Strawberries at the airport when meeting your future husband for the first time, finally tasting world famous fish and chips and wondering why on earth the pasta is green. These are some of this week’s stories of first impressions of food in a new country. Devina Gupta visits a multilingual cooking class in Manchester, UK, to find out how language, culture and food help people find a home in a new part of the world.. She speaks to a chef who fled Ukraine when the war started and now runs a resta...
Aug 07, 2024•28 min
Have you heard of ‘super sweet’ sweetcorn? If you’ve purchased fresh, frozen or tinned sweetcorn in the last few decades there’s a good chance its the super sweet variety. It’s an example of how our fruit and vegetables have been bred over time to make them sweeter, or less bitter. Its partly about appealing to consumer tastes, but can have other advantages such as better storage and reducing food waste. In this programme Ruth Alexander finds out how and why the taste of our fresh produce is cha...
Jul 31, 2024•32 min
Three million bananas; 600-800 baguettes a day; 47,000 plates...as the world’s elite sportsmen and women arrive in Paris, a huge catering operation awaits them. Ruth Alexander finds out what it takes to keep the athletes happy and fuel a medal-winning performance. Team GB pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw talks about her relationship with food during her years as an athlete, and why she’s looking forward to retirement after Paris 2024. Alicia Glass, senior dietician for Team USA, gives an insight in t...
Jul 24, 2024•28 min
Why do we cook? To create flavour, to aid digestion and to release nutrients from our food. Every time we fry, steam, boil, or bake a series of chemical reactions take place that are key to a dish’s success. In this programme Ruth Alexander puts questions from the BBC World Service audience to Dr Stuart Farrimond in the UK, author of ‘The Science of Cooking’. Susannah and Aaron Rickard in Australia tell Ruth about the chemical reactions they discovered when researching their cookbook ‘Cooking wi...
Jul 17, 2024•26 min
Of the tens of millions of people around the world with autism or down syndrome, only a tiny fraction is in paid employment. But cooking, making drinks and waiting tables is work where people with learning disabilities can shine. John Laurenson takes us to a Café Joyeux (Happy Café) in Paris, one of a fast-growing chain of cafe-restaurants where most of the staff have autism or down syndrome and where the croque monsieur comes with a smile. We also hear from a cafe in Mumbai launched by the moth...
Jul 10, 2024•26 min
Taste, it turns out, is not a matter of opinion. Scientists have discovered that your perception of taste is informed by your genetics. When we eat or drink something, we may be having an entirely different experience to the person we’re sharing a meal with, or the chef who has prepared it, or the critic who has recommended it. In this programme Ruth Alexander explores her likes and dislikes and how they might be informed by biology. Ruth meets Laura Kent of the Yorkshire Wine School in the UK w...
Jul 03, 2024•30 min
More of us are living in cities and urban farming is on the rise. Can you be sure the city soil you’re growing in is clean enough? Industry and traffic can contaminate land, but there are ways to deal with the problem. Ruth Alexander finds out how to test soil, how to clean it, and which fruit and vegetables are the safest to grow on former industrial and commercial sites. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk (Picture: A garden trowel with some so...
Jun 26, 2024•26 min
What’s it like spending 24 hours a day together? Ruth Alexander speaks to couples who run restaurants. She hears how they met, what they argue about and why being a couple might be good for business. Ruth visits Andrea Follador and Jazz Navin at ‘The Perfect Match’ restaurant in Sale, in the North West of England. Jazz is the chef and Andrea is the sommelier, the two met working at Gordan Ramsay’s ‘The Savoy Grill’ in London. Ruth speaks to Francisco Araya and Fernanda Guerrero, chefs who have l...
Jun 19, 2024•29 min
In a world where ingredients cost more due to war and inflation how is easy is it to make and sell our daily bread? Ruth Alexander speaks to three bakers about how they started in the industry, the highs and lows and economic pressures in their part of the world. Alex Oke is the owner of XO Boutique Bakery in Lagos, Nigeria, Tracey Muzzolini is the owner of Christies Mayfair Bakery in Saskatoon, Canada and Samer Chamoun is the owner of The Lebanese Bakery, a chain of 12 branches including Beirut...
Jun 12, 2024•26 min
Ruth Alexander speaks to patients about their experiences of weight-loss drugs. The new class of drugs impact appetite, making you feel full sooner, and slowing the rate at which your stomach empties. Known as GLP-1 medications, studies suggest that patients can lose 10% or even up to 25% of their body weight depending on which drug they use. For many who have struggled with obesity and obesity related disease the drugs have the potential to transform their health. However some patients have str...
