The original Ten Commandments provide clear direction on murder, theft and adultery. But God was light on detail when it came to instructions on the most pressing issue of the modern age: how and what to eat now.

Lacking culinary guidance for millennia, we’ve blundered wildly – ingesting many strange substances from beaver’s tail to tinned spaghetti and protein shakes. The 21st Century has seen a spike in the public appetite for snake oil, too, with many of us gulping down pseudoscience and suspicious ‘superfoods’ in the quest for vitality.

Fortunately – and finally – legendary food critic Jay Rayner has stepped in to lead us to the edible promised land, with his new book, The Ten (Food) Commandments. Rayner is the Observer’s brilliant and acerbic London-based food columnist as well as a UK Masterchef judge and a sworn enemy of the hemp seed. He will set us all on the non-righteous path to delicious eating.

At his upcoming appearance with the Wheeler Centre, Jay will take us through his commandments, with a little help from some audio-visual whizz-bangery and a few biblical robes. He’ll explain why thou shalt eat with thy hands, why thou shalt worship leftovers plus a whole load more besides. Be there, or thou shalt be a spiced compote of goji berry and supercharged heirloom pear.