Laura Curran wrote from Belfast about her new book Lots of Cake! This fabulous publication is dedicated to the photographer's Mum, and chock full of intimate but documentary photographs. Laura says "This project began as a chronicle of special occasions, emphasising the role that my mother plays in creating important moments, and evolved from a document into a revelation of her character and imagination." 

Not only does cake and its ingredients feature in the images, Laura scanned some of her Mum's original recipes and included them on vellum-style pages. I am really impressed with this self-published little number, right down to the wallpapery cover. Great job. And it's only £15 so why not treat yourself? 

I was reminded of this research: A few years ago, Paul Rozin, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, and Claude Fischler, a French sociologist, began collaborating on a series of cross-cultural surveys of food attitudes. They found that of the four populations surveyed (the U.S., France, Flemish Belgium and Japan), Americans associated food with health the most and pleasure the least. Asked what comes to mind upon hearing the phrase ''chocolate cake,'' Americans were more apt to say ''guilt,'' while the French said ''celebration''; ''heavy cream'' elicited ''unhealthy'' from Americans, ''whipped'' from the French. The researchers found that Americans worry more about food and derive less pleasure from eating than people in any other nation they surveyed.