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[smick]

Me and my friend (My friend and I) once ate a pack of Jaffa Cakes left outside with the rubbish.

So, I had to go investigate what a Jaffa Cake is.

It appears to be England's better answer to hostess products.   Some kind of Sponge cake, fruit filling, and a chocolate covering.   Then I uncovered its legal history.

Under UK law, no VAT is charged on biscuits and cakes — they are "zero rated". Chocolate covered biscuits, however, are classed as luxury items and are subject to VAT at 17.5%. McVitie's classed its Jaffa Cakes as cakes, but in 1991, this was challenged by HM Customs and Excise in court.[1] This may have been because Jaffa Cakes are about the same size and shape as some types of biscuit. The question which had to be answered was what criteria should be used to class something as a cake or biscuit. McVitie's defended the classification of Jaffa Cakes as a cake by producing a giant Jaffa Cake to illustrate that their Jaffa Cakes were simply mini cakes.

They also argued that the distinction between cakes and biscuits is simply that cakes go hard when stale, whereas biscuits go soft. It was demonstrated that Jaffa Cakes become hard when stale and McVitie's won the case.

Under U.S. media rule, I'd have to say that the lawsuit has to be a publicity stunt.   The BEST PUBLICITY STUNT EVER.

[wombat]

I wanted to give a tiny can to the lawyers who came up with the argument about how things go stale, but I couldn't, so you get it, smick.

[oball]

Oh man, Jaffa Cakes are so good.  And Quavers!  Quavers are brilliant.

I miss English junk food.