Mcvitie's Victoria Carton - 490g

The biscuit assortment is a fixture of British hospitality: the box brought out when visitors arrive, left on the side in the office, opened at every family gathering going. McVitie's is the name behind the digestive and the Jaffa Cake, and Victoria is its sharing box, the one people recognise across a room.

People in Canada search for it because a box of biscuits on the table is how a lot of British families say welcome, and it has to be the right box. Hosting the in-laws, a leaving do at work, a catch-up with friends from back home: this is the one that makes the room feel familiar.

It comes as a proper 490g carton, layered so the choosing takes a while. Keep it somewhere cool and dry, close the lid between raids, and it sits happily in the cupboard until the next round of visitors. Or until Tuesday.

Most people put a box of British tea in the basket alongside it, because a Victoria without a brew is just a box. Fans of McVitie's tend to keep a packet of digestives or Hobnobs in reserve for when the carton is empty.