Cafe serves up fresh take on Afghan biscuit
A cafe has changed the name of the Kiwi classic Afghan biscuit because ‘‘the world is changing continuously’’.
Foundation Cafe in Christchurch rebranded the crunchy chocolate treat as a ‘‘1908’’ after the Covid-19 lockdown.
The move comes after cookie kingpin Griffin’s changed its version to Milk Chocolate Roughs, with the slogan ‘‘Same bikkie. New name’’.
The origins of the Afghan biscuit’s name are unclear, but some historians believe it has racial overtones relating to colour and the walnut top being reminiscent of a traditional Afghan hat.
Foundation Cafe’s manager, who likes to be known by the initials SWF, said the name change was a ‘‘playful’’ way to engage with the changing political landscape.
She had no view on whether the Afghan name was racist.
The new 1908 name was a reference to the year the Edmonds Cookery Book was first published.
SWF said the world was ‘‘changing continuously’’.
‘‘It may make people feel less uncomfortable, but it may not, it doesn’t matter.’’
University of Otago emeritus professor Helen Leach, who has extensively researched the history of many New Zealand recipes, said the most convincing theory was that it was named in the 1930s after Afghan people who drove camels in the Australian Outback from the 1860s to the 1930s.
‘‘The most reasonable answer to why they are named Afghans was there were Afghans running the camels in Australia and they were probably wearing [traditional Afghan hats].
‘‘Perhaps they thought it was a way of remembering the cameleers?’’
The first references in New Zealand and Australian newspapers found for
the biscuit were July, 1934, in New Zealand and May, 1935, in Australia. In New Zealand, it was the company Aulsebrooks advertising the ‘‘new’’ biscuit.
It was natural for recipes and names to change over time, Leach said.
‘‘They are like any cultural object – they evolve. I like recipes because they match what is going on in the world at the moment.’’
Another theory for the name is that the walnut and the icing are reminiscent of the Afghan mountains.
Historian and food authority Alexa Johnston said the origin of the name was probably racist, suggesting the colour and hat theory was valid.
‘‘There are a lot of very wild theories, but no-one seems to know,’’ she said.
‘‘We end up with some weird names that come from prejudices from the past. It is whether you hold on to it or say you don’t want to think that way anymore.’’