The Truffler: Gary Rhodes, Share the Taste of the Orient, invent a new sushi

Sometimes, when a food company secures (for a fee) the services of a well-known chef, it boasts about it with advertisements, interviews with the saucier-for-hire, champagne receptions, etc. No such fanfare seems to have greeted the arrival of Gary Rhodes on the All-Bran packet. High-fibre breakfast cereals once used nameless home-economists to come up with recipes using their product. Now it has to be a high-profile chef, and I take my hat off to Gary's ingenuity. Bubble and squeak with All-Bran "gives a light crunchy texture and nutty taste to the finished dish," he insists. Or, why not try twice-baked cheese soufflé with celery and All-Bran salad? The soufflé dishes are lined with All-Bran crumbs, and the high-fibre sticks are scattered over the salad, "spreading their delicious flavour throughout". Is Gary's palate in working order, his tongue in his cheek, or his enthusiasm just truly impressive?

* The chef Peter Gordon's last collaboration with Marks & Spencer, a Fusion food range, featured last year in the television documentary Coolhunters. This followed the development of "restaurant-style" dishes by the New Zealander, who is the best practitioner of East-meets-West cooking in this country. After a lengthy gestation, the Fusion range was launched at M&S in Bluewater, and vanished five months later. M&S says that food is like fashion – the ranges change with the seasons. Its Share the Taste of the Orient line was developed by Peter Gordon and South-east Asian specialist, cook and writer Sri Owen. Sticky ribs, hoisin duck pancakes, Thai-style fishcakes, and prawn and coriander rice-paper rolls are a more conventional take on the Pacific Rim. Try and catch these delicious morsels before they, too, go out of fashion.

* Calling aspiring development chefs, and those who like cooking with rice (not Krispies...) – here's a competition. The aim is to invent a new sushi. The only requirement is that sushi rice is involved. The competition is one of the final events in the Japan 2001 culture fest (which ends in March this year), and is sponsored by Asahi, Kikkoman, JAL, and Matsuri restaurant in London. First prize is two flights to Japan. Entries will be tried out by sushi chefs and before a judging panel of Japanese bigwigs. Visit www.matsuri-restaurant.com for more details. Entries to: Original Sushi competition, Matsuri Restaurant, 15 Bury Street, London SW1Y 6AL, by 31 January.