When I eat certain cheeses (especially strong cheddar and old gouda), immediately after swallowing and before it reaches my stomach I get a strange sensation on my upper cheeks.

I feel a tingle and if i go for a second mouthful I get the sensation of sweating and very fine beads of sweat appear.

Why does it happen? Is it a tyramine response? Why is it so localised? - the location reminds me of a picture from an old anatomy textbook that described the position of the sensors on the face responsible for initiating the dive reflex.

Can't they be eaten, moldy or not, even well past the expiration date?

I am forever being told at the dinner table to turn my fork up the other way so the prongs are pointing down. Although I can see it looks better surely the point in the curve of the fork is to allow you to get food on it easier and to hold the food on? It seems pointless putting a bend in it if you're not going to use it!

I am forever being told at meal times to turn my fork around so the prongs point down. Although I can see it looks a bit better surely there is a curve in the fork to help the food stay on the fork better? Would it not make more sense to hold the fork the other way up?

I recently received an email which involves a person who went to a mayonnaise factory. This person writes that storing cut onions in a fridge is very bad as onions quickly become filled with bacteria and are then dangerous to eat. I looked on the internet and found at snopes.com the reference to the email in question. According to snopes mayonnaise can be stored in the fridge almost indefinitely due to its PH, however the mystery remains, are diced onions poisonous if held onto for a length of time (apparently even overnight) ?

http://www.snopes.com/food/tainted/cutonions.asp

On a similar topic I have been told the same thing about cooked rice, that it should be stored in the deep freeze due to bacteria contamination, even overnight,  in the fridge.

Thanks

Paul(South Africa)

Angela Hsu, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Scaling up culinary recipes does not always follow a linear relationship, especially when using spices, salt or alcohol.

For example, for 1 litre of water you might be accustomed to adding 1 measure of salt, but for 4 litres you wouldn't add 4 measures of salt, but much less.

Does anyone know what the explanation for this is?

Cathy Fisch, Orsay, France

In common parlance, one would say the body 'burns' food, and, indeed, we are warm creatures due to some kind of exothermic reaction(s) inside us, yet our muscles and brain work on electrical impulse. Is this the most efficient conversion of heat to useful energy we know of, or is the electrical energy converted from chemical potential energy somewhere?

Christopher Smithson, Leicester, UK