Jun 05, 2024•31 min
Devina Gupta takes a food tour of her home city of Delhi to see how people are adapting to rising summer temperatures. In May this year the city saw a record temperature of almost 50C, and knowing what to eat in such heat can be a challenge. The changing climate is sparking innovative recipes in restaurant kitchens and bringing traditional practices back to people’s kitchens. Devina tries old favourites at street markets, a modern twist on a classic drink at a high end restaurant and is (almost)...
May 29, 2024•26 min
Ruth Alexander explores the origins and evolution of the humble grab-and-go food the burrito, which started life in northern Mexico, before crossing over into the US and becoming a hit around the world. Versions of the spicy wrap can be enjoyed in restaurants, street food shacks and supermarket home meal kits all over the world. We explore the burrito’s contested origins, find out why some Mexican food purists dislike the popular menu item and ask what the future holds for it, and the cuisine mo...
May 22, 2024•26 min
Cows emit greenhouse gases when they eat, which contributes to global warming. But is it possible to produce meat in a climate-friendly way? Grace Livingstone visits a carbon neutral certified ranch in Uruguay, where farm manager Sebastian Olaso shows her around. She also meets Javier Secadas, a small farmer who raises cattle on natural grasslands, and agronomist Ignacio Paparamborda, from the University of the Republic in Montevideo. Grace hears from Pete Smith, Professor of Soils and Global Ch...
May 15, 2024•26 min
Why eat with your hands? Many food cultures around the world eat using hands, and most of us use our hands some of the time. Do we really need cutlery or chopsticks to eat a salad, peas or rice? And if you were to tackle soup or stew with your hands, how would you go about it? Michael Kaloki reports from Nairobi, Kenya, where the staple dish ugali, made from maize flour, is traditionally eaten by hand. Michael has observed that people increasingly use cutlery to eat the dish, and he speaks to re...
May 08, 2024•31 min
Stunning cakes, colourful salads and intricate garnishes use flowers to entice customers, but there’s more to this trend than just beautiful social media pictures. Many cultures around the world have eaten flowers for centuries, and some of them pack a serious punch. Devina Gupta explores the history of edible flowers and visits a site in the UK where they’re grown all year round. She gets quite a shock when trying one particular variety. We find out why flowers are used on food nowadays, and ho...
May 01, 2024•26 min
Do you know how much salt you should be eating? And if I tell you it’s less than 5 grams a day, do you know how much that is? Ruth Alexander explores the wonder of salt and why chefs think their job would be pointless without it and why the impact it’s having on the food might surprise you. Professor Paul Breslin tells us about the “magical” chemical reaction happening on your tongue when you eat salt, and why your brain responds to that. We hear about what eating too much salt can do to you fro...
Apr 24, 2024•26 min
Over two million people work in the international shipping trade, and they are often at sea for months at a time. That’s a lot of meals being made by the cook on board, and their work is crucial for keeping the crew happy. Ruth Alexander hears from seafarers about why that makes “cookie” the most important person on board a ship and why, in some cases, crew members are going hungry. A former captain of merchant vessels tells us how food is used for so-called “facilitation payments” to corrupt of...
Apr 17, 2024•26 min
What’s the secret behind the on-screen chemistry shared by some TV chef duos? The recent death of Dave Myers, one half of ‘The Hairy Bikers’ with Si King, has prompted this programme celebrating successful food friendships. Dave and Si made food shows and cookbooks that took their fans all over the world, and off-screen they were close friends. In this programme Ruth Alexander speaks to two chefs who have found success in food with a good friend. Ruth Rogers, co-founder of The River Cafe restaur...
Apr 10, 2024•29 min
These are tough times for restaurants. If the pandemic's rolling lockdowns were not bad enough, independent eateries now find themselves caught on a conveyor belt of crises: inflation, labour shortages and high rents. That is without mentioning the post-Covid agoraphobic “hermit consumer", who prefers to hunker down indoors than splash the cash on going out. If the stats are to be believed 60% of restaurants fail in the first year, 80% after five. And yet despite the long odds many are still sed...
Apr 03, 2024•26 min
Step inside the chocolate factory to hear the secrets of what it’s like to invent sweet treats for a living. Find out why chocolatiers think the raw material is like a “needy child”, but can also bring great joy to people’s lives. And hear the family story of the invention of one of the best-known British chocolate bars, with a trip to an archive of hidden stories from the confectionary industry – and some well-preserved sweets. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thef...
