As far as the 5pm Dining blog is concerned, one of the greatest pleasures of the festive season is seeing how the newspapers tackle Christmas food stories.

In particular, we like the way that certain stories appear year after year.

For example, it’s taken a little longer than usual but we are delighted to see that the nation’s sprout supply is once more under threat.

Devil moths

In previous years, snow threatened the Christmas crop of Brussels sprouts. Last year, the nation was at risk of choking on ‘monster Brussels sprouts’.

This year, the crop is being ravaged by Diamondback moths who are munching their way through the fields of Lincolnshire.

As always, The Sun excelled itself by noting that the moths originated in Mediterranean countries.

Bloody foreign moths. Coming over here, eating our Brussels sprouts etc etc

Buried at the very bottom of The Sun’s article, after several paragraphs of Brussels sprouts scare stories, there is a quote from a Defra spokesperson who reassures the public that they do not foresee any significant shortage of Brussels sprouts this festive season.

Who’d a thunk it?!

Christmas dinner weight gain shocker

Meanwhile, over at The Daily Mail’s Australian outpost, readers are advised that eating Christmas dinner can lead to a one kilo weight gain. The horror.

Their solution? Eat lightly in the run-up to Christmas.

Next week, expect an in-depth investigation into whether or not bears use the woods as toilets.

Across all the media, there seems to be some confusion about the cost of Christmas dinner.

According to The Guardian, it’s possible to buy all the necessary ingredients for Christmas dinner for eight people for less than £20.

As long as you shop at Lidl, Aldi, Morrisons, Asda and Iceland.

At the other end of the scale, if you do all your Christmas shopping at Marks and Sparks, the same ingredients will come in at £49.40.

The Sun screams that the cost of Christmas dinner has gone up 14% since last year.

The Beeb casts a calmer eye over the figures here.