Tackle the sugar lobby to save young teeth | Letter
No one will argue against the benefits of good oral hygiene (The Guardian view on the dental divide: ministers must brush up their policy as well as children’s teeth, 2 September), but teaching toothbrushing at breakfast clubs to prevent dental decay (cavities and fillings) is a waste of time unless it is backed up by dietary advice with regard to unnecessary sugar.Why can’t this simple advice, and ways to apply it, be given to pregnant women and mothers of newborns? It can be given by a variety of healthcare professionals, costs nothing to apply at home and would save the NHS millions in a few years’ time.Children would have less pain and dentists would have a happier job.Extending the sugar tax and challenging the aggressive marketing and lobbying tactics of the food industry, which promotes and profits from high-sugar foods, should also be considered if we are to take the problem seriously.There is “no specific correlation between the number of NHS dentists and young children with tooth decay” because the damage has been done and habits established before most children get to see a dentist.
Incidentally, a bit more advice at the earliest stages would have significant health benefits in other respects too,Nick HopkinsonYork Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section,
Want wines with attitude? Look to the Jura
If you’ve heard of savagnin (nope, not sauvignon), you may well be one of those in-the-know wine drinkers who have been ushered in the direction of the Jura, this grape’s iconic region, after being priced out of your favourite burgundy. And while there are some similarities between the two regions, a focus on chardonnay and pinot noir being the most obvious, there are plenty of other varieties for discerning wine nerds, and savagnin is definitely one of them.It’s a grape variety that’s been grown in France for 900 years, with high acidity and a late-ripening in the vineyard, and it’s known for the complex, age-worthy styles of wine it can create. It’s also grown just over the border in Switzerland, where it’s known as heida, as well as in Australia, where it was once mistaken for albariño. In the Jura, however, this high-acid grape produces nuanced still wines, and wines made in the vin jaune style, for which the wine is matured under yeast to give it a nutty, complex character akin to that of a biologically aged sherry such as fino
Back to school, work, reality: what to eat now summer is over
The shift from August to September can be brutal, so we’ve compiled the best dishes to avoid the dread of the work canteenSeptember arrives and, with it, the sudden, brutal gear shift from slow, lazy August, the mad rush to catch up on all the work you’ve been neglecting, to reconnect with the friends who’ve been away during summer. It’s back to the commute, back to work, back to school …We are also back at school – every Thursday for the past few years we’ve been taking pottery classes at college. From 10 in the morning until five in the evening we are covered in clay; our muddy fingers cannot check the phone every five minutes, and everyone at work knows not to contact us unless it’s an emergency – and even then, only if there’s something we can actually do about it.This also means that, for the first time since high school, we don’t have an obvious lunch solution. Our working life may lack many things, but as chefs our access to fresh, delicious food isn’t one of them
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for potatoes, onions and green beans | A kitchen in Rome
As he breaks three eggs into a glass bowl, Lt Columbo tells Joanna Ferris: “I’m the worst cook in the world, but there’s one thing I do terrific, and that’s an omelette.” The episode is Murder By the Book, and Columbo has taken Joanna, the wife of murder victim Jim Ferris, home to save her from more relentless questioning by his colleagues. Of course, we already know it was Jim’s less talented writing partner, naughty Ken Franklin, who did it.At first, Joanna resists Columbo’s offer of something to eat, but he gently gets on with it, in his trademark raincoat: he cracks the eggs into a bowl, picks out a bit of shell that inadvertently falls into the bowl and asks Joanna where he can get a bowl for the empty shells balanced in his hands. It is a perfect scene and perfect Columbo: bumbling and absolutely certain, attentive to needs and tiny details
Sweeteners can harm cognitive health equivalent to 1.6 years of ageing, study finds
Sweeteners found in yoghurts and fizzy drinks can damage people’s ability to think and remember, and appear to cause “long-term harm” to health, research has found.People who consumed the largest amount of sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin saw a 62% faster decline in their cognitive powers – the equivalent to their having aged 1.6 years, researchers say.They concluded: “Our findings suggest the possibility of long-term harm from low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCs) consumption, particularly artificial LNCs and sugar alcohols, on cognitive function.”The findings are the latest to warn about the dangers posed by sweeteners
Berries are back! Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for September
Strawberries are down to $3 a punnet, cauliflower is $2.50 a head and Hass avocados ‘should be on everyone’s menu’Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email“Springtime is tricky with fruit, because you’re getting rid of your winter citrus and the exotic summer stuff hasn’t started yet,” says owner and buyer Josh Flamminio at Sydney’s Galluzzo Fruiterers. But there are hints of what’s to come.“Mangoes have already started from the Northern Territory. We’re selling two for $10 at the moment,” Flamminio says
Cheap, healthy, sustainable and delicious – why mussels are a no-brainer
Fans say they’re the perfect food. No wonder they’re having a moment on restaurant menus. But how hard is this shellfish to prepare at home?It might be that they’re cheap. It might be that they’re healthy. But, in all likelihood, it’s “because they are just delicious”, says seafood chef Mitch Tonks
Metropolitan gatekeeping has kept Marlowe marginalised | Letters
Man found dead at Burning Man identified as Russian who ‘poured his soul’ into camp
Common People Dance Eisteddfod: how a ‘dickhead dancing’ competition snowballed into a juggernaut
How Graham Linehan’s gender activism led to career armageddon
No culinary war, no sweary saucier: why The Cook and the Chef is still the best food TV
Bath’s Holburne museum to unveil ‘art chamber’ of Renaissance masterpieces