December 4th, 2005

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Mixed Bag
8 Comments »

I Want My Jaffa Cakes

My curmudgeonly (no more than I, really) friend Joe makes a very valid point about cookie packaging. He took this photo of a box of Jaffa Cakes, a very tasty cookie of British origin (obsessive Wikipedia entry ahead):

Its a bit of a scam that several snack manufacturers have adopted as a way to to increase profits at essentially low/no cost on the basis that their consumers are stupid and don�t notice that the contents no longer fill the packaging. Well guys �Some settling of contents may have occurred during transit� just doesn�t cut it in this case. And yes I know it says 12 cakes in the pack, which means that strictly speaking the trades the descriptions act has not been breached, but lets face it, the game is up.

The short-changing bastards, eh? On a related note, that Wikipedia article discusses the interesting legal action involving whether a Jaffa Cake is a biscuit or a cake (won’t you have a bit of cake?). Apparently they argued successfully that a Jaffa Cake is in fact a cake and therefore VAT-exempt because “the distinction between cakes and biscuits is simply that cakes go hard when stale”. Who gave the expert testimony? This guy? This lot?

Comments: 8 Responses so far

Derek
December 5th, 2005
11:08 am

Reminds me of something I discovered a few years ago: hair gel is sold in grams (weight), and shampoo in mL (volume). At what viscosity point does something become a solid, rather than a liquid?

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Richard Akerman
December 5th, 2005
12:36 pm

Are these what the Jaffa eat?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_%28Stargate%29

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Kaylee
December 19th, 2005
5:45 pm

I WANT MY JAFFA CAKES TOO!!!

No, really, Living in Toronto, Canada, I’ve searched forever and I can’t find them, but if ANYONE can find ANY version of Jaffa Cakes for me [preferably "McVities" like the picture in the original post] here in Toronto. I would be THE MOST GREATFUL AND HAPPIEST person on earch

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jenn
January 31st, 2006
9:04 am

check out http://www.abitofhome.ca, they also have a store in mississauga and specailizes in British and Irish goods

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Anonymous
March 23rd, 2006
7:40 pm

Well Kaylee, LMFAO
YOO CAN GET JAFFA CAEKS AT THE EGLINGTON MALL IN TORONTO @ VICTORIA PARK IN MRS.BRIDGES BAKERY :]

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Alfie Reply:
January 3rd, 2009 at 9:59 am

Ahhh!!! I have been craving Jaffa Cakes for MONTHS! Thank you so, so much for this information. It’s even on my way to work, hopefully it’s still there.

Now if only we had Greggs…

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Anonymous
March 23rd, 2006
7:42 pm

P.S

CHERYL :]

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Gordon
December 16th, 2006
6:27 am

I would like to say that a Jaffa cake is indeed a cake. The name says it all, the base is made of sponge, it is not biscuit in texture.
To call such a soft fluffy texture a biscuit is a travesty!! I have also taken offence to those of you who have described it as a COOKIE!!!!!!
It is clearly not a small round “Biscuit” but a SPONGY, tangy, chocolatey dream.
I also live in the uk and can obtain them by the bucket load and consider myself quite an authority on the subject.

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