Noma tops World’s Top 50 Restaurants

On Monday night Danish restaurant Noma was named the best restaurant in the world. A panel of some 800 chefs, journalists and hangers on voted for 32-year-old chef Rene Redzepi’s Copenhagen gaff in a poll that saw only 3 British restaurants – The Fat Duck, Hibiscus, and St. John – find a place. It was also a triumphant night for lazy journalism, with no fewer than 72,000 articles mentioning the fact that the Fat Duck serves snail porridge and bacon and egg ice cream. Oops, make that 72,001.

Ash cloud forces shoppers to think local

Fear of a sudden shortfall in bananas and beans following the Icelandic volcano debacle may cause a boom for local produce, reports the Grocer. While the amount of produce air-freighted to the UK is relatively small, the disruption caused by the ash cloud has encouraged shoppers to think more locally. Considering the disturbing backseat role the environment took in the leader debates, it’s good to see the public taking matters into their own hands.

Britons use 2.4 million discount vouchers every day

1,692 vouchers are redeemed in the UK every minute. It’s a surprising figure which is as good a reflection of the cost of modern life as any. Shoppers are forced, it would seem, to scour the internet and magazines to save a buck or two. Do you use discount vouchers for food shopping? Does it lead you to ‘buy’ things you wouldn’t have done before?

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Other food news this week:

* New initiatives to reduce salt intake in the US. Read about it here.

* Blueberries outselling strawberries for the first time, reports the Telegraph. What’s your view? Superfruit or super-ordinary?

* New till technology will cut queues, say Sainsbury’s. Watch Eddie Izzard’s brilliant take on supermarkets here.

* American man fined for luring a bear into his crosshairs with donuts. Read here.

* Indian man claims to have survived 70 years without food or water, reports the Sun.

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Blog of the week

* Oliver Thring adds to the unanimous bashing of Ramsay’s newly reopened Petrus. Far too many quotes to fillet from here, so you’d better just bloody well read it yourself.

Recipe of the week

* Baked potato and leek soup with roasted chicken cigarillos, from the British Larder.

Picture of the week

* Amazing snap flagged up by Tim Hayward. Mayonnaise cake…mmm.

COMPETITION

* For free tickets to the Real Food Festival send your best food stories to, err, Food Stories.