural glory
All Clive’s food comes in a completely compostable cardboard outer sleeve or box. Many products come with no inner packaging at all, like our wholemeal pies and nut roast which are robust enough to cope with the journey to you. Other pies, like our gluten free range, need the support of a little recyclable foil to help keep them in shape. Our tarts are completely handmade, so we make these in little paper cases which you can recycle with your paper or compost.
A few of our customers have been worried in the past about the health impacts of using aluminum foils. Our aluminum foil meets the required standards for chemical composition of semi-products used for the fabrication of containers for use in contact with food. What does that all mean? It means we fully comply with European Standard EN602:2004. We did try a few trial runs of using paper alternatives but sadly we ended up with too many broken pies. If you have a great idea on how we could replace foil in the future though, get in touch. – we’re all ears!
Cold – yes, you sure can! All our products are cooked and ready to eat.
Defrosted cold – yes absolutely! Although there is a bit more moisture as a result of the freezing process, so you may want to heat it up as per the instructions on the pack.
Defrosted and left chilled – yes, as long the frozen date hasn’t been exceeded and its kept below 5 degrees then its fine for 3 days.
Microwaved – hmmm never the best idea for pastry products, we understand sometimes needs must but for best results we’d always recommend popping it in the oven if you can.
Every Clive’s product comes with a delicious serving suggestion on the pack and you can also check out our social channels for more tips and ideas. Our pies, tarts and nut roast are seriously yummy all on their own and make the perfect addition to any plate of food. We’ve seen and eaten every combo with our Clive’s hot and cold. From comforting roasted veg to a fresh green salad, literally anything goes. All our pies have their own sauciness, so you can decide to add your own gravy or other sauces as you wish.
At Clive’s, we manufacture to a high standard of food safety and organic status. These are both externally audited annually and verified by BRCGS and the Soil Association respectively. We also work with our local trading standards and environmental health officers who inspect our business and also provide commissioned advice as and when required.
At Clive’s we are deeply concerned about any negative impacts to the environment through the ingredients we source. One of the most hotly debated here at Clive’s is our use of palm oil.
Over the last couple of years, we have worked with a number of food specialists to develop a special fat to use in our pastry. The challenge is, to make pastry we need a fat that can be grated and added to the flour and water to be mixed. This means it needs to be hard at room temperature, so eliminates many oils, e.g. sunflower, olive, etc. Some food manufacturers will use a hydrogenated fat (which has undergone a chemical process to make it hard/spreadable at room temperature), but these are well documented as bad fats. Some food manufacturers will use animal fats, e.g. butter or lard, but we make vegan pies! Therefore, the only options available to us are palm, avocado, or coconut.
Most alternatives aren’t as productive per acre as palm, so more land is needed to produce the same quantities. We are also mindful that rising demand for coconut and avocado oil will face the same issues that palm faces through clearing land, and therefore habitats, for production. The New Scientist reports…”while palm oil has acquired a reputation as a villain, the plant itself, called oil palm, is something of a hero. It is up to nine times as productive per hectare as other sources of vegetable oils such as rapeseed (canola) and soybeans, meaning it requires less land.”
We continue to use palm until we can find an alternative that is as high yielding, sustainably managed, organic and traceable. There are different grades of organic palm oil (as defined by the RSPO), we only purchase the highest levels achievable, which are Identity Preserved and Segregated, which means it can be traced back to the farm where it is actually grown.
We source our palm oil from Colombia due to their commitment to sustainable production. This is supported by the country signing a zero-deforestation commitment in order to distance itself from the environmental problems occurring in Southeast Asia.
Read more about it on www.foodnavigator.com
Savoury pastry products are not subject to the HFSS restrictions, as they are not considered meal centres. This includes all ambient, chilled, and frozen, processed and ready to eat pastry pies, pasties, sausage rolls, tarts, and quiches.