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Cookiesfrom Around the World

Cookies (or biscuits, as the Brits call them) are everyone's favourite snack. Usually made from the simple base of flour, sugar and oil, cookies are customized and made absolutely delicious by adding chocolate chips, nuts or raisins.

They can be found everywhere – prepacked at a local supermarket, homemade, in a local bakery, bought at a vending machine or brought in by someone at school or work. With such immense cookie diversity, it is hard to pick your favorite, and each country has its own special cookie tradition!

A Brief History of Cookies

It is believed that cookies originate from Persia. Once sugar became commonly used in the region in the 7th century, Persians found a way to mix it with other available ingredients and bake it.

When the Muslim forces began their conquest of Spain in the 8th century, they also spread the idea of cookies. Some centuries later, cookies were a part of the regular diet in the whole of Europe among all levels of society – including kings and queens as well as peasants.

Because of their delicious taste and caloric value, cookies became a travel companion of many people who began to explore other parts of the world. Made from nuts, sugar and water, a cookie called jumble was among the first ones to become known on every continent.

The American word "cookie" derives from the Dutch language and their word "koekje", meaning "little cake". The Americans adopted it through the Dutch settlement of America in the 1600s.

In addition to making people happy with their delicious taste, cookies often have very interesting stories to tell. Studying the etymology of a specific cookie's name and reading about how it came about can also tell us a lot about the history, customs and beliefs of a particular culture where the cookie is invented or commonly eaten. This surely makes everyone love cookies even more.

Fun Facts about Cookies

In the United States (U.S.), December 4th is National Cookie Day. Cookie cutters were first created in the early 1700s by American smiths.

Initially, shortbread cookies, popular in the United Kingdom, were sold by bakers as bread to avoid paying higher taxes which were put on cookies. (A shortbread are a thick cookie made of flour, sugar, and a lot of butter.)

Cookie jars, used to store cookies, were first used during the Depression (economic crisis) in the 1930s, when American housewives started baking cookies more often, as this was cheaper than buying them.

The most popular cookie in the U.S. is Oreo, a chocolate sandwich cookie bought in supermarkets. Each year, Americans spend more than $500 million just on Oreo.