The French director Claude Chabrol takes his food very seriously. Even the humble fried egg must be cooked perfectly in "Inspector Lavardin".
Audrey Hepburn learns how to crack an egg in a scene from Billy Wilder's frothy comedy "Sabrina".
Alfred Hitchcock's wicked sense of humour is at work again in"To Catch a Thief".
Michael Caine as Harry Palmer, the spy who can whip up a perfect omelette, in "The Ipcress File".
... and other places
The Perfect Egg by Aldo Buzzi is an excursion into the food that has obsessed, provoked and intrigued the author through his life. Rupert Baker reads an extract, admittedly on the subject of overcooked spaghetti, here.
"Go to work on an egg", the 1957 advertising campaign featuring Tony Hancock. The eight ads were banned from being shown again for the 50th anniversary in 2007 as 'they did not suggest a varied diet'. Enjoy them here.
Featured Video - Oodles of Noodles
Lamian and Daoxiao Mian are two of the most popular hand-made noodles in China. Watch them being made.
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Breakfast Lady: Every morning on street corners throughout Xiamen, China, you find barrows selling breakfast foods.
Geoff Rothwell joined the RAF in 1939 at the age of 19. He miraculously survived 71 operations as a bomber pilot, but in September 1944 his plane crashed on the Dutch island of Texel and he spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft 1 in Germany.
He talks about the food experiences of the 'kriegies' (prisoners of war) while looking at the illustrated diary kept by his room-mate, Bohdan Arct , later published as Prisoner of war: my secret journal.
Prue Leith has led an extraordinarily rich and varied life. Born in South Africa, she left for France as a young woman, worked as an au pair and studied at the Sorbonne. But it was in London that she enrolled at the Cordon Bleu and became a caterer. She opened Leith's restaurant in the swinging sixties and it quickly established itself as the place to be seen. Her clientele included all of the movers and shakers of the day. Six years later came the cookery school which still bears her name. Successful business woman, newspaper columnist, government advisor, novelist, she also sustained a happy marriage and raised two children.
Adam Gopnik, author and writer for The New Yorker magazine, came to London in late November for the UK launch of his new book. He credits Fergus Henderson for unwittingly giving him the title, The Table Comes First, and the two of them met up at St. John Hotel where the conversation ran from subjects as diverse as farting cows and the worrying proliferation of square plates in France...
Lamian and Daoxiao Mian are two of the most popular hand-made noodles in China.
