It’s not a good idea to take a whole slice of brie out of the fridge, allow it to reach room temperature, eat some, and then re-chill it. If you do this enough times, then, by the time you reach the end, you may well have cultured yourself a nice little dose of food poisoning. Instead, I slice off what I need and zap it briefly in the microwave to soften it.

I did this today with my last chunk, thinking that I’d leave it in its original wrapping to save using another plate. What I didn’t think about was that this wrapping consisted of a layer of microwave-absorbing metallic foil, partially covered in a flammable matt paper coating. Luckily, I was next to the oven, dancing to the latest single from Mika, when my lunch blossomed into a soft-cheese disco ball of fire.