Controversy in British egg week
While the Co-op is patting itself on the back for its egg-based animal welfare award, Sky news has unearthed a less savoury side to ‘free range’ farming. An investigation into Noble Foods suggests the farm – or is that firm? – is playing fast and loose with the term ‘free range’, with birds kept indoors until laying, and parasites nibbling at the hens.

Inflation continues
Shoppers are being hit the hardest as the cost of food and clothing continues to climb. Rising prices in wheat and oil have had a knock on effect on the price of bread and meat, say the British Retail Consortium, leading to last month’s rise of 0.2% from August. Tesco’s big cheese Terry Leahy played down fears, saying inflation was unlikely to reach the heights of 2007.

Three-course meal in a stick of gum
You couldn’t make it up. Well, I say that, judge for yourself. According to the Daily Mail, scientists are working on a Willy Wonka-style sweet that can give the sensation of eating three separate courses. Click on the above link for the science mumbo jumbo, but it all seems like an extravagant waste of time and resources.

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Other food news this week:
* ‘Healthy’ purple potato goes on sale in UK.
* Frog finds woman in bottle of wine. Or something.
* Biodegradable crisp packets deemed ‘too noisy’.
* Hundreds of bad pubs blacklisted.
* Johnny Depp doesn’t like British food. Prefers Wagamama instead. Ouch.

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Piece of the week:
* Simon Majumdar discusses children in restaurants on the Guardian Word of Mouth blog.

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Recipe of the week:
* Crispy fried lamb tongues from Lemon Basil. Drool.

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Video of the week:
This is the weirdest advert I’ve seen in a long time:

Competition!
And don’t forget, you could win an frigging great ostrich egg and a bottle of champagne. Send me your best egg recipe before Sunday night.