Simon Hoggart (19 March), reporting a reader's discovery of a Sainsbury's recipe leaflet including an item headed "Pretty in bonfire of grudges", omits to mention that this was a supplement included with the Guardian on 15 January. Clearly the recipe had been put through an electronic translation process, resulting in "bonito" (a fish of the mackerel family) being rendered as "pretty", with other weird ingredients such as "gravy of skins". Just shows how much we need real live editors and translators.
Christine Shuttleworth
London
• What prompts Angela Hartnett to instruct us (G2, 17 March) to buy mussels only when there is an R in the month? The rule is about flavour and was devised for native oysters because their spawning gives them a slight and harmless milkiness in summer months. It has no relevance for mussels or most oysters, which are not natives and don't spawn in European waters.
Angus Thomson
Streatley, Berkshire
• Labskaus (Letters, 19 March) is only an anomalous variation of lobscouse (lapskaus in Norwegian), a sailor's stew with meat and vegetables (without meat, blindscouse) found across northern Europe but most famously associated with Liverpool, being eponymous with its natives, dialect and local dish.
Bob Connolly
London
• The statement you attribute to Sir Peter Westmacott – "we haven't had a major earthquake in the UK since the 14th century" – requires qualification (Diary, 18 March). It presumably refers to the Dover Straits earthquake of 21 May 1382, but this was equalled in magnitude by the 6 April 1580 earthquake, also in the Dover Straits, and exceeded by the 7 June 1931 North Sea earthquake. "Major" is generally reserved for earthquakes above magnitude 7; 5.5 and 6 are classed as "moderate". As for the 1607 flooding of the Somerset levels, this was due to storm surge, not tsunami.
Roger Musson
British Geological Survey, Edinburgh
• Thank you very much for my "indispensable" guide to the Formula One 2011 season (21 March). I've dispensed with it.
Tony Martin
South Woodham Ferrers, Essex