I rather think that the problem is the lack of salt. Everything is salt-reduced these days (for no reason but bad science). Oats and salt are an ancient marriage made in heaven!I, too, had a HobNob addiction back in the 90s (along with Jacobs coffee- crikey, I was going through a sleeve of digestives a day, and a packet of coffee every 3 days!) I weighed 56 kg, and am 180.5 cm tall. It was a dark time- I found a support group on AOL (I did not cook back then). I still love coffee (but have seriously cut back), and will always be "greatful" (here's to FKW) to my neighbor in Italy who took pity upon me, and taught me how to boil water, and cook properly. Every now and then, I'll buy a sleeve of HobNobs for nostalgia, but I do agree with your brother, they're not the same. Still yummy, but a sleeve will last for a month before I need to toss the other half that has gotten stale.
That's my porage genes speaking there