It was a good month for ...
... Mr Martell
The only maker of Stinking Bishop cheese. It features in the new Wallace and Gromit film, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The film isn't out until Friday and yet demand has already increased 100 per cent. Not that Mr Martell, who produces just 20 tons of cheese a year, will be doing anything about that. 'I just want an easy life,' he says.' If I make any more cheese I will need more staff and a bigger vat and that means knocking down a wall. I can't be bothered.'
... Bangers
Sophisticated sausages made of better quality meat and a wide range of ingredients are reportedly reasons for the great comeback of bangers in the UK. It is predicted that Brits will eat 189,000 tonnes this year, which is 17 per cent more than in 2000.
... Healthier school dinners
After a failed appeal to the local council and caterers to improve school dinners at Gorringe Park Primary in Mitcham, Surrey, headteacher Alan Coode succeeded in getting the menu changed by posting a photographic diary of the unhealthy food the children were fed. On his school's website.
... For everyone
who loves gorging The newest approach (or oldest - the Warrior Diet is based on the Stone Age man's eating habits) to losing weight invites you to eat as much as you can of your favourite foods. Between 4pm -7pm. The rest of the day you have to starve. Experts are sceptical.
... Hollywood stars
and the like A new IV drip diet containing a fat-burning mixture makes it possible to exercise without needing to eat. Experts are even more sceptical.
... Making junk food healthy
Seaweed is the miracle ingredient that could turn burgers and cakes into healthy, high- fibre foods. Scientists suggest that two varieties of seaweed, which contain a special fibre extract, could replace the fat in junk food without affecting the taste, look or odour. As an added bonus, it helps combat diabetes, heart disease and bowel cancer.
It was a bad month for...
... Bread rolls
Hugh Grant was appalled when a bread roll was lobbed at him at Annabel's, a chichi private club in London's Berkeley Square. It landed in Grant's soup.
... Alex Twain
Gordon Ramsay's scholar of the year overslept and failed to show up for an interview at GMTV. Ramsay was furious that he'd been left 'looking like an idiot, twiddling my thumbs on the sofa'. So he took back the car Twain had won. 'He doesn't deserve it after being so useless.'
... Garlic
It seems the French have lost their taste for the most ubiquitous flavour in Gallic cuisine and sales are dropping. Nonetheless, every man, woman and child in the country still eats the stuff - it's just that they only get through 800g a head per year, whereas a decade ago they ate 900g.
... Living in the country
A report commissioned by Defra found that people living near farms could be suffering from chemical exposure due to pesticide spraying on crops. Campaigners argue for a bufferzone around the edge of fields.
... Crisp-eating school children and vending machines
Sweets, crisps, fizz and other sugary edibles have been banned from school vending machines to tackle obesity.
