The Snack Cake John Lennon Adored (Then Suddenly Couldn't Stand)

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John Lennon famously opined that all you need is love, but for a brief stint in the early 1960s, he might have amended that phrase to include a certain snack cake that's beloved in British kitchens all over the isle. Yes, as The Beatles were hitting their stride in the public eye and developing a taste for their favorite drink, it seemed that John Lennon just couldn't get enough of the good old Jaffa cake — but this infatuation supposedly only lasted a short while.

In an interview conducted by Paul Du Noyer in his 2015 book "Conversations with McCartney," Paul McCartney reminisces on the early days of The Beatles and the newfound wealth that their music afforded them. According to the former Beatle himself, one of the first things Lennon did once obtaining wealth was to feverishly consume as many Jaffa cakes as he could. "He went mad on Jaffa Cakes, went insane about them: 'Gimme gimme!'" says McCartney. But the old saying that you can have too much of a good thing rings true in this case, as McCartney continues by saying that "about a week later he couldn't look at one, and he never looked at one the rest of his life." So even if Lennon's rumored final meal can't be confirmed with 100% certainty, you can safely bet that there probably wasn't a Jaffa cake in sight.

Jaffa cakes, which have been around in the United Kingdom since the 1920s, aren't exactly a delicacy, but they certainly have their place as a classic snack alongside some tea at the kitchen table. In fact, the relevance of Jaffa cakes hasn't really subsided since their inception, as they can still stir up heated conversation, such as when they appeared in a controversial segment of the Great British Baking Show. But regardless of whether you consider them a cake or a cookie (or whether you think it's sacrilege to dip them in your tea), it's not as if Jaffa cakes are a hot commodity — you can grab them in any old grocery store in the U.K. So why exactly was Lennon briefly so fascinated with these snack cakes?

Any answer is, of course, mere speculation, but taking a look back at the era in which Lennon grew up could give you a decent idea. Lennon grew up in a Britain still recovering from the Second World War, and wasn't exactly from a well-to-do family, so even the smallest of luxuries were likely rare to the young future artist. As a result, suddenly coming into a great deal of money in his early 20s granted him the ability to afford all the things he may have pined after as a child — and Jaffa cakes seemingly topped that list. Taste has a way of evoking memories, and maybe that's what Lennon was after before going a little overboard with the little orangey cakes.