MORECAMBE Bay Primary Care Trust is challenging schools, cafes, workplaces, nurseries, cooking clubs, and community centres to go stir crazy' today for the first annual Stir Fryday.

With the National Diet and Nutrition Survey showing that only 13 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women eat the recommended five or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day, stir-fries are a wonderful way to up your vegetable intake and reduce the risk of cancer, stroke, heart disease and other preventable illnesses.

Stir-frying is fast and simple and one of the best ways of retaining all the goodness in fresh vegetables. As health advice is to eat a rainbow' as many different coloured vegetables as possible - it's also a great way of incorporating a healthy range of vegetables into your diet and brilliant for encouraging children (and some adults) to try out new and exciting foods.

Stir Fryday is also a fantastic opportunity to investigate other cultures and the origins of different foods and cooking traditions from around the world.

Legend has it that because wood was scarce and expensive, the Chinese invented stir-frying, cutting food into the same sized small pieces so that it cooked quickly and without wasting wood. The round, concave shape of the wok means the whole wok becomes a cooking surface, making optimum use of the heat.