Make tea not war
Anzac biscuits get all the glory, while ‘Anzac’ tea probably did all the hard work to keep our troops fuelled, writes Adeline Teoh.
While the syrup-laden oat snacks we call Anzac biscuits may be the food most associated with the 25th of April, it’s mostly a myth that these Anzac Day staples were chowed down by troops during World War I. Although some may have made it into care packages, Anzac biscuits were not primarily baked to send to the troops, but were often sold at fairs as a means of fundraising to support the war effort.
Instead, the biscuits our soldiers had in their rations was hardtack, a substitute for bread that did not go mouldy. Made of flour and water with a little salt, hardtack is so durable that the Australian War Memorial has examples of century-old biscuit on display today. It was also, as the name implies, hard. Very, very hard.
This is where the tea comes in. Another staple of soldiers’ rations was a small quantity of tea, and if the hardtack was not soaked in liquid such as tea or water, it was likely to cause dental problems. Because fresh water was often in short supply – troops had water shipped to them in jerrycans – and due to the cold conditions, tea was the preferred beverage in the trenches.
Thus, tea played a much bigger role in feeding the Anzac troops than the baked goods we now call Anzac biscuits.
Anzac Day is a commemoration of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) which served in the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915, their first engagement in World War I (1914–1918). We raise our cups to their sacrifice.
