What your biscuit choice says about you

Is your favourite biscuit a pink wafer? Chances are you read The Sun.

That’s according to a massive survey carried out by Sainburys, who have analysed the nation’s biscuit eating habits.


The supermarket chain crunched Nectar data from around 12 million shoppers between 4th July 2010 and 2nd July 2011, and came up with several crummy conclusions.

For example, if you’re a fan of fig rolls, you could be a northerner. The snack is the second-most popular biscuit in both the North East and Yorkshire.

Further south however the cookie is king; it’s the second most bought biscuit in East Midlands, East Anglia and London.

[See also: How to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies]


Jam rings are especially popular outside England, with Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish shoppers buying them in droves.

Enjoy a rich tea? You might hail from the South West, as the snack comes second-place in the area’s biscuit league table.

However, number one nation-wide is the humble digestive. UK biscuit lovers can’t get enough of the sweat-meal dunker, which sells 17 million packets a year at Sainsburys. That’s more than 12 per cent of 141 million packets flogged by the chain per year.

The national top five (starting with the most popular) is; Digestives; Cookies; Jam Rings; Chocolate Fingers; Rich Teas.

Back to newspapers and the data shows Daily Mail readers like a nice Garibaldi, while readers of The Independent prefer coconut creams. Guardian readers have more exotic tastes though, such as ginger and chocolate cookies, amaretti, butter thins and almond florentines.

Andre Erasmus, editor of Biscuit World (that’s a real magazine, we promise), said: “This little round entity is a strong cultural identity of Britain, and has been around since the 1600s. The digestive biscuit and the rich tea are both considered as a traditional accompaniment to a cuppa, so it's no surprise to see them in the top five favourites. The jam ring in third spot was more of a surprise to us."

He concluded: “Well done the biscuit!”.

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