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For the first time since the war, a shop with kosher food has opened in the Czech capital. Located in Prague’s Old Town, just metres away from the all the attractions of the Jewish town, the shop now offers groceries for the upcoming holiday of Passover. But the shop owners say much more is yet to come.

Pavel Hlinka, the president of the Czech Association of Restaurants and Hotels, said on Sunday that about fifty percent of Prague pubs and the majority of upscale restaurants are planning to change into non-smoking establishments as of July. Within a new law aiming to curb smoking in public that takes effect on July 1, restaurants and bars will be obliged to display stickers that indicate whether smoking is allowed on their premises or not. Outside of Prague, the number of establishments planning to ban smoking is significantly lower, Mr. Hlinka added. Although the respective legislation was approved by Parliament last summer, bar and restaurant owners were given a year to prepare for the introduction of the new measure.

A survey conducted by the Food Inspection Authority at the beginning of this year indicates that more than half of Czech consumers don’t bother to read the small print on consumer labels. Fifty-six percent of respondents said they never looked at the small print. The reasons cited were that they did not believe what was written on the packaging, it was hard to read or that they selected goods on the basis of price. The vast majority of respondents said they would prefer to buy fresh products daily, but for the sake of convenience they shopped at hypermarkets once a week and went for bigger packaging in order to save money.

All agree that restaurant culture in Prague has advanced dramatically over the past ten years or so, with perhaps the exception of some notorious tourist traps in the areas popular with visitors. Service has improved and so has the quality of food. And those who have had enough of international food can now even go for traditional Czech cuisine in its traditional environment – a successful restaurant group has opened an eatery called Lokál which promises to take you decades back in time.

A cheetah on the loose in Prague’s Troya zoo, a driver jumps into the Vltava river to avoid traffic police and what’s in that chocolate? Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.

In his weekly TV show “Ano, šéfe!” or “Yes, Boss!,” Zdeněk Pohlreich sets restaurant owners straight. Some might say he is the closest equivalent that the Czech Republic has to Gordon Ramsay. And the Czech celebrity chef has some authority on the topic: he started cooking in 1975, then left the country shortly after the Velvet Revolution and spent some time working abroad. Since returning home, he has applied what he calls “the Western standard of cooking and service” to a number of restaurants around Prague. Zdeněk Pohlreich’s current operation

On Thursday the Czech Republic lost one of its oldest culinary personalities, heir to the First-Republic delicatessen that bares his name: Jan Paukert. Credited with the “invention” of one of the staples of the traditional Czech menu, the chlebíček, a kind of open sandwich on one piece of bread, Mr Paukert’s family delicatessen was also a hub for high-society in the 1920s and ‘30s.

The Czech government has taken a cue from the European Union and backed a school fruit & veg scheme to try and get schoolchildren to eat healthier, more balanced diets. Under the programme, largely funded by the EU, students can receive fruit or vegetables at least once a month.

The recent bout of freezing cold weather, with temperatures dropping to minus fifteen degrees at night, has highlighted the plight of the country’s homeless. Shelters are bursting at the seams, and charity organizations are handing out hot soup and tea to help warm those unfortunate enough to have to spend their days – and sometimes nights - on a park bench. Now one restaurant owner has come up with a proposal that might make a difference.

Now, what do champagne, Roquefort cheese and Melton Mowbray pork pies all have in common? Well, you might not want to eat them all at once for one thing, but more importantly they all enjoy “Protected Geographical Status” from the European Union. Meaning that Roquefort cheese must be matured in the natural caves of Roquefort to be sold under the name ‘Roquefort’, and so on. EU countries have fought fierce battles over the coveted ‘protected’ label, and the latest hostilities are brewing between the Czech Republic and Poland…this time over