Research shows that while women experience feelings of revulsion from a young age, men catch them up in later years. Maybe I should stop scraping the mould off the jam …

What disgusts you? I hope it’s not inexpertly summarised research, because I have been intrigued by the recently reported finding that men get more disgusted as they age. Researchers at the Institute for Environmental Decisions in Zurich found that while young women generally “experience more disgust than men”, later in life the difference between the sexes narrows, and “men and women will reach similar levels of disgust when they get older”.

I don’t think anyone who has encountered young men’s bedrooms either in person or through the @boyroom social media account (a festival of coverless, unwashed duvets, defrosted bags of Ikea meatballs left to fester and stockpiled used tissues) will be surprised to learn that male disgust doesn’t kick in early. However, the theory is that as physical vulnerability increases with age, it makes survival sense for men to become warier of potential contaminants. For women, disgust stays stable – high in their fertile years (perhaps an evolutionary safeguard for potential pregnancies) and high post-menopause too, as they become more susceptible to disease.

As a controversial list of rules for eating out does the rounds, here is my unsparing list of commandments for eating in

“You’ll never eat a good meal in a restaurant that puts caviar on scrambled eggs”; “Your dining companions should have a say in what you order”; “There is nothing wrong with making multiple reservations for the same evening and then cancelling them.” The Financial Times asked its food writers to produce a set of commandments for restaurant dining, which were reviewed by industry experts (and, erm, Brooklyn Beckham). The experts were not impressed: “The dumbest thing I’ve ever heard”; “Over my cold dead body”; “This is not just a bad rule, it’s an act of terrorism.”

Although entertaining, I’m not sure how useful this is at the moment. Have you seen how expensive eating out is now? When a fancy croissant costs £6 – in York! – most of us aren’t wondering whether or not a seven-course tasting menu is likely to deliver on its promises. We’re mostly eating in these days, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t rules to argue over. Here are mine – I expect, and hope, you’ll disagree.