WE'RE a strange lot when it comes to food and cooking. On the one hand we must consume more Indian and Chinese food per head than any other people in Europe.

In our thousands in the evenings we head for restaurants - how many small hamlets are without an Oriental dining establishment these days?

Alternatively we stop off at (or ring through a home delivery) to our nearest and dearest take away or collect a so called 'ready meal' from the supermarket.

Then, as fashion and design guru Wayne Hemingway points out, we do have a tendency to eat it flopped out in front of the tv watching shows telling us how to cook!

But while he may be right about the dotty habits above Wayne strays into more controversial territory with his contention that people do not know what 'fresh' is and are being tricked into thinking they are eating well simply because they dine at fancy restaurants.

It may be true that some people's taste buds don't enable them for example to know if they are eating canned or fresh pineapple and there may be some places in London that survive purely because of the snob value of being seen there.

But as our own Nigel Smith points out great chefs make great dishes and customers pay because they recognise that.

Any chef who is in effect cheating people won't be in business for long.