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Alice Anderson’s Astonishing Anzacs

Appears in
Tried, Tested and True: Stories and Recipes Celebrating the Traditions of Australian Community Cookbooks
Tried, Tested and True

By Liz Harfull

Published 2018

  • About

The War Chest Cookery Book, 1917 (National Library of Australia).

The War Chest Cookery Book holds a special place in Australian food history. carries the first known recipe to be included in a printed cookbook under the name ‘Anzac biscuits’. But there is considerable mystery around the tasty, jam-filled treats, given they bear very little resemblance to the biscuits baked today in tribute to diggers who fought in the First World War.

Released in 1917, the cookery book raised money for the Australian Comforts Fund to support its efforts supplying items such as food parcels, clothing and even sporting equipment to the troops. The book was published by the New South Wales arm of the organisation, known as the Citizens’ War Chest Fund, which was set up within days of hostilities breaking out, by a group of Sydney-based business and professional men.

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