The Liebfraumilch years are long gone. From seriously good riesling to juicy pinot noir, Germany now has plenty to offer

I’m not quite sure when it happened. There was no moment of Damascene conversion, no single palate-altering bottle or preconception-shredding cellar tour but some time over the past couple of years, the weight of evidence (measured in the strictly scientific unit of empty bottles per week) began to point to an unexpected conclusion: the single most improved, exciting, and all-round high-performing wine country in the world right now might be Germany.

For drinkers of my generation (X) and older this is quite the volte face. We came to wine-drinking during Germany’s nadir as a quality producer – the second half of the 20th century when a kind of crazed, number-chasing ethos took over the country’s increasingly chemical-soaked vineyards. These were devoted to monstrous yields from lesser grape varieties grown in unsuitable places, the emblematic product being the bafflingly successful sugary acid-water sold as Liebfraumilch.

Officials announce 45-day ban on harvesting elvers in provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick

Canada has temporarily shut down its baby eel fishery following a string of attacks on harvesters, as well as mounting concerns over widespread poaching of the threatened fish.

Officials from the department of fisheries and oceans on Saturday announced a 45-day ban on harvesting the young eels, called elvers, in the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, shuttering the lucrative C$50m (£30m) market.

Any dish that features chicken and tarragon feels spring-like to me, but this one – light, yet substantial enough for a chilly day – feels especially so.

Cut 2 large bone-in chicken breasts in half and season them with salt and black pepper. Warm a little olive oil in a sauté pan, add the chicken and let it brown lightly on both sides. Add 150g of small mushrooms , such as shimeji or little button mushrooms, and let them cook for 5 minutes in the chicken’s cooking juices.

Government aid programs, set up to favor corporate farms, are out of reach to those who supply farmers markets and restaurants

The water came in a rush – tearing through planted rows of cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower before crashing into the tractors and farm equipment. Within hours, much of María Inés Catalán’s 41-acre (17-hectare) organic farm in Hollister, California, had disappeared under several feet of water.

She had escaped just in time, as the flood waters gurgled into her trailer home. Now, three months after a series of storms, Catalán and her family are still counting their losses. Their dog, Flor, didn’t make it, nor did the bees that Catalán had been tending for two years.

Creating a commemorative recipe is tricky. Coronation chicken is delicious, but its specific mix of ingredients and colonialism wouldn’t be appropriate in 2023

I thought the most thankless and debasing task in the country, where royal events were concerned, was poet laureate. You have to be medium thoughtful to be a reputable poet – sensitive, at least occasionally profound, interested in the big stuff – and then someone makes you write a poem about a baby. It’s like the world’s worst copywriting gig: trying to distinguish your product, this baby, from all other products, different babies, which are just as good. Investitures and coronations, even worse: they are already metaphors, and then some poor schmuck has to spin a load of meta-metaphors about them.

That was before Prue Leith, Tom Kerridge and Rick Stein unveiled their coronation recipes. The pressure’s not the same, because these weren’t solicited by the palace, but by a newspaper, and obviously (no offence) in a rush. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of the dishes, which all look fine – a kedgeree from Stein, a carrot hummus from Leith, a cheesecake from Kerridge – if a little underwhelming.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

Social media has a long history of gross-out content. But on FoodTok, the recipes are more bafflingly repulsive than ever

I have just ironed my husband a toasted sandwich like some kind of tradwife and to be honest, I’m disappointed with his reaction. Admittedly, there were a few issues. The steam didn’t help, plus I wrapped it in too much tinfoil, so the heat couldn’t penetrate. The main problem, though, was that holding an iron meant I automatically started ironing the package, pressing hard and going to and fro industriously. The result is flat, very flat. “We have a sandwich toaster,” my husband points out, holding the crepe-thin delicacy between finger and thumb. He should be thrilled: this is the closest I’ve come to cooking for him in months. He tries it, reluctantly. “It’s very soft. Did you put mustard in it?”

“I thought it would help,” I say.

Cheddar and budget sausages sold by Asda were highest risers, with supermarkets’ prices for oats and skimmed milk also soaring

The price of staple foods such as cheddar cheese, white bread and pork sausages has soared by up to 80% in some shops over the past year, in further evidence of how inflation is hitting those on the tightest budgets the hardest.

Porridge oats topped the price increase ranking among a basket of British basics measured by the consumer group Which?, with prices up by an average of 35.5% followed by skimmed milk, which was up by 33.6%, and cheddar cheese, which rose by 28.3%.

What does Guardian cookery queen Felicity Cloake think of the king and queen consort’s celebration quiche recipe?

Let’s be honest, coronation chicken was always going to be a tough act to follow. Indeed, until I saw a tweet from fellow food writer Sejal Sukhadwala expressing surprise that the “‘official’ coronation recipes” were so “random”, I’d assumed the palace wouldn’t even bother trying to compete with Constance Spry’s 1953 triumph. And then, just before noon, the royal family’s Twitter account casually dropped the coronation quiche into the mix.

Described as having been “chosen personally by their majesties the king and the queen consort”, on first glance it ticks more boxes than Gregg Wallace’s (official) prawn and pineapple tacos, not least because during the pandemic, Clarence House sought to comfort the nation with a recipe for cheesy baked eggs described as one of the then prince’s favourites.

Read Felicity’s quiche lorraine masterclass and more of her How to cook the perfect … recipes.

Buy her Completely Perfect recipe collection at the Guardian bookshop .

Recipe follows coronation chicken and platinum pudding as suggested centrepiece for parties and events

From coronation chicken to platinum pudding, royal occasions demand a signature dish and King Charles III’s coronation is no exception.

The “coronation quiche” has been personally chosen by the king and Camilla, the Queen Consort, in the hope it will be a centrepiece to many a coronation “Big Lunch” at street parties and community events on 6 May.