Are You Eating Chocolate Digestives Wrong?
No matter how you eat it—dunk, nibble or munch—keeping the biscuit side down just feels right. It feels like what you’re supposed to do.
However, it turns out we’ve been doing it completely wrong—so says Anthony Coulson, general manager at McVitie’s in Stockport.
His verdict? Chocolate down, biscuit up. And that’s the only way to do it properly.
Ways To Eat Your Digestive Biscuit
How you eat your biscuit is a passionate topic that could ignite a national debate! It’s something the British take very seriously.
Dunking
- Plunging the biscuit into your hot beverage until it’s softened.
- Some people do a fast and quick dip; others let it soak until the biscuit is completely softened.
Nibbling/Biting
- Taking small bites, savouring each nibble slowly.
Munching
- Eating the whole biscuit in just one or two bites.
Spreading
- Spreading butter, jam, or cream on top of the biscuit. (Less common with chocolate ones.)
Crumbling
- Breaking the biscuit into smaller pieces to sprinkle on desserts like ice cream and yoghurt.
Chocolate Side Down
- Some Brits instinctively eat with the biscuit side first, especially when dunking.
Creative / Quirky Ways
- Topping with tea- or coffee-infused spreads.
- Crushing into recipes like cheesecake bases or biscuit puddings.
- Eating with cheese or savoury accompaniments (experimental!).
Are You Eating Your Biscuit Wrong?
Anthony Coulson shared with the BBC “One of the very first things I learnt when I got to join McVitie’s was chocolate side down to eat the digestive.”
“Up until then, I’d always eaten it the other way round.”
He argues it’s a no-brainer—the chocolate should be the very first thing your tongue tastes. “It starts to melt, starts to get the flavour and away you go. It makes sense, right?”
McVitie’s has been making the chocolate digestive since 1925—and this year it hits its 100th birthday.
They were the sequel to the plain digestive—first made in 1892, after two Scottish doctors decided sodium bicarbonate might settle the stomach.
They’ve long ruled Britain’s best-biscuit charts, topping shortbread, chocolate fingers, jaffa cakes (not really a biscuit), and chocolate hobnobs—and in 2009 they were voted the ultimate dunker.
In Notes From a Small Island, the American-born, Britain-adopted writer Bill Bryson asked, “What other nation in the world could possibly have given us William Shakespeare, pork pies, Christopher Wren, Windsor Great Park, the Open University, Gardeners’ Question Time, and the chocolate digestive biscuit? None, of course.”
The 100th birthday celebrations have sparked one of McVitie’s biggest marketing pushes yet, including a pop-up choc digestive store at Piccadilly Circus from 2 to 5 May.
No word yet on whether visitors will learn the proper biscuit technique, though Coulson admits he still sticks to old habits.
“I still do [eat it chocolate side up] if I’m totally honest,” he shared.
