I thought I'd give Embarrassing Bodies a miss last night. "The focus is firmly on faeces this week," ran the Radio Times billing, a rare acknowledgement from a programme-maker that its product is going to be full of crap but still not the most alluring pitch I've ever read.

Pickering in North Yorkshire is a country town with exactly the right sort of attractions: 12th-century castle; bustling steam railway; church with medieval wall paintings admired by Pevsner and, not least, a quietly handsome inn on the high street.

There has to be good reason to traipse across town for a kebab. And this secret sauce might be it...

Food miles

Serves 4

Serves 4

We reported last week on the rise of the Pizza à la Bastard, or egregious violations of the dish by food technologists armed with toppings and techniques as removed as the Moon from its Neapolitan origins.

Faddy regimens and strict exclusion diets are not the way to achieve lasting fitness, although they do get a lot of attention. Kate Hilpern explodes the common myths about which foods are good for us, and makes some sensible suggestions

There's a rash of abominable dishes being served up in the name of pizza. But, asks Will Dean, whoever thought it needed reinventing anyway?

Manchester's Malmaison has spruced up its brasserie; but does the food live up to the look?

Consumption of the rather appetising sounding “beast flesh” is the order of the day in Pandora’s Tower.

Everything tastes better with bacon. Or so goes a flawed bit of mid-Noughties American wisdom.