EU unbends a little

The bureaucrats of Brussels may come in all shapes and sizes but for years they have insisted that Brussels sprouts must have a minimum diameter of 10mm. Someone (a Dane, I believe) has now alerted that out-of-touch-with-reality group that there is a little financial crisis in the world and that people don't really want to throw away thousands of tons of perfectly good food simply because it is a little misshapen.

But we musn't get too excited. The rules will only be relaxed on 26 items. Regulations on the size, shape and curvature of bananas, apples, citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, lettuces and endives, peaches, pears, strawberries, sweet peppers, table grapes and tomatoes will remain.

I offer a word of encouragement for anyone who might feel nervous about eating a curved cucumber or a knobbly carrot - they taste the same as the perfectly straight ones. I buy all my fruit and vegetables from Riverford Organics or from local farms where they judge the quality of the produce by its flavour and not its appearance.

Never did I think that I would link to The Mail but here is a superbly illustrated article on the subject.