What is the current school meal model, how well is it working and how has the pandemic highlighted existing problems and created new ones? More importantly, given the very public problems that have cropped up in recent months, how can the system be improved and made more sustainable and resilient? Sheila Dillon brings together a panel of school food visionaries to re-imagine the way we provide meals to pupils across the UK, and consider whether and how we could change the system for the better. ...
Feb 28, 2021•30 min
The past 12 months have been tumultuous for us all. But imagine, for one second, how it would have been without a cup of tea? In the first three months of lockdown, we spent an additional £24 million on tea and coffee according to research firm Kantar. And despite tea trends diverging from the traditional cuppa over the years, the UK and Ireland remain two of the top tea drinking nations per capita, in the world. In this programme Jaega Wise looks at the connections we've built over tea, and why...
Feb 21, 2021•29 min
The writer Charles Campion, who passed away recently, was an obsessive collector of food stories. With the help of Jay Rayner, Cyrus Todiwala, Nigel Barden, Mark Hix and Angela Hartnett, Dan Saladino finds out why. Charles had first worked in advertising, then became a chef in his own hotel-restaurant and eventually turned to food writing. He made numerous appearances on The Food Programme and was a longstanding judge in the BBC Food and Farming Awards. As Jay Rayner explains in this edition, 't...
Feb 14, 2021•29 min
Amar Latif, entrepreneur and presenter, became the first blind contestant on BBC One's Celebrity MasterChef in 2019. During the series he inspired viewers, sighted, blind and partially sighted, as well as the MasterChef judges with this recipes and flair for flavours. Amar is one cook speaking to Sheila Dillon about his culinary inspiration and his rejuvenated enthusiasm for cooking. Sheila also speaks to double world champion, Paralympic Gold medal winning tandem cyclist, lifetime home cook and...
Feb 07, 2021•29 min
COVID-19 may have pushed it from the front pages, but the refugee crisis rages on around the world, fed by war, famine and political persecution; and that’s before you even factor in a global pandemic. In this programme, Sheila Dillon explores the remarkable stories of asylum seekers and refugees in the UK, forging new lives and careers through food. She hears from Josie Naughton, co-founder and CEO of refugee aid organisation Choose Love; Chernise Neo and her team at Proof Bakery in Coventry, a...
Jan 31, 2021•29 min
Dan Saladino finds out what the Brexit deal means for the fishing industry. Some exports and logistics companies have seen problems along the supply chain into Europe. Is this just a glitch or a long term issue? With the UK now outside of the EU's Single Market and Customs Union, new border controls are in place and a new system for exporting goods is in place. One exporter working under this new system is David Noble whose business is based on the Scottish west coast. He describes the delays he...
Jan 24, 2021•28 min
As scientific evidence grows showing an urgent need for us to reduce the environmental impact of food we eat, Sheila Dillon looks for practical ways we can change our diets. From increasing UK investment in plant protein, to producing meat differently; from embracing veganism to counting carbon. She speaks to chef Tom Hunt, author of 'Eating for Pleasure, People & Planet'; farmer Ed Dickson of 'Wild By Nature'; British pulse entrpreneur Nick Saltmarsh of 'Hodmedod'; food writer Hattie Ellis ...
Jan 17, 2021•29 min
BrewDog to a lot of people are almost synonymous with 'craft beer.' They are everywhere from supermarkets to off licences and have their own chain of bars across the country and abroad. They also have tens of thousands of loyal fans who have invested in the company through their 'equity of punks' scheme. They have generated a fair amount of controversy and infuriated some in the beer world. But no one can deny the huge impact they have made on the way we drink in this country. In this programme,...
Jan 10, 2021•28 min
Dan Saladino tells the inside story of Nobel Peace Prize winners the World Food Programme. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
Jan 04, 2021•28 min
Christmas is over, everyone’s eaten too much – and yet, there’s still a mountain of leftover goodies, from the turkey to the cheese board, from the veggies to the fruit cake. So how can we make the most of festive leftovers? And for that matter, leftovers at any time of year? Because this isn’t just about reducing the 4.5 million tonnes of food that UK households waste every year, it can also be a route to some seriously delicious dishes… Sheila Dillon gets creative in the kitchen while finding ...
Dec 27, 2020•28 min
Christmas will be different this year, but it doesn't mean it should be any less delicious. Sheila Dillon is joined by cooks who know about cooking for Christmas. She pays food writer Nigel Slater a socially distanced festive visit to talk about one of his favourite seasons in the kitchen. Baker, writer and doctor Tamal Ray, who cooked his family Christmas dinner solo for the first time in 2019, shares his learnings and gives advice for last minute Christmas desserts. Brothers and co-founders of...
Dec 20, 2020•29 min
Sheila Dillon is joined by baker and chocolatier Selasi Gbormittah and chocoholic comedian Sue Perkins to celebrate the present and future of the British chocolate bar. They look to a new generation of UK bred 'Willy Wonkas', chocolate makers large and small, from South East London to West Wales. And Sheila tracks down one major chocolate player disrupting the international market with its bold designs, flavours and business model focussed on ending child slavery in cocoa production. The last of...
Dec 13, 2020•29 min
Dan Saladino explores the origins of cacao, from the bean's journey from central America to Europe and the rise of the chocolate bar. The first of a two part chocolate special of The Food Programme. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2020.
Dec 06, 2020•29 min
Whether it's a recipe book full of mouthwatering meals, a deep dive into the science of what we eat or a collection of must-try cocktails, books about food and drink have the power to educate, entertain and enthrall - all in the comfort of your own home. And this year, that's been more important than ever! The Food Programme's presenting team - Sheila Dillon, Dan Saladino, Leyla Kazim and Jaega Wise - gather for their annual book summit, sharing their favourite titles of 2020 and hopefully givin...
Nov 29, 2020•28 min
What do we mean by chlorinated chicken? Why is it such a bad thing? What exactly are the UK standards that we’re so keen to promote and protect? To what extent can shoppers afford to prioritise animal welfare over price? And will the government keep its pledge not to undercut our food producers? Using “chlorinated chicken” as a starting point, Charlotte Smith considers the questions around a future trade deal with the US - and others - on the British food sector. She speaks to Cath Elliston from...
Nov 22, 2020•28 min
Raymond Blanc has spent decades growing an orchard at Le Manoir. An orchard Raymond has planted with 2500 rare trees from in the hope of saving lost and endangered varieties. He explains to Dan Saladino why the orchard might end up being his greatest legacy, a story he has captured in his book, The Lost Orchard. He also selects five different apples that help tell his life story. Dr Joan Morgan, the world's leading pomologist, described as the 'Queen of Apples' helps to tell the stories of the v...
Nov 15, 2020•28 min
Universities have become big business in the UK in recent decades - educating around 2.3 million students, with an annual operating expenditure of over £37 billion at the last count. But since the start of this academic year, we’ve heard massively mixed reports on how universities are coping; not least, with managing food provision. In a term when COVID-19 has put new and unexpected pressures on existing frameworks the response from institutes has been hugely varied, from teams rising to the cha...