Risk it for the biscuit

Tea and biscuits are a slam-dunk pairing. The kind of biscuit and the kind of tea make all the difference. Yet, many are partial to good old Indian Bourbon

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I hold no truck with the absurd idea, originally propounded by the cornflakes and cereals industry, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. As modern medicine has told us, you can happily skip breakfast if you want to.

But, if you have to take medicine in the morning for things like blood pressure then doctors suggest that you eat something first. I take two slices of Bungla bread (sold at the bakery at Delhi Hyatt Regency, delicious, gluten-free) with dark coffee or Darjeeling tea (no milk).

This works well enough, but over the last few years, I have increasingly found myself cheating. When the bread runs out, I treat myself to a chocolate biscuit (two sometimes) with my coffee.

The chocolate biscuit, as some of you may know, has been my weakness ever since I was a child.

I can't help it. I just love the taste.

Most Americans will assume that chocolate biscuit is a synonym for Oreo. The Oreo is what the trade calls a sandwich cookie: two round biscuits with a chocolate-type cream in the centre. The Oreo is such an important part of Americana, that it is traditional for kids to take apart the Oreo, to scrape or lick off the cream and to enjoy it and the cookies themselves with a glass of cold milk. (Yuck, yuck, and more yuck.)