Back away from the celeb endorsements and viral posts. As my gift to you, dear readers, I tried this stuff – so you don’t have to

Christmas is all about traditions: repeating the same thing over and over, however silly it might be, because that’s just what you do at Christmas. But every time-honoured tradition has to start somewhere. In order to sell us tat we don’t need, and keep the PR industry ticking over, the holiday season has also become the time for all manner of daft fads, and celebs promising to give our favourite festive foods, games and pressies “a twist”. Not wanting to miss the (gravy) boat, I embarked on a spirited mission to try them all.

This year’s hotly touted Christmas trends include “ burr baskets ” – a care package of cosy items such as blankets and socks given as a pre-Christmas gift, which sounds like an unnecessary extra faff. Then there’s a lot of talk about “ Thriftmas ”: re-gifting and buying secondhand gifts from charity shops, which my friend and I havebeen doing for years. The best/worst such gift, from me to him, was probably an unofficial version of Guess Who? with most of the pieces missing. And from him to me: a used chocolate Advent calendar, with all the chocolate scoffed. Also on trend in the world of gifts this year is burgundy wrapping paper , although I say: what’s wrong with tinfoil, like in Gavin and Stacey ?

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Livornese cacciucco mingles cultures and seafood for a richly flavoured soup that’s just made for sharing

According to the cultural association Livorno Euro Mediterranea , the name of the city’s sociable soup-stew, cacciucco , is borrowed from the Turkish word küçük (small). The reason for this, according to the more plausible origin myths and etymology accepted by linguistic science, is the introduction to a Livornese tavern (possibly by a Turkish sea merchant) of a Turkish fish soup called balık çorbası . The resourceful and quickly adopted recipe called for küçük balık (small fish), and küçük was borrowed and became cacciucco.

However the soup came into being, a recipe made from an amalgam of fish had the most favourable environment in a thriving Tuscan seaport with its amalgam of communities, as well as in the arrival of tomatoes in everyday cooking, in the late 1700s. The evolving cacciucco reflected all of this, so no wonder it became a symbol of the city. At this point, I must also mention cacciucco from the town of Viareggio, 50km north of Livorno, which is also as loved and as varied as the cooks who make it. Cacciucco in all forms illustrates beautifully the food historian Massimo Montanari’s theory that (often) the key word in the evolution of recipes is “encounter”: “The more numerous and interesting the encounters, the richer the result.”

The Guardian aims to publish recipes for sustainable fish. Check ratings in your region: UK ; Australia ; US .

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Happiness for me has always meant food, mostly eaten outside. In this busy world, I hope my children can make similar memories

• In our end of year series, writers and public figures remember the place or time when they felt most at home

My childhood home was in South Africa. My parents adored each other and life for my two brothers and me was loving and carefree. Mum was a well-known actor and producer, and my father was a successful businessman. We had a big house in a three-acre garden, complete with huge old trees to climb, a scruffy lawn to play football on, a swimming pool and a tennis court. Today that whole white, privileged, almost colonial life under apartheid is embarrassing to admit to, but my memories are deeply happy.

Christmas fell in midsummer, but we still ate turkey or roast beef, Yorkshire pud and Christmas pudding with brandy butter. My mother went to endless trouble to source brussels sprouts and the best she could do was imported tinned ones, which were unbelievably disgusting.

Prue Leith is a restaurateur, television presenter, cookery writer and novelist. Her two most recent cookery books are Bliss on Toast and Life’s Too Short to Stuff a Mushroom

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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Research finds people who have more than four coffees a day have 17% lower chance of head and neck cancers

If the only thing getting you through a mountain of present-wrapping is a mug of tea or coffee, be of good cheer. Researchers have found people who consume those drinks have a slightly lower risk of head and neck cancers.

There are about 12,800 new head and neck cancer cases and about 4,100 related deaths in the UK every year, according to Cancer Research UK.

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Elevate the basics with cupboard staples and when it’s all finished store the leftovers quickly

Turning a dish from what you might have at the weekend to something special to impress guests can often be achieved just by adding something which is already in the fridge or cupboard.

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Hurricanes and an untreatable tree disease have left a once fruitful citrus industry with little to produce this year

For decades it was the signature taste of Florida : orange juice from the state’s plentiful groves advertised to a thirsty nation as “ your daily dose of sunshine ”. But now another hyperactive hurricane season, paired with the dogged persistence of an untreatable tree disease known as greening, has left a once thriving citrus industry on life support.

Only 12m boxes of oranges will have been produced in Florida by the end of this year, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts show , the lowest single-year yield in almost a century. The figure is 33% lower than a year ago, and less than 5% of the 2004 harvest of 242m boxes.

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In an era punctuated with persistent loss, our culinary rituals are a scrumptious bridge

It stood on my kitchen bookshelf, Sylvia’s Family Soul Food Cookbook: From Hemingway, South Carolina, to Harlem, with its ashen purple spine and gold lettering that twinkled in the November light. In what felt like a taunt, the book’s presence made me reconsider a takeout Thanksgiving on the couch. Since 2021, I’ve lost both parents, which has consumed both my heart and my usual cooking mind, dampening my desire to reach for the familiar.

The cookbook , a portal to my childhood and one of my mom’s favorites from her massive cookbook collection, had a traditional recipe I knew I had to try: golden brown macaroni and cheese. I’m a Black Southern woman and cook with roots in Georgia and Alabama, so making mac and cheese was not something I needed formal instruction to execute or master. But in the past few years, the way I’ve made my mac with a béchamel-based roux and too many fancy cheeses I can’t pronounce was no longer satisfying.

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It’s time for a last-minute festive fry-up, followed by a biscuity ginger sundae

The house is bathed in the glow from the Christmas tree. There are scented parcels tied with ribbon, a majestic panettone on a cake stand in the larder and the rough puff pastry is rolled, folded and wrapped in baking parchment in the fridge. I’ve been playing carols for a fortnight or more.

We are so close now to the principal meals of Christmas, most of which are probably sorted and partially shopped for. It is those last-minute dishes I feel are most useful. The quick toss-up of greens and smoked fish; a dessert that can be made in minutes and, perhaps, the odd homemade edible gift. Christmas is, of course, about more than one meal.

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Restaurants are experimenting with automation. But in the kitchen, human labor is hard to replace.