No really, we are in recession

Via the Anorak

That menu in full

Another own goal by the Prime Minister who yesterday was lecturing us about saving food.Well the media have got hold of the menu that the G8 leaders sat down to yesterday

Shortly after calling for us all to waste less food, and for an end to three-for-two deals in British supermarkets, Gordon Brown joined his fellow G8 premiers and their wives for an eight-course Marie Antoinette-style "Blessings of the Earth and the Sea Social Dinner", courtesy of the Japanese government.
The global food shortage was not evident. As the champagne flowed, the couples enjoyed 18 "higher-quality ingredients", beginning with amuse-bouche of corn stuffed with caviar, smoked salmon and sea urchin pain-surprise-style, hot onion tart and winter lily bulbs.

says the Independent

And in the same paper Dominic Lawson tells us that

There is, however, one cause of waste which is so obvious that the Government completely fails to mention it: food, by historical standards, is extraordinarily cheap. Fifty years ago, 30 per cent of the average British family budget went on food. Yet according to the report released yesterday by the Cabinet Office, entitled "Food Matters-Towards a Strategy for the 21st Century", "the average UK household now devotes around 9 per cent of its expenditure to food".
Even if these figures don't take account of the most recent spike in food prices, this represents a remarkable period of sustained real price deflation. Look again at the Prime Minister's statement: how much per week did he say that the average family loses, with all its wasted food piling up in the rubbish bins? Eight pounds. The figure is striking not for its significance, but for its marginality.

Food glorious food-but has Brown hit the right button?

Has Prudence left the Treasury to move into the nation's kitchens? Will "Mr Brown's Book of Household Management" be the prime minister's next magnum opus? What tips does the PM have on how to turn your leftovers into a nice soup or a stew?

says Nick Robinson as the nation is plummeted into a guilt trip abouit how much food it throws away

This mornings headlines are all about food waste in advance of a cabinet paper timed to coincide with Gordon Brown's assault on food prices at the G8 summit.

Speaking on the Today programme this morning,Hillary Benn,the Environmental minister said that

"Thinking about what we buy and what we need is sensible during this period - this report today is saying that we need to be more aware - it is worth thinking about
"We need to make sure we are producing enough to eat to deal with the rise in population, and mouths to feed.

The figures according to the report are quite outstanding.

40% of all groceries are lost due to bad processing,storage and transport.The average household could save £420 a year and in total we dispose of 4.1m tonnes a year.

Maybe Brown has hit on a way to create empathy with the voters after all