The army biscuit, also known as an ANZAC wafer or ANZAC tile, is essentially a long shelf-life, hard tack biscuit, eaten as a substitute for bread. Unlike bread, though, the biscuits are very, very hard. Some soldiers preferred to grind them up and eat as porridge.

The popular ANZAC biscuit is a traditional, eggless sweet biscuit. Ingredients include rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup or treacle, bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water.

More about:

• Recipes for ANZAC wafers and biscuits
• Make hard tack (an activity for students)
• ANZAC biscuits: a link to the ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee (Qld) web site that contains a discussion of the evolution of the ANZAC biscuit.