Strange Food

Is Italian olive oil really Italian, or are we dipping our bread in lamp oil? Why are we masochistically drawn to foods that can hurt us, like hot peppers? Far from being a classic American dish, is apple pie actually...English? Matt Siegel sets out “to uncover the hidden side of everything we put in our mouths”. Siegel also probes subjects ranging from the myths - and realities - of food as aphrodisiac, to how one of the rarest and most exotic spices in all the world (vanilla) became a synonym for uninspired sexual proclivities.

Cheese puffs. Coffee. Sunscreen. Vapes. George Zaidan reveals what will kill you, what won’t, and why - explained with high-octane hilarity, hysterical hijinks, and other things that don’t begin with the letter H. Ingredients offers the perspective of a chemist on the stuff we eat, drink, inhale, and smear on ourselves. Apart from the burning question of whether you should eat that Cheeto, Zaidan explores a range of topics.

Maybe they should've said grace beforehand...? The extended Flood family are in for a surprise. Hardened matriarch Fionnuala Flood, tiring of the usual fish fingers and baked beans on toast, has decided to channel her inner Gordon Ramsey and serve them up a special treat from her grease-spattered kitchen. But a master chef she is not. As Paddy, Maureen, Dymphna, Siofra, Padraig and Seamus pull their chairs up to the dining table, Fionnuala proudly places covered platters before them. As the lids are lifted, will they tremble in anticipation...or fear? PLEASE NOTE: Although this novelette is...