McVitie's issues biscuit museum with warning over long-running Jaffa Cake debate
London's biscuit museum, which is officially called the Peek Freans Museum, unveiled an exhibition dedicated to McVitie's Jaffa Cakes on Monday.
But the Bermondsey-based museum said it has since received a letter from the company pointing out a key detail that they have got wrong.
In a post on Instagram, Peek Freans Museum announced the 'disappointing' news that McVitie's Jaffa Cakes have asked them 'to remove our latest addition to the biscuit museum due to misclassification'.
The question of whether a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit has long been one of the UK's hotly-contested debates, sparking social media spats and dividing households.
Even though Jaffa Cakes can be found in the biscuit aisle of the country's supermarkets, McVitie's has always maintained that Jaffa Cakes are, by definition, cakes, not biscuits.
The company's latest warning serves to remind fans, and museums, of the official status of the treat.
The letter reads: 'Dear Sirs, Madams, and Biscuit Enthusiasts,
'It has come to our attention, with no small degree of dismay, that the Biscuit Museum has included the humble Jaffa Cake within its exhibition of biscuitry. We write to you today, not with crumbs of animosity, but with a full slice of firm objection.
'Allow us to be clear: Jaffa Cakes are, in fact, cakes. Not biscuits. Not hybrid snacks. Just cakes. Some would say the clue is in the name on the box.'
The letter went on to explain: 'Cakes harden when stale. Biscuits go soft.'
The exhibition has temporarily been removed, according to its curator – but McVitie's and the museum are yet to agree to a long-term solution.
In response to the exhibition launch, a spokesperson for McVitie's said: 'Look, we love a good biscuit as much as the next snack enthusiast, but we've got to draw the line somewhere, and that line is sponge-based. We respect the Biscuit Museum's enthusiasm, but a cake's a cake, even when it's small, round, and lives suspiciously close to Hobnobs. It's nothing personal, it's just the way the cake crumbles.'
The Biscuit Museum's curator Gary Magold said: 'It's a shame – we've had to remove the exhibition for the moment. But, as a nation of Jaffa Cakes lovers, we're hoping we can reach an agreement.'
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