Not so long ago, the only thing we needed to know about our food was when it would be on the table. Now we want all the details. We demand information, both essential facts and trivia, about whatever we eat and drink. No longer are we content to know that it is fish for supper, but we want to know what type of fish it is, whether it is wild or farmed, and if it is farmed what it was fed on. We need to know exactly how fresh that fish is, who cooked it and what they did to it. Then, we will probably want the recipe too.

What was once mildly interesting to know has become essential information. Do you, for instance, know whether we should be eating cod or not? Are we doing irreversible harm by giving our children fish fingers for tea? Of course sometimes we just want the gossip. No matter how much we pretend not to care, there is something irresistible about the lives of the rich and famous - by which I mean the really famous, not someone who happens to have a daytime cookery slot on cable television - and we want to know exactly what and where they eat, and whether they always manage to get a table.

This, the second issue of Observer Food Monthly gives us both the essential story of cod and the gossip about who sits where in Hollywood restaurants. Monty Don shows us his organic vegetable garden, Roberto Di Matteo invites us for dinner and Lynn Barber grills golden boy Gordon Ramsay. And for those who still think they need another recipe we show you some quick pasta suppers and tell you what really lies at the very depths of a Pot Noodle. Enjoy!

• Nigel Slater is The Observer 's food writer.