Recent reports in the paper suggest that the Government are on the cusp of introducing new legislation to make food manufacturers, takeaways and restaurants declare the calorific value of their food.

Whilst to some extent that might be helpful on sweet and chocolate packaging maybe things are going too far. Firstly, will it make any difference other than to diehard ‘professional ‘ slimmers who anyway can spot a calorie count 100 yards away. Secondly, is Joe Public going to be bothered with the hassle of balancing their calorie count with energy expended each and every day.

If I have a couple of poppadoms, a chicken pakora starter,a balti chicken and mushroom and a nice fluffy naan washed down with a couple of bottles of beer, I’m perfectly capable of understanding that (a) it would be unwise to eat that every night (b) a brisk walk or gym session is called for the next day to keep things on an even keel.

Calorie counting seems to me to be a bit of pointless bureaucracy which is unlikely to make jot of difference to either those who are already savvy on weight management or conversely on those who don’t really care enough to bother to get a calculator out at the end of the day.

New Balti Bowl

Seasoned Balti Bowl

There was a recent article in the Guardian lamenting the lack of availability of ‘real’ paella and the growth of pretenders purporting to be the real thing. It struck me that there is a striking similarity to the position on authentic balti not least because paella takes its name from the cooking pan which is a signature element in the dish itself. However, in the case of paella, it’s more about the ingredients but in the case of balti, it’s more about the method but the overall principle of the issue of the not so great pretenders is the same.

So if ‘Paella has been Punked’ then equally ‘Balti has been Blagged’!