4

M

ess with Anzac biscuits at your peril. “Serious

breaches” of the Protection of Word “Anzac” Act

of 1920 can meet with serious penalties: up to a

year in prison or $10,200 for a “natural person”

and $51,000 for a “body corporate”. So how much can you

alter the recipe while staying on the right side of the law and

the Anzac spirit? Is there really any improving on a classic?

The Department of Veterans’ Affairs says applications for

permission to use the term Anzac commercially for biscuits

are normally approved “provided the product generally

conforms to the traditional recipe and shape, and are

referred to as ‘Anzac Biscuits’ or ‘Anzac Slice’”. Calling

them Anzac cookies is generally not approved “due to

the non-Australian overtones”.

But what is the traditional recipe? The DVA points

to articles on the Australian War Memorial’s website,

which in turn cite an undated recipe for “Anzac tile/wafer”

from Arnott’s chief chemist Frank Townsend: flour,

wholemeal flour, sugar, milk powder, water and a “good

pinch salt” – no oats or golden syrup to be seen, let alone

coconut. The biscuits in question, a form of hard tack,

are “very, very hard”, and mention is made of the fact

some soldiers preferred to grind them up and eat

them as porridge.

The recipe makes sense on a wartime footing when eggs

were in short supply and the product was to be shipped

unrefrigerated for months at a time, but they’re not the

Dyed-in-the-wool Anzac fan

PAT NOURSEtakes a fresh

look at this old favourite that

won the hearts of two nations.

REWORKING A

CLASSIC

92 GOURMET TRAVELLER

PHOTOGRAPHY BEN DEARNLEY