Cereal is a medium through which we learn to confuse hunger with marketing.

The cereals marketed for children are consistently the most sugary and highly processed in the whole cereal aisle.

The Japanese must be doing something right in the way they eat, given that they live longer on average than people form any other nation.

In Japan, food filters into every aspect of the culture.

Almost the only places in the world that have lower obesity averages than Japan are countries such as Ethiopia or North Korea where there is widespread hunger and food itself is scarce.

There are signs that the Japanese themselves consider their excellent cuisine as an essential part of what it means to be Japanese.

Umami is the savoury meatiness in seaweed and miso and soy sauce. It is, to a large extent, the concept that enables Japanese cuisine to be healthy and attractive at the same time.

The concept of “delicious” was born in Japan in 1908 when a chemist called Ikeda discovered a “fifth taste” called umami that was neither bitter nor salty nor sweet nor sour but something more wonderful and compelling than any of these.

In the West the word “delicious” is likely to conjure up something laced with sugar, fat and salt, whereas in Japan it signifies a flavour found in mushrooms, grilled fish and light broths.