Every year, the range of doughnuts in Israeli shops becomes wider and yummier. But there is a victim of the Israeli love affair with doughnuts — the latke.

“Latkes have been displaced by doughnuts — there’s no doubt about it,” observes Oz Almog, a Haifa University sociologist who chronicles the day-to-day lives of Israelis.

It was a legacy she never expected to put to the test. But when her husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer, Paula Davis felt instinctively that her grandfather’s dietary cure was the best bet for his survival.

“Conventional treatments can have unpleasant side effects like impotence and incontinence; it was Brian’s body, and he felt a treatment aiming to rid the body of disease through diet was a saner approach,” says the granddaughter of Dr Max Gerson.

The kitchen can be a dangerous place, but never more so than during the festival of Chanucah — the culprit, fried food. Of course it can be fabulous, but it also can be fatal, not only in the preparation, but also in the eating. If your house does not burn down due to a forgotten chip pan, if you are not charging around armed with air freshener and if you haven’t visited A&E with multiple burns, the fact is, just eating too much fried food can be a heart attack waiting to happen.

When it comes to attracting a partner, the ability to chop a courgette adeptly is crucial. Well, it is at Date on a Plate anyway. This is a regular evening run by chef and cookery writer Denise Phillips for foodies who want to date, or perhaps for daters who want to cook.

The recipe is simple. Get some single guys and single girls cooking and eating together, and perhaps there will be some chemistry as well as cookery. The beauty of it is that even if you don’t meet your soul mate, you will at least learn how to stuff a mushroom.

Although some consider cauliflower bland, when it’s cooked perfectly with the creamy curds and few surrounding pale green leaves just tender, cauliflower can be one of the most delicious vegetables in the cook’s repertoire. Mark Twain described it as a “cabbage with a college education”. Although it originated in Asia, its health-giving qualities make it a super-food for Ashkenazi Jews, as it may be helpful in fighting both breast and prostate cancers within the community.

What do your children eat at school? I have examined the provision of Jewish secondary schools in London and it is clear to me that most of the schools are following the government guidelines of no chips, limited ketchup, no salt, no nuts and vending machines that cannot sell fizzy drinks, chocolate, crisps and similar style of snacks, while water is available at all times. Staff had put an enormous amount of attention into content, method of payment and in many cases I was extremely impressed.

Most of us love kosher delicacies like smoked salmon, shmaltz herring, pickles and chicken soup.

But these kiddush staples contain high proportions of salt which, as we know, is bad news for hearts. Or is it?

Recent research from the department of nutrition at the University of California found that it may be difficult to consume too much salt.

Professor David McCarron measured salt losses in the urine of almost 20,000 people in 33 countries and he found that our organs are naturally able to regulate our salt intake.

Jewish food — bland, stodgy, comforting and ultimately a little boring? Not if you are Tunisian.

North African Jews have a cuisine every bit as traditional and defined as that of the Eastern European shtetl, but that is about all it has in common. It is defined by its fragrant spices, heat from the fiery harissa paste, herbs, vegetables and meats.

Few dishes are more deeply rooted in the traditions of Jewish cuisine than stew. From the frozen wastes of Russia to the deserts of the Middle East, cooks have for centuries perfected the art of slow cooking, using a variety of vegetables, spices and meat.

To find the origins of the hearty kosher stew it is probably necessary to go back to the time of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, when a plate of stewed lentils changed the course of Jewish history.

As the story goes, Jacob offered him a bowl full in exchange for his birthright, making it one of the most expensive meals in history.