Prue Leith

The humble biscuit has a noble history

Lizzie Collingham describes how the army and navy relied heavily on hard tack for survival from the Napoleonic wars onwards

The biscuit ration is unloaded at Alexandria for British troops in the first world war. Credit: Getty Images

  • The Biscuit: The History of a Very British Indulgence

    Lizzie Collingham

    The Bodley Head, pp. 320, £18

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