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| Katy Thomson |
Dear nicey,
I'm sure you'll be pleased to hear that the radio four programme "questions, questions" has come up with the definitive biscuit alphabet. Whilst obviously no substitute for actual biscuit consumption, this could easily while away those dreadful biscuitless hours that do sometimes creep up on you while you're not looking. Or alternatively it could be used in a mega biscuit eating session were you to find all of the requisite varieties.
Here goes:
Arrowroot Biscuit
Bourbon
Custard Cream
Dixie Crackers
Excursion
Filbert Biscuits
Ginger Nuts
Hobnob
Iced Gem
Jammy Dodger
Kent Creams
Lincoln Creams
Macaroons
Nice
Opera Wafers
Petticoat Tails
Queen Drops
Rataffia
Savoy
Traveller
Union Biscuits
Victorias
Waverley Shortbread
eXcursion Biscuit
Yarrow Biscuits
Zella Wafers
I must say I find the double use of excursion biscuits frankly unacceptable. I'm sure you or your exceptionally well educated and loyal readership will be able to do better!
Happy munching and dunking!
A dedicated biscuit fan |
| Nicey replies: That looks a bit ropey to me, I'm sure our folks can come up with something more user friendly. |
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Thomas Berriman
Lu Mikado Review |
Re-seeing you on b3ta made me click, and saw the mikado reminded me of some biscuits I saw in Hong Kong note: For men! There were other varieties for the fairer sex, or gender non-specific bisuits (unisex biscuits?) But these were the hardcore. Actually quite bland, the truth be known.
tom |
| Nicey replies: Cheers Tom,
I think thats made sense of the whole thing now, if thats possible. Its a Japanese company who make essentially German snacks and who licence the brand to French made their own and then sold it me. Yay! |
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Cassie Graff
Lu Mikado Review |
I read the latest article about the Mikado biscuits and immediately recognized them. There is a chinese brand similar to them, called Pocky. They come in chocolate and strawberry, and are quite good, I think. You might want to chack it out.
Great job on the site, by the way. I'm a big fan.
Sincerely, Cassie Graff
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| Nicey replies: Yes thats tied it all up, I think they are Japanese, by a firm called 'Glico' and must be made under license by Lu. Our pack had a Glico logo on it like the Pocky's. This must be the origin of the Japanese 'Mikado' name. |
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Paul Coupe
Breakaway Review |
Sir,
All this talk of buying chocolate biscuits at school break times brought back fond memories of my particular childhood favourite, the glorious 'United' biscuit. Plain and rather crumbly biscuit covered with low-qualityish chocolate which was thick on top and - wait for it - mixed with impossibly small honeycomb pieces. The best part though was the design: a single biscuit was shaped into three distinct pieces which could be snapped off and eaten separately, allowing
for a deeply satisfying KitKat-style ritual. A triumph of the biscuit whole being somewhat greater than the sum of its parts.
In later years I believe the United was redesigned and became a standard uni-biscuit. Of course, the novelty thus removed, it soon dropped from favour and I can't recall seeing one for many years.
The other thing about Uniteds was that the chocolate on top was dimpled, allowing for excellent 'brass rubbings' to be taken using the foil wrapper. Breakaways also once had this property in spades with their excellent criss-cross patterned top, but once again the design was meddled with, and biscuit brass rubbing was dealt a cruel blow. In fact I'm unaware of any current biscuit that readily lends itself to the practice.
Do biscuit executives really have so little a grasp of what makes a particular biscuit great?
Yours etc,
Coupey |
| Nicey replies: Never had a United alas, but thanks for that vivid description.
Also a point well made about the brass rubbing on top of Breakaways, we mention that in our review of them. Its these things that elevate a biscuit from an also ran into a classic design, and engage the eater. |
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| Penelope Reid |
Dear Nicey,
I believe I can shed some light on this seemingly cruel child baiting! In Sweden it is traditional to serve very thin ginger biscuits at christmas time and indeed it is traditional to try to break them into three parts with one tap in order that your christmas wishes come true. This was taught to me
one happy winter time in Stockholm, as I had ingested large amounts of 'Glugg' a turbo alcoholic mulled wine like beverage that could cause blindness, I cannot remember the exact name of the biscuit but it featured many 'kn' sounds. I never had a cup of tea with any of these biscuits but presume this would have improved my memory considerably.
Yours humbly etc..
Penny |
| Nicey replies: Yay Penny,
I've had Glurgg and those thin Ginger biscuits. The Swedish ladies that were with me at the time didn't tell me about smashing them with our elbows, they were more insistent that we had very large almonds dropped in our Glurgg. |
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