A dog's dinner for all: "An award-winning Italian chef has become a chum of pampered dogs everywhere by devising cordon bleu "canine recipes". Bruno Barbieri, of the Michelin-starred Arquade restaurant at the Villa del Quar, a 16th-century hotel at Pedemonte, near Verona, said the recipes were so good that you could share them with your dog. "You eat them at the table, he eats them from his bowl." Signor Barbieri, 44, who honed his culinary skills on cruise ships before moving to the hotel amid the vineyards of Valpolicella, has created 51 "sophisticated recipes for dogs and their owners". He said he his own dog, a schnauzer named Alima, had enjoyed them all."


Let them eat cake! "Australians are being told to eat cake as part of International No Diet Day. Young Women's Christian Association spokeswoman Shannon Rees says too many young women are dieting and it could have long term implications for their health. "The community needs to take notice of these issues and step up and address body image and to say dieting is bad and to get out there and accept women for the sizes that they are," she said. Ms Rees says the day will highlight the problems like eating disorders among young women and promote healthy eating habits. "What we're asking women to do this morning is to get a group of girlfriends together, to go out and have breakfast or have lunch and if they're having lunch, to say, 'OK, lets eat cake,' because we're encouraging healthy diets but a part of that is also having cake as well," he said."


Rare sanity from the nervous Europeans! "Aspartame, the artificial sweetener used in thousands of foods and drinks, does not pose a cancer risk, contrary to the findings of a scientific study, the European Union's food safety agency said yesterday. Aspartame, which is 200 times sweeter than sugar, is used in a wide range of lowcalorie products from Diet Coke, Lucozade and Robinson's fruit squashes, to Muellerlight yoghurts, Walkers prawn-flavoured crisps, sugar-free gum and many puddings and desserts. It is marketed under trademarks including NutraSweet and Canderel and is thought to be consumed by one in fifteen people worldwide every day."