Indulgence makes a child fat. Restriction makes a child fat and unhappy.

The problem with lunchboxes is the problem with the way we feed children in general. Parents trust that anything they place in this magical box will be good for the child, because it comes with their love.

The Japanese bento - pioneered using aluminium boxes in the early twentieth century - offers a structure ideally designed for eating a healthy lunch.

Inequality among siblings goes all the way to the gut: we are born with different microbes inside us, outnumbering our cells ten to one. Some of them affect our chances of becoming obese in later life and others affect how well we digest our dinner. What we eat is constantly changing the composition of our microbiota, but, equally, the nature of the microbes inside us determines how well we respond to the food we eat.

When fairy-tale children seek their fortune, food is the main thing they’re after.

Our olfactory bulbs have gathered endless sense patterns of foods high in sugar, fat and salt. These flavour memories have become part of the fabric of our sense of self and are not easily discarded, because the system, as we have seen, is designed ‘not to forget’.

Why is a bowl of frosted cereal loops with added rainbow marshmallows allowed to count as ‘breakfast’ and not ‘sweets’?

One of the functions of traditional cuisines is to reinforce these shared childhood food memories.

Given that we all bring such different food memories to the table, how is it ever possible to cook a meal that will please everyone?