Mar 28, 2024•27 min
Fasting has been a religious and cultural practice for thousands of years, why do people do it? What happens to your body when you fast? The Food Chain speaks to a British family breaking their fast during Ramadan, a woman in India completing a day long fast for Mahashivratri and explores why the practices around Lent have changed over the years. An expert on intermittent fasting talks us through what is happening to our bodies, and why it might have hidden benefits. In this programme, Rumella D...
Mar 21, 2024•33 min
Dumplings feature prominently in cuisines around the world. Some, like the Ghanaian kenkey, or the Irish dumpling, are balls of dough. But in many countries they’re filled with other ingredients. From the Russian pelmeni, to the Japanese gyoza, for centuries we’ve been putting meat, vegetables or cheese in small pouches of pastry, and making delicious snacks. So where did this idea originate? And are all these differently named dumplings connected? Ruth Alexander explores the history of this hum...
Mar 14, 2024•27 min
Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and... umami. Have you heard of the fifth taste? Umami, meaning ‘delicious flavour’ in Japanese, was discovered by a chemist in Japan in 1908 but it took nearly 100 years for it to be recognised as a fifth distinct taste. It is described by many as a savoury or meaty taste. In this programme Ruth Alexander learns about the chemist who first discovered umami, and the industrially produced version he created – monosodium glutamate, or MSG. It’s a food additive that’s bee...
Mar 07, 2024•30 min
Three school chefs tell Ruth Alexander what it’s like serving up canteen food every day. Find out how they manage hundreds of hungry child customers, what pro tips they have for making vegetables seem delicious, and why they all find the job so satisfying. We hear from the USA, Liverpool in the UK and a school chef in the far north of Finland about the challenges of cooking mountains of meatballs, how to cope when the vegetable biriyani goes all over the ceiling, and why it’s one of the most rew...
Feb 29, 2024•27 min
Have you heard of ultra processed food? In 2010 a group of Brazilian scientists said we should be focusing less on the nutritional content of food, and more on the form of processing it undergoes. They created the Nova system, a way of categorising foods based on how processed they are. It identifies ultra processed foods as generally industrially manufactured, containing ingredients such as emulsifiers, stabilisers and other additives that would not be found in an average home kitchen. A growin...
Feb 22, 2024•33 min
What do you and your family chat about at dinner? We eavesdrop on conversations over food all over the world, hearing about poetry, politics, what is on TV and how Morag’s leg is recovering. Whether you gossip or have more philosophical debates find out how integral good communication is while we are eating, often marking the only point in the day or week when a family gathers together. We learn why a matchmaker thinks a dinner date might not be such a good idea after all if you want the convers...
Feb 15, 2024•27 min
The city of Detroit in the United States has a lot of vacant space – as much as a quarter of residential, commercial and industrial sites lie unused today. In this programme Ruth Alexander meets the people who are growing food in their neighbourhoods, creating urban farms and community gardens where houses once stood. Mark Covington is the founder of Georgia Street Community Collective, and Tyson Gersh is the co-founder of the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative. Ruth learns why so much land stand...
Feb 08, 2024•32 min
In February 2023, two earthquakes devastated parts of Turkey. The disaster claimed the lives of nearly 60,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria. In this programme Victoria Craig travels to the city of Antakya, part of Hatay Province, close to the border with Syria. It’s a region long famed for its cuisine, and even has special UNESCO recognition for its gastronomy. Since the earthquake a year ago much of the local population has left the badly damaged area, and food businesses in the ...
Feb 01, 2024•27 min
Chinese food is popular and successful around the world. But is it afforded the respect it deserves? In some countries Chinese food has been seen as something tasty, but ultimately cheap and not very healthy, despite it being a cuisine with a focus on health, seasonality and gastronomic skill for centuries. In this programme Ruth Alexander meets Fuchsia Dunlop, a British food writer who has spent a career studying Chinese cuisine. She argues that the food has long been undervalued in the West, a...
Jan 25, 2024•31 min
Have you ever wondered why the apple you bite in to is so crisp and juicy? And why it’s available all year round? Apples originated in the mountains of Central Asia, and made their way along trade routes to Europe and then on to the rest of the world. They are now one of the most widely consumed fruit worldwide. An apple seed will produce a completely different fruit to the tree it came from – so new varieties have to be bred and cultivated. In this week’s episode Ruth Alexander finds out about ...
Jan 18, 2024•28 min
