North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Break time

Biscuit tin as flower box in Flagmount, Co. Clare.

If you're fond of sitting down for a cuppa, chances are that you've dunked a Jacob's biscuit into the tea at some point. Inventors of the Cream Cracker and the Fig Roll, the company has been making biscuits for over a century, though the company is no longer family-owned.

The company's site near St. Stephen's Green featured in the Lock-out of 1913 (when union staff were locked out of their companies when they went on strike), and one of the Jacob's strikers, Rosie Hackett, also fought in the Easter Rising, of which Jacob's bakery was one of the hold-outs of the rebels. Funnily enough, Jacob's rival in pastry, Bolands, was also the scene of fierce fighting in 1916 - De Valera himself led the rebels there. (Staff relations have improved somewhat since, as has the company's fortunes).

I came across a site called Nice Cup of Tea and Sit Down which is a tribute to the very art of the tea break. And you might even find out how doJacob's get the fig into the Fig Roll. As for the biscuit tin, you'll be hard pressed to find a better (or funnier) tribute to this once-indispensable accessory than this one, penned by Willie McHugh of the Mayo News.

I was all for women gaining equality, equal pay, supping pints and becoming more assertive. In fact, fool that I am, I even encouraged a few of them along the way. But they took it a stride too far.
We were grand before the advent of Tubberware parties. This practice sounded the deathknell for the biscuit box.

No wonder Willie isn't fond of the Rover biscuit tin - plants won't even grow in one.

Posted by Monasette at March 15, 2005 10:39 AM