Moscow criticised as concern grows about impact of climbing agricultural prices on poorer countries

Wheat prices have been climbing on global markets, just days after Russia pulled out of an agreement that guaranteed safe passage for ships carrying cereals through the Black Sea, reigniting fears of the impact on poorer, grain-importing countries, as well as on western nations dealing with stubbornly inflation.

The Russia has carried out heavy air strikes on Ukraine’s grain stores , as well as port infrastructure in the coastal city of Odesa after the Kremlin’s decision to terminate the UN-brokered Black Sea grain initiative between Russia and Ukraine.

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Costume consisting of a silver jumpsuit and a lifelike depiction of a giant pita bread stuffed with meat prompts numerous questions

At some point over the last decade, the Canadian province of Alberta acquired a costume consisting of a silver jumpsuit and a lifelike depiction of a giant pita bread stuffed with meat.

Now, the provincial government has decided to part with the outfit in an online auction that has renewed a longstanding feud over the proper recipe for the beloved late-night snack.

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Plenty of people will tell you the East Neuk of Fife in Scotland is the best place in the world to eat fish and chips. So what happens when its chippies – and chippies across the UK – start to disappear?

One summer ago, before the region’s fish and chip industry was shaken by closures, before a death that was hard for people to bear, a lorry heaped with the first fresh potatoes of the season drove along the east coast of Scotland. This lorry wound its way along the East Neuk of Fife, dodging washing lines, mooring bollards and seagulls, parking with impunity to make deliveries. There was an understanding in the East Neuk that nobody would ever get angry and honk at the inbound “tattie” lorry, fish and chips being a staple meal, vital to the region’s economy. Tourists come shocking distances to sit on old harbour walls and stab around in takeaway trays with wooden forks. The fish and chips sold in the East Neuk might be the best in the British Isles and because of that (it follows) the best on the planet. Even so, by July 2022, local friers were finding it harder and harder to balance their books.

The driver of the tattie lorry, a red-cheeked Scotsman named Richard Murray, carried keys for most of the businesses on his route, to save from waking any tired friers who’d been up late the night before, poring anxiously over their sums. War in Ukraine coupled with ongoing complications from Brexit had driven up prices of almost all the goods that fish and chip shops depended on, from live ingredients to oil and salt to packaging. More distressing was the problem of rising energy costs. This meal is prepared using a great guzzler of a range cooker that must be kept on and roiling at all hours of a trading day. As the price of gas and electricity threatened to double, then triple, through 2022, friers were opening their energy bills with gritted teeth. A trade association called the National Federation of Fish Friers said that as many as a third of the UK’s 10,500 shops might go dark, warning of a potential “ extinction event ”.

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The 1970s favourite is wowing a new generation with its creamy goodness. But where to start? Here are simple, healthy recipes to take you from breakfast to dinner

Cottage cheese is making a comeback. Favoured by dieters in the 1970s, the low-fat, high-protein curdled milk product is gaining popularity on Instagram and TikTok as gen Z and millennials embrace its creamy goodness. But how to eat it? We asked readers for their favourite recipes.

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The tapas bar favourite gets our resident perfectionist’s treatment

Patatas bravas, usually translated as spicy potatoes, are a staple of tapas menus, yet all too often end up as the carby afterthought, a plate of soggy starch seemingly designed solely to soak up the sherry after the croquetas and jamón have been scoffed. Done well, however, with the potatoes hot and crisp, and the sauce rich and piquant, they can more than hold their own as the star attraction.

Prep 15 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 4-6

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Even a little oil can be a disaster for older pipes. Here, a plumber shares how to ease the grease, and where to put old oil next time

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So, you shallow fried some fish for dinner and now the washing up awaits. But first, you’re forced to solve a great kitchen riddle: what am I meant to do with all of this leftover oil?

To pour it in the bin – where it’s bound to leak and cause a mess – seems wrong. You might be able to reuse it , but that’s not always an option. So can you, err, just tip it down the sink?

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Griddle pans, charcoal oil and burnt herbs can all help emulate that charred flavour you desire, says our panel

• Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

Recipes often suggest that the meat, fish or vegetable element is best cooked on a barbecue. Can I get close to that result indoors?
Justin, Bournemouth
Well, yes and no. “How grilling works is that the fat drips on to the coals below and it smokes, which permeates the meat. So you can’t really recreate that, for obvious reasons,” says David Carter, chef-founder of Smokestak in London.

That said, there are a few tactics Justin can deploy to get close. The first and simplest, says Jack Stein , chef-director at Rick Stein Restaurants , is to use a griddle pan: “It gives you the ability to get those charred bar marks on whatever you’re cooking.” That’s the route Patrick Williams, chef-patron of Kudu Collective in south-east London, would take for meat: “If you’re cooking a T-bone or similar, get the pan raging hot, then, to get more flavour, put the meat in a tray with loads of garlic, rosemary, thyme and ember oil.” The oil, he says, is the key to instant smokiness, although, admittedly, that would require Justin to barbecue the meat at some point. “We take a leftover briquette [charcoal], chuck it in a pot of oil, cover and seal – it gives the oil an intense, smoky sweetness, and we then use it in dressings or sauces to baste fish, meat, or vegetables.”

Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

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Want to avoid August’s wine duty increase? Try everything from a floral English white to a refreshing prosecco

It’s far from being the biggest contributor to the misery inflicted on us by the Tories over the past 13 years. All the same, there’s something cruel about the timing of the latest government-sponsored penalisation of one of life’s simple pleasures: a huge increase in wine duty rates that comes into force during the steepest decline in living standards since the 1950 s.

The hike, which will see 44p added to most bottles of still wine from 1 August – extra vindictiveness points for landing in the middle of the school holidays – is the consequence of an inflation-indexed rise in duty and the effects of the application of a new system of alcohol taxation based on alcoholic strength.

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Easy and delicious, this midweek supper can be cooked in minutes, but do take your time to savour it

Chop 15g of basil leaves and put them in a mortar. Add a pinch of sea salt and 50g of softened butter . Mash together with the pestle until you have a green, creamy herb butter, then season with a few drops of lime juice . Set aside in a cool place.

Heat a griddle pan, then place 12 medium-sized scallops on the hot pan and leave, without moving them, for 2 minutes or until the underside of each is golden in colour. Using a palette knife, turn the scallops over and let the other side cook.

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