A Church of England spokesman said the idea was “a complete waste of time. The point of hot cross buns is that they mark Good Friday when Christ was crucified. Hence the cross. You cannot put a star in its place.”
The Jewish education adviser to the interfaith group Council for Christians and Jews, Jonathan Gorsky, said, “it seems to me that the buns are part of Christian life. They have no relevance to Jews.”
The supermarket chain is likely to face another obstacle to its new line: In the largely traditional British Jewish community, there is likely to be little demand for the “Jewish” buns during Easter, which this year falls during Passover.