Anzac biscuits - Lest we forget

"They range from super-chewy to mega-crisp. They’re buttery, with the smoky warmth of golden syrup and the fragrance of coconut and oats throughout. They’re totally delicious, and perfect to dunk into a cup of tea or coffee." Sarah Coates

It's ANZAC Day, which is a really big deal here in Australia. It's one of the very few days in the year when the supermarkets close - albeit just for the morning. For in the morning is the Dawn Service - when war veterans and their families, and anyone else with a patriotic soul, gets up at dawn to remember the soldiers who fell in war. Mostly those that fell in WW1 and specifically at Gallipoli, but now that the last of them is dead, it is also to remember those who fell in other - more recent wars. And so the sales of Anzac biscuits rise, and no doubt lots of people cook them at home with their kids. For they are a perfect kids recipe.

They are one of those foods associated with a particular day of the year. When you think about it almost every festival, special day, has some kind of food associated with it. Now why is that? And whilst in the past these foods may have only been consumed on their associated day - hot cross buns, pancakes, christmas cake, nowadays we eat them all the time, which rather diminishes their significance. Well more so with some than others. Every year I notice that hot cross buns start appearing sooner and sooner - like before New Year I think this year, and continue after Easter - you can still get them in the supermarket. Though why this should be I really have no idea - hot cross buns that is - after all if you remove the cross it's just a fruit bun and you can surely have them all year. What's so special about the cross other than to remember the crucifixion on Good Friday? Why not keep the cross for Good Friday and just sell fruit buns the rest of the year?

Ditto for Anzac biscuits. The Australian War Memorial suggests we eat them on Anzac Day because:

"the thought of them is a delectable relief to the sombreness of that day and all that it represents"

But I think this is erroneous. It's just become a tradition - and for some strange and ancient deep-down reason we keep traditions. It's a way of marking the passing of time. And we do it with food and rituals. And this particular tradition is not to do with what the soldiers actually ate, or what their women back at home sent them, but is more probably linked to fund-raising at home.

The soldiers themselves actually ate hardtack biscuits which were so hard they could be used for all manner of things - canvases for paintings was the most surprising. They were sometimes called Anzac wafers or tiles. (By the way ANZAC means Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - and there is an argument over whether Anzac biscuits are Australian or New Zealandish in origin.)

"There is actually nothing wafer-like about hardtack biscuits. Soldiers often devised ingenious methods to make them easier to eat. A kind of porridge could be made by grating them and adding water. Or biscuits could be soaked in water and, with jam added, baked over a fire into "jam tarts". Australian War Memorial

So no - they are not the biscuits the soldiers ate.

So are they the ones their women sent them? Some people insist they are - stating that they are eggless because the eggs would go off. After all they had to travel a long way.

"Along with oats, the other ingredients – sugar, flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup and bi-carbonate of soda – were used because they would be able to withstand the long journey via ship that the biscuits had to make to reach the troops." Taste.com

"the biscuits not only remind us of a time in Australian history that was seen as pivotal, but they also “signify women’s input to the war effort on the home front” Sian Supski

I think most 'experts' more or less agree that this might have happened - although no coconut was included. The first mention of coconut is in 1929. And the first recipes for Anzac biscuits did not appear until the early twenties - long after the war. However, the experts also seem to agree that they were more likely a sort of marketing exercise made by people like the Red Cross who were trying to raise funds for the war effort.

"after the 1915 Gallipoli landing that Red Cross women on fund-raising stalls back in New Zealand probably changed the name of the already existing "rolled oat crispies" to boost sales." Sarah Coates

And they , like all traditional foods, continue to be a marketing thing today. Coles Magazine, of course, had a recipe this month - theirs were chewy, but they also told you how to make them crunchy, but alongside they had a selection of small pictures of their related products, including their own bakery Anzac biscuits. So really it was an advertising exercise.

RECIPE:

1 cup (150g) plain flour

1/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

1 1/2 cups (135g) rolled oats

1 cup (75g) shredded coconut

125g butter, chopped

1/4 cup (60ml) golden syrup

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon boiling water

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Combine the flour, sugar, oats and coconut in a medium bowl.

Combine the butter, golden syrup bicarbonate of soda and water in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook for 2 mins or until the butter melts. Pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine.

Roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on the lined trays, allowing room for spreading. Flatten slightly. Bake for 12-15 mins or until golden brown. Set aside on the tray to cool completely.

For flat, crips biscuits - Replace the caster sugar with brown sugar

For slightly chewy biscuits - Use half caster sugar and half brown sugar

For malty tasting biscuits - Replace the caster sugar with raw sugar

"There's something wonderful about dipping one of those sweet muesli bikkies into a steaming cup of tea and waiting as it begins to soften with buttery, golden-syrup deliciousness." Foodiful

So do like Proust's madeleine's they are supposed to invoke a memory. ANZAC - anything Anzac is supposed to remind us of the sacrifice of our soldiers.

"With the Anzac biscuit, we know that it’s not the recipe source that’s important, but the spirit and sacrifice of the soldiers who inspired the name. Lest we forget." Sarah Coates

In Australia and New Zealand this is a huge thing. People travel thousands of miles to Gallipoli every year to be there at dawn. It's sort of a celebration, but should it be?

"The events at this battle, and the actions of the Anzac soldiers in dealing with the extremely adverse circumstances, helped form a huge part of the national identities of Australia and New Zealand as stories of their endurance, courage, ingenuity and good humour came home." Sarah Coates

I always feel uncomfortable about war memorials and war remembrances. Every village in France - well everywhere involved, has a memorial to the fallen of their place. And they certainly the loss in WW1 was huge - sometimes one family will have several names listed. Yes indeed we should remember. But what we should be remembering is the waste and the utter futility of it all - the lesson we should learn - don't do it again. And although we sort of are remembering that, there is a sort of glorification of war that goes alongside it. "A man's gotta do what he's gotta do". Does he really? What would have happened if all those soldiers in the WW1 trenches, on both sides, refused to go over the top? There would have been no war. The war was impossible without the soldiers. The stupid aristocrats and power mongers would have had to sort out their differences by talking. Naïve and simplistic I know, but still... There are very few wars that can be said to have achieved anything. I guess the only one I can think of as justifiable in any way is the war against Hitler. It's a very fine line between remembering respectfully and with grief, the sacrifice of innocents and glorifying that sacrifice with the implication that it's something honourable that men should strive for. Coupled with a desire for revenge against those who killed our own - we tend to forget that we killed their own. We should indeed remember their sacrifice and the only way to honour that sacrifice is to realise what a waste of lives it all was and how we should never, never go that way again. Otherwise why did they have to die?