"On our way to a sceptics lecture at the museum we stopped in at Al-Salam for our evening meal. Our indecisiveness encouraged the waiter to suggest the set menu. I asked if he could do that vegan, and he rattled off a list of diets and the ease of which they could be accommodated. Tempted by all but the price, we opted to choose from the menu and picked 5 hors d'oeuvres, 1 main, 1 bread and 1 rice. It was too much to eat and nearly half the price of the set meal. The next day my friend wrote to me: "I went home last night and was reading Stuart Maconie's travelogue Adventures on the High Teas - the bit I read last night had him going to Oxford, to a Lebanese restaurant where her marvelled at the tray of raw vegetables he was given at the start of his meal. So does this mean there is a god after all?" No, I replied, "It means there is a Stuart Maconie." "