The greater Wigan area west of Manchester is the centre of Britain’s political landscape due to the byelection this week involving Labour’s Andy Burnham.The area is usually more famous in the north of England for something else. Wiganers’ neighbours don’t call the town’s denizens pie-eaters for nothing. The sniffy outsiders who coined the term meant it as an insult, but Wiganers have adopted it as a compliment.Pies are an indomitable way of life up there. Last week, I was intent on living.I spent the afternoon trailing five current and former Labour councillors, all from the Greater Manchester area, and one sitting MP, as they knocked on doors for Burnham. Yet it was all just a precursor for the most important event of the day: finding the perfect pie.None of my companions were native Wiganers – almost all were from Manchester and its nearer suburbs. Yet they were as determined as I was to hunt down the most famous local culinary delight, a pie dish known as the Wigan kebab.A Wigan kebab is a meat and potato pie with pastry, stuffed inside a buttered bread cake known locally as a barm, all served with chips and gravy. It is as every bit as delightful and terrifying as it sounds – an explosion of carbohydrates to nourish the northern soul.We set off in convoy for a famous Wigan chip shop, the Trawlerman. Then disaster struck. Somewhat incongruously, the Trawlerman closed for lunch – Wiganers must only eat pies for breakfast and tea. After a brief panic, my northern guides redirected our convoy to another nearby chippy in Bryn known as Mr English.Mr English chippy in Bryn near Wigan. Photograph: Mark Paul