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For years, Prague councilors have been announcing the end of the sausage stands on Wenceslas Square, which for some have become an institution, albeit a greasy and noisy one. Now, City Hall officials are set to serve eviction notices to all of the fast-food stands on the city’s main thoroughfare, ahead of a major makeover next year. In the future, Wenceslas Square may be sausage-free – but not if Prague 1 mayor Oldřich Lomecký has his say.

A centuries old tradition –the pig-slaughtering feast – will soon be a thing of the past. Those who consider the gory ritual an act of barbarism are cheering, others for whom it is an important part of village folklore are determined to maintain it at any price.

In today’s business news: The head of the Erste Group predicts an economic revival in the Czech Republic for the second half of 2012, foreign direct investment into the country has reached 2.5 trillion Czech crowns since 1993, carrier Czech Connect Airlines has filed for bankruptcy, a SANEP poll finds that the majority of Czechs think the country’s billionaires are corrupt, and food inspectors have confiscated 2.5 tons of spring rolls containing mice droppings.

It is the country’s most smelly specialty – Olomoucké tvarůžky – dubbed by foreign visitors as “the stinky cheese of Olomouc” is not something you can easily overlook. Its pungent odor hits you the minute you open the fridge and will render you a social outcast several hours after consuming it. However many consider it to be one of the country’s biggest delicacies and the Czech Republic fought and won a six-year war with Germany and Austria over a protected geographical status trademark.

In this week’s edition of Panorama: a student orchestra packs concert halls with famous movie soundtracks, a computer as a work of art, chocolate as the ultimate gourmet experience and kangaroo Vendelín becomes a household name.

Tram and car traffic is heavy on Prague’s Dukelských Hrdinů St. – not a very inviting location to open a business in the middle of the financial crisis. Yet the 45-year-old cook gone entrepreneur Petr Kosiner has set up his store Lázníčkový knedlík here. It is the only brick-and-mortar shop in Prague to sell homemade dumplings. Since it opened seven months ago, the store and the humble goods it sells have turned out to be so popular that already its owner has a hard time keeping up with the huge demand. Both restaurant professionals and regular

Czechs last year consumed less meat, milk products, fruit and vegetables as well as alcohol and cigarettes, according to figures released by the Czech Statistical Office on Wednesday. While a surge in the consumption of potatoes and chicken rose in 2010, the average consumption of meat dropped by 3.5 percent to less than 76 kilos per person, while the consumption of fruit and vegetables decreased by 7 and two percent, respectively.

The Golden Well restaurant in Prague’s Malá Strana has won the annual Grand Restaurant poll, compiled by the respected food critic Pavel Maurer, the daily Lidové noviny reported on Wednesday. Second and third in the new poll came the Alcron and La Rotonde, respectively, both parts of the Radisson Blu Alcron Hotel in Prague. The only Czech restaurant with a Michelin star, Allegro in Prague’s Four Seasons Hotel, was not included in this year’s Grand Restaurant poll as it is temporarily closed for renovation.

Hrabal’s book "I served the King of England" makes working in a restaurant sound very dramatic, and very glamorous. But the novel also suggests that such drama and glamour belong to a time now long gone. To find out whether this was true, I visited two of Prague’s most famous restaurants, to talk to their owners about their work from day-to-day.

Ten guests staying at a Prague 5 hotel have been taken to hospital with food poisoning. Others who suffered a milder form of food poisoning were attended to on the spot. All are said to be in stable condition. Eight of the patients are believed to be contestants in a beauty pageant. Tests are being conducted to ascertain the cause of the problem.