In England, the government has revamped NHS hospital menus in a bid to make them more appetising for patients.

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Yet Foster's, Australia's largest brewer, looks appetising to SABMiller, the world's second-largest.

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As well as presenting a more appetising image to pupils, school canteens are expected to become much more flexible in their opening hours.

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Politically, a reform that antagonises so many constituencies is hardly appetising.

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But as long as such high returns are available on short-term government paper, even a tax break may not make longer-term, riskier investments look sufficiently appetising.

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Besides learning to identify wild food and pick it safely (and legally), you will learn how to turn what you find into appetising fritters, pies, pestos, preserves and jellies.

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For them, the choice now is not appetising.

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Yet the Russian alternative does not look appetising.

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It is an appetising prospect.

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Enlisting the help of seven of the country's leading chefs, steered by the effusive Loyd Grossman, the new NHS menu has spawned an impressive range of quality, appetising food, perhaps not quite fit for a king, but certainly better than the average pub grub.

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