When it comes to ‘healthy’ eating, almost every dietitian, nutritionist and doctor uses the words ‘balanced’ and ‘moderation’.

Nowadays, logos and other schemes promoting plant-based food are springing up everywhere. How can we reconcile our choices with a well-balanced diet?

Goji berries, chia seeds, kale: Reputed for their beneficial effects, these foodstuffs are proving popular, but do they deliver on their promises?

Mediterranean and Okinawan diets have been hailed the best of the best, and interestingly share a key nutritional feature with the increasingly popular vegetarian and vegan diets.

Wilbur Scoville, a pharmacologist, invented the Scoville scale in 1912 to measure the pungency of peppers and chillies, generally related to their capsaicin content. To establish a chilli pepper’s rating, Scoville would prepare it in a solution, which was then tested by five people. He increased its dilution until the sensation of heat disappeared. The score on the scale represents the level of dilution required for the sensation of heat to disappear completely.

The power held by those with the knowhow to preserve food has rarely been investigated. For centuries, hunger stoked fear of shortage(2) and such fear could serve as a means of subjugation. The spread of democracy in the West ultimately brought ample reserves.

How do science fiction authors imagine the food of the future? Works conceived between 1896 and 1973 addressed standardised consumers, alienated by a capitalist society in pursuit of profitability. Were these works prophecy or metaphor?