To celebrate amazing coffee mornings, Macmillan Cancer Support recently released a ranking of the nation's most popular biscuits. While there are many British favorite biscuits, including shortbread, bourbon biscuits, digestive biscuits and strong tea biscuits, one particular ingredient has sparked a heated debate on social media - Weetabix.
Yes, you read that right. They're talking about breakfast foods in the cereal aisle—definitely not breakfast foods in the cookie aisle. Temporarily forgetting that Macmillan also classifies madeleines as biscuits (when they are clearly sponge cakes), most Twitter users were surprised that Macmillan included Weetabix in this category.
One user wrote: "@metpoliceuk I need to report a crime." Macmillan replied that it could not be charged for a biscuit crime it did not commit. Even Cambridge Dictionaries rebuked the charity, tweeting its definition of a biscuit, describing it as "a small, flat cake that is dry and usually sweet". However, whoever runs Macmillan's Twitter account is back on top, saying Weetabix meets the criteria: they are soakable, brown, dry and are actually called "wheat" biscuit".
Technically, they're not wrong. If you look at Weetabix's original nutritional information, it usually details "Serving size of 2 cookies." But then again, Weetabix does appear under the "Our Cereals" label on the brand's official website, and has been called cereals throughout its history. The only time Weetabix mentions cookies on its website was in 2015, in connection with its protein line.
So, what exactly are cookies? According to Renshaw Baking, the word itself comes from Latin and means "twice baked." Science Direct also notes that the main ingredient in biscuits is wheat flour. Apparently, Weetabix is made from wheat, but does not contain wheat flour in its ingredients. For example, compare it with a classic digestive containing wheat flour and you will notice the main difference.
Can you really imagine the Macmillan team turning on the kettle and soaking Weetabix in tea? Case closed.
