A Carlton café has renamed its "Anzac Slice" to "Oat and Golden Syrup Slice" after receiving formal correspondence from the Department of Veterans' Affairs advising that commercial use of the word "Anzac" requires ministerial permission under regulations most small food businesses have never heard of, let alone sought approval under.
The word "Anzac" has been protected under Commonwealth regulation since shortly after the First World War, specifically to prevent its commercial or inappropriate use, with approval generally granted for traditional Anzac biscuits made to recognisable recipes, provided they are referred to as "biscuits" or "cakes" rather than any more creative naming.
"We called it a slice because, structurally, it's a slice," the café owner said. "It's baked in a tray and cut into squares. I did not think that word choice was going to bring me into contact with the Department of Veterans' Affairs."
The letter, received after what the department described as a routine compliance matter, advised the café that "Anzac" biscuits and cakes are permitted under long-standing guidelines, but that slices, bars, and other non-traditional formats fall outside the approved use, as does any application the department has not specifically authorised.
"I rang them to clarify, actually fully expecting to be told this was a mistake," the owner said. "They were very polite. They explained the whole history, which I now know a lot more about than I used to. But the answer was still no, not as a slice."
The item, a long-running favourite made with oats, coconut and golden syrup, has been relabelled on the café's cabinet and website, with the owner noting that sales "have not changed even slightly" since the renaming, aside from one customer who asked, with apparent concern, whether the recipe itself had changed.
"It's the same slice," the owner said. "It's just not allowed to be called that slice anymore. I've got a lot more respect for the rule than I expected to, once it was explained. I just wish it had come up before I ordered four hundred stickers."
The café has, for now, kept a handwritten sign near the till explaining the renaming "purely because people keep asking, and it's actually a pretty interesting story."