As a nation of food lovers, how well do we really know our food? Does the constantly changing advice about diet and ’super foods’ get your stomach in a knot? And how much can you truly trust someone who eats finger foods with a knife and fork?

Thankfully, a saviour is at hand, to guide us gently and knowingly through the nutrition advice, trends, fads and choices, and to let us know that, yes, it is perfectly OK to enjoy a crispy pancake, should we ever desire to.

Culinary critic and food writer Jay Raynor will be on the island in February to deliver his 10 culinary commandments, and will act as your very own gastronomic Moses as he leads you to the edible promise land.

’Basically, this show is where I lay down my 10 commandments for eating and gaining the most from it,’ said Jay.

’For example, my first commandment is ’Thou shalt eat with thy hands’. Which you always should.

’Eating with a knife and fork only puts you in touch with three senses, the taste, the smell and the visual.

’However, when you eat with your hands you also engage your sense of touch too, and that opens up a whole world of sensation. And you know that, if you ever see anyone eating, say, chicken wings with a knife and fork, you know you can never be friends with them.’

Other topics covered in the ten commandments are why thou should most definitely worship leftovers, and why thou must celebrate the stinkiest of foods. He will also convince you to, above all, honour thy pig.

’The show combines lots of audio-visual moments, and I suppose it comes across a bit like a cross between a TED talk and a stand-up show,’ he said.

’Although I do come out with my commandments carved, not in stone but on pizza boxes. And I will be wearing the full robes.’

However, he may not have the chance to include local delights, like queenies, in to his commandments and nor will he be faced with the possibly of retracting his ideas on eating with his hands after trying some Manx kippers and dealing with the lingering smell afterwards.

’I am sorry to say I have never been to the island before, and as with the nature of this visit, I won’t have much time to spend when I am there.

’But I hope that the audience will talk about their favourite foods during the question and answer session in the second half of the show.

’I encourage people to tweet me their own 10 commandments during the show and I’ll read out my favourite ones.’

Jay is on of the UK’s most respected food writers, critics and journalists. He has regularly appeared on television, in the national newspapers and on the radio, and is the author of more than seven books on the nation’s eating habits, including ’A Greedy Man in a Hungry World’ and ’My Dining Hell’.

He will be delivering his ’10 Food Commandments’ at the Gaiety Theatre, on Thursday, February 8.

Tickets are £17.50, available from the Villa Marina Box office, the Welcome Centre and from villagaiety.com

by Mike Wade

twitter:@iomnewspapers