Tesco Tel reportedly 'stunned' the audience at the World Retail Congress in Barcelona by revealing that the stores he most admired were Aldi, Ikea and Starbucks. Well, what did everyone expect? He was hardly going to plump for Sainsbury and Wal-Mart, was he? So who did Justin King profess he admired most? He plumped for Stew Leonard's, the US-based chain, once dubbed the 'Disneyland of Dairy Stores' because it has costumed characters and animatronics in its stores (and a milk-processing plant). Now that the fun and games with CVC et al is over, we're rather hoping Sainsbury's follows Stew's lead. School dinners have come a long way since the days of soggy semolina, but according to Waitrose, the scourge of every schoolboy and schoolgirl's dinner has become the darling of the foodie world, with sales up 61% in a year. "The days of semolina's association with stodgy puddings have long gone," says Waitrose nutrition manager Moira Howie. Will we soon see a Jamie Oliver twist on the coagulated goo in his 15 restaurants? The wishful thinking award of the week must go to Red Mill Snack Foods, which has developed a cookbook in which all the recipes contain pork scratchings. "Cooking with Mr Porky includes 50 tempting recipes to try at home," says the press blurb, which goes on to suggest the pub snack be used in anything from chicken soup to pizza crusts. Is that a squadron of flying pigs I see overhead? I'm all for sensible drinking, but I don't follow NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott's argument that alcohol shouldn't be linked with sport. "Our young lad sees a football man of the match presented with a bottle of Champagne," he reportedly told the NUT annual conference. "The association between alcohol and sport must end." I'm not sure a bottle of eau minérale quite does the job. bogofs.week@william-reed.co.uk

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