When spring starts to segue into summer, a different style of wine is called for — one with a bit of fragrance that seems to mark the change of seasons and with enough personality to work both as an aperitif as well as with food.

If I asked you to think about which foods are healthy, the chances are that you would probably include, say, fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, plain yogurt, legumes, poultry, olive oil and wholegrains. You might be less sure precisely why these foods are considered healthy, but in general terms, they cover all the food groups and are rich in nutrients.

While chefs and cooks run wild, getting a little chubby and celebrating indulgence, many people have the notion that we nutrition folk sit in the corner rolling our eyes and sighing about poor food choices.

Next week, aficianados from all over the UK will gather at north-west London's Ivy House to spend an entire day cogitating, discussing and digesting a matter close to our hearts. Food.

In the three years since he founded Gefiltefest, Michael Leventhal has become something of a godfather of Jewish food - the Noshfather, so to speak.

Jewish is food is seen by many of us as a constant in an ever-changing world - a warm, nostalgic reminder of days gone by.

But while most of us still love staples such as chopped liver, chicken soup and lockshen pudding, things have shifted perceptibly.

Four decades ago the default mode for British Jews would have been the Ashkenazi classics, but since then our perception of what is Jewish h

Last year a great battle was won in a long war. The struggle was not over land, oil or religion. It was over a cream and fruit-filled meringue pudding.

Australia and New Zealand have both claimed to be the originating country of this favourite dessert, said to be inspired by a tutu draped in green silk cabbage roses worn by the ballet dancer Anna Pavlova, when she toured down under in 1926.

Kosher wine has arrived. The wine list at Spain's El Celler de Can, one of the world's top restaurants, offers selections from kosher producer Elvi Wines. The Michelin-starred venue is not alone. Until it closed its doors recently, the world-famous El Buli also kept Elvi bottles in the cellar.

Yochanan Lambiase, founder of the Jerusalem Culinary Institute (JCI) is on a mission to improve the quality and reputation of kosher cookery. "We've got so many ways of being able to play with food to make it just as good as non-kosher," he explains. "I see no reason in the world why kosher food couldn't be up to Michelin standard."

On the Kent coast, overlooking a sunset painted by Turner, you can tuck into a exceptional serving of salt beef. But it is not salt beef as we know it. Jason Freedman, chef-proprietor of The Minnis eschews brisket in favour of the finer-textured rib, and cooks it for hours at low temperature in a water bath rather than the long boil that bubbe would have administered.