Today’s Times article “A few crumbs of comfort on bise-etiquette” reports on a study commissioned by SaleLand.co.uk about biscuits and dunking.
But the article leaves us confused:
• The caption under the picture shown above is “Just over half of biscuit eaters say dunking is acceptable.”
• Later on in the article it’s reported in the study “There was a question about biscuits that has divided the nation: does one dunk? A slight majority, 52%, thought it unacceptable, especially with the crumbly variety.”
Not a big deal, however. No matter how you slice it, it’s about 50/50.
The article goes on to point out that to dunk or not to dunk is no longer the only question. Another question now is how many biscuits is it acceptable to eat in one go? The answer, according to the study, is 2.79. (No doubt the research report behind this would be fascinating ro read).
There’s also always the issue of how long to dunk. The study, or at least the reporting of it, does not answer that question. All it says is, “Dunking is a fine art, and a second too long in the mug could mean your keyboard is covered in soggy biscuit.”
It looks to us that more research is needed to clear up these matters. Meanwhile, go ahead and dunk or don’t dunk, realizing that, as Abe Lincoln said, “You can’t please all of the people all the time.”
We hope to hear more about these matters soon. Meanwhile, click here to read about the Biscuit Appreciation Society, which is in our Appreciation Societies section.
Thanks to Steve Reszetniak for alerting us to the Times article.
