Egg cartons are labeled with all sorts of descriptors, making grocery shopping a confusing experience. Experts tell us what these labels mean and how to shop

Shopping for eggs at the grocery store can be a confusing experience. Cartons are labeled with all kinds of descriptors – natural, organic, cage-free, free-range – and some cost more at checkout. But what do they actually mean, and for ethically minded consumers, are they actually worth the money?

Protein-packed eggs are linked to relatively low carbon emissions compared with other land-based animal protein sources, but not all eggs are created equal when it comes to the environment, health or animal welfare, experts say.

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Contrary to popular belief, there are some wines – and even one or two reds – that you can pair with this superstar spring vegetable

Four weeks or so into the asparagus season, and are you getting bored yet? Not me: at this time of year, I could happily eat the stuff every day, and frequently do, but not always cooked the same way. And how you cook or serve your asparagus will affect which wine you drink with it.

What’s that, you say – you thought wine was supposed to be a no-no with asparagus? Like most of these so-called rules, the difficulties are massively overstated. Do you think the Germans or Austrians, mad asparagus fiends that they are, don’t drink wine with their spargel ? Of course they do. In Alsace, too.

For more by Fiona Beckett, go to fionabeckett.substack.com

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Chefs have created meat-free dishes for athletes while fans will have greatest choice of vegetarian food of any Games

It will boast the world’s biggest salad bar, offer fans vegetarian hotdogs and bring in up to half a million bananas by boat to meet athletes’ insatiable demand for the fruit while avoiding the carbon footprint of air travel.

As part of its efforts to cut carbon emissions , the Paris Olympics will make history by offering more vegetarian cuisine than in any Games.

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This is the sort of food invented for British people that you’d have got at a Cantonese restaurant back in 1994

Off to Canterbury for a shufti around the cathedral, a meander through its pretty streets and a spot of lunch at Sekkoya, a vast, gorgeous-looking new pan-Asian restaurant on the Riverside next to an Everyman Cinema, a crazy golf venue and a branch of Heavenly Desserts . The restaurant’s sleek website offers all sorts of bold statements about this hot dining experience (regular readers will be aware that I delight in this kind of Vogon poetry ), claiming that it will take us on a “gastronomic journey throughout Asia that transcends ordinary flavours”, and offering cocktails that will “awaken your senses”.

The website emotes grandly in this way for many more yards, so much so, in fact, that I suspect AI. Only a non-sentient being could describe Canterbury’s Riverside as a “vibrant new lifestyle district”, when it’s just an elevated patch of concrete. Maybe Sekkoya is entitled to be cocky, though, because it’s clearly the classiest venue for miles: the place is bedecked in sea-green velour, with shiny floors, pale tan leather seats and an impressive “mural” skylight that gives the impression that you’re dining in a rainforest. Fans of the opulent Chinese restaurant chain Tattu , which is especially big in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, will recognise dashes of the modern, high-octane glamour that delights Instagram feeds. Add beautiful bathrooms, Kool & The Gang and George Benson on the stereo, and lovely, chipper serving staff, and they clearly mean business here.

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José Andrés, founder of organisation, told mourners gathered at Washington National Cathedral how the loss of his staff ‘should inspire us to do better’

The seven World Central Kitchen aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes represented the “best of humanity” and risked everything “to feed people they did not know and will never meet,” José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organisation, told mourners on Thursday.

Speaking at Washington National Cathedral to those gathered to honour the aid workers, Andrés said there was no excuse for the killings and renewed calls for an investigation into the deaths.

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In this quick and easy midweek recipe, the cookbook author goes big on flavour – with minimal washing up

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One-pan pasta recipes can be a little hit and miss. While one pan implies you won’t need to boil the pasta separately – meaning one less item to clean up – some people find the pasta has a tendency to overcook or undercook. Others are put off by the starchiness, but I like to think of this dish as a risotto-paella-pasta situation, where the starch should be embraced and mitigated with cheesiness and acid.

You can totally add frozen corn, or even peas, to this pasta for bonus veg. Just pour some boiling water over half a cup of them while the garlic is sauteing, and wait until they thaw before adding once the pasta’s done. If you’ve got any zucchini or golden squash about, you could add these in, thinly sliced, with the burrata.

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Maker hopes solein, protein grown with CO2 and electricity, will cut environmental impact of farming

Nothing appears remarkable about a dish of fresh ravioli made with solein. It looks and tastes the same as normal pasta.

But the origins of the proteins which give it its full-bodied flavour are extraordinary: they come from Europe’s first factory dedicated to making human food from electricity and air.

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A margarita using both mezcal and tequila, with a hint of sweet almond for added depth

This take on the margarita uses both tequila and mezcal , with orgeat for a little balancing sweetness. It’s relatively straightforward, but complex in both execution and taste. When we came up with the idea, we applied the same principles as those we have in the kitchen, using only a few ingredients and letting the produce shine. We serve this straight up, but it’s also enjoyable over ice.

Chef Yahir Gonzalez and the bar team, Zapote , London EC2

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Meatable hopes its cultivated sausages will satisfy the world’s appetite for meat without harming animals or the planet

Even before I see the sausages, I am greeted by their rich, meaty aroma. Sizzling in a pan of foaming margarine, they look like regular chipolatas being fried up for a Sunday breakfast, their pink-grey exteriors slowly turning a rich caramel brown.

Consisting of 28% pork fat, bulked out with textured pea, chickpea, soy and wheat protein, these mini bratwursts would happily sit inside a hotdog or next to a plate of mashed potato. But these are no standard bangers.

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