People are only just realising how digestives got their name – and they aren’t impressed
DIGESTIVES are a classic British treat – but have you ever wondered how they got their name?
Comedian Gary Meikle took to TikTok to reveal the origins of the family favourite biscuit brand.
He shared a post in 2021 as part of a TikTok challenge, where users shared things that are considered “totally normal” in their country – but seen as “weird” elsewhere.
He explained that his American girlfriend just couldn’t understand why the round biscuits were called digestives and wanted to examine the ingredients.
The Glasgow-based comedian began his post: “In Scotland, it’s normal to eat biscuits called digestives- I’ve never even thought about the name before”.
He quickly Googled the famous name, and was stunned at the results.
He claims: “It turns out in 1839 two Scottish doctors developed these to help with the aid of the digestive system because they’ve got sodium bicarbonate in them, which is a laxative.
“So, essentially we have been eating biscuits that help make us s**t.
“I feel violated. Why were we not taught this back in school during home economics? Like, am I the only Scottish person that didn’t know this was a s**t biscuit?!”
The post quickly racked up over three million views, 1.5million likes and over 36,000 comments from people who shared his surprise at the fact.
One commented: “I’m in England and I had no idea… I feel violated too.”
A second wrote: “WHAT! They’ve never made me go to the toilet and I eat them by the packet”.
Another said: “I’ve never even questioned why they were called digestives”.
One more added: “I will never look at a digestive the same again,” to which Gary jokingly replied: “Nor will I but it’ll not stop us eating a full packet in one sitting will it”.
And according to The Foods of England Project, an ad for digestives in 1829 claimed they had medicinal properties.
“These biscuits, when genuine, and taken regularly by families, have the good property of keeping the body in a regular state, and in a great measure supersedes the necessity of having recourse to medicine,” it read.
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