THE BISCUIT

THE HISTORY OF A VERY BRITISH INDULGENCE

LIZZIE COLLINGHAM

Bodley Head, 320pp, £18.99

In the Guardian, Lizzie Collingham listed some little-known biscuit facts. These included that the fig roll was invented by medieval Muslims who first sweetened twice-baked bread with sugar and figs, and that 17thcentury gingerbread men were effigies of Guy Fawkes. In the Sunday

Times, Lucy Knight’s review of Collingham’s book was amusingly headlined ‘Jam packed study of a national institution that begun 3000 years ago’ – but the book is a serious study of the origins of an elevenses staple. ‘ The Biscuit offers plenty of fascinating nuggets,’ wrote Knight. ‘The term “Scousers”, for example, comes from “scouse”, a biscuit-based soup commonly eaten by Liverpudlian dockers, while “slush fund” originally referred to the extra cash ships’ cooks made by selling the fat, or “slush”, produced when making said scouse.’

Knight thought the book was ‘food history through an extremely narrow lens, perhaps offering more information about biscuits than many people would care to have’. In the Spectator, however, Prue Leith was gripped: ‘What you get is well-researched, detailed information, but written as a clear and interesting story. I hate to think of how much truly boring information about the biscuit she must have ploughed through to hone it down to a fascinating tale of myth, medicine, economics, and survival of armies and navies.’

It turns out, noted Leith, that dunking, for example, was once the height of fashion. ‘It seems to stem from the business of soaking hard biscuit to make it palatable. One of the earliest sweet biscuits was the lady’s finger. It is the perfect shape for dunking into the small glasses of the time. So are the Italian biscotti and the French langue du chat. Dunking may be considered a working-class delight today but dipping your “sippet” into your cordial or tea was once an elegant way to behave.’