THE Mediterranean diet’s guarantee of lightness, flavour and health has gained devotees all over the world because it is low in animal fat and high in fruit, vegetables and olive and sunflower oils. But a report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reveals that the people of Mediterranean countries increasingly spurn it.Increased affluence and the arrival of supermarkets and fast foods in countries such as Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal have also led to a massive increase in obesity, the report finds. The most dramatic example is Greece. …

Madonna’s done it, Liv Tyler’s done it…heck, even Joe Schmo down the street has probably tried it once! No, we’re not talking about some kinky fetish here; we’re actually referring to mehndi. Mehndi, mehendi, or henna, as it is more popularly called, has become quite the rage ever since Hollywood and the entertainment industry embraced it around the mid-1990s.
However, while people of the west have only recently awakened to this new ‘fad’, we mustn’t forget that it isn’t really new at all. In fact, the art of henna has practically …