Saturday’s video was absolutely great, except that you apologized too many times for the length. If there are good things to tell as it was the case, the length is not a problem.

The piece about your insights from your China trip was particularly interesting and informative. And your views about the likely developments in automation and the consequences are phenomenal

So don’t worry to talk 90 minutes if you have interesting things to explain

PS: I discovered that I share other things with you (that I learnt by reading the daily report, listening to the audio and since last year watching the video). I am 5 years older than you, love food and share the high cholesterol problem
Against the cholesterol I am still fighting without resorting to statins. I don’t how long (I feel otherwise healthy, my blood pressure is perfect I am not overweight, don’t smoke and run a lot, but the cholesterol values don’t want to go down.)
Food and restaurant are my other passion. I am fortunate to spend lot of my spare time and holidays in Italy and love to travel around for good restaurants and great food. Last week on the way back from Croatia we traveled along Friuli and stopped by in San Daniele and Sauris, both well known by “gourmands” for their ham (prosciutto crudo). Fantastic... I am now in South Tyrol spending the rest of the holidays and some restaurants here around are fantastic. Yesterday evening we went with friends to a restaurant whose chef – Matteo Metullio from Trieste - got a Michelin star at the age of 28 and he’s now 31. After the excellent dinner, we spent ¾ hour or so talking with him and I was amazed at the passion he puts in his job, we talked about the next recipes for the winter season, about how and where to get good game from, about when to eat the best row fish, etc. etc.). The dim sum you show on the plate at the end of the video were also very interesting. I have been in HK several times but never in mainland China. Must be also a great food experience.

Eoin Treacy's view

Thank you for sharing your views and experiences of restaurants in Italy’s north east. As humans, we are sensual beings and there are few experiences as satisfying as a good meal with friends which engages all our senses and heightens our mood. The quality and attention to detail that goes into food on both a local and national level is one of the richest evocations of culture there is, which is why our family generally travels to eat more than any other single factor. 

China is a vast nation and regulation of the food sector is spotty at best. Therefore, the best policy is to focus on historically significant restaurants and/or those which serve Communist Party cadres. Those are the most likely to use original unadulterated ingredients. 

What I have found is that making small changes to my diet has had a positive effect on my cholesterol. I have introduced nuts, particularly walnuts to my diet. I eat a lot more vegetables and fruit and I avoid meat at least a couple of days a week. We also tend to balance meat intake between seafood and animal products on about a 50/50 basis. I make my own granola bars which are high in oatmeal and also eat oatmeal with fruit for lunch most days. 

Perhaps the biggest lessons from “Ending the Food Fight” was that there are significant differences in the nutritional value between different kinds of the same food. For example, rolled oats are much more highly processed than steel cut oats. They metabolise much quicker and do not have the same fibre content. The other big point is that how we combine different foods has a large impact in how they are metabolized and what effect they have on our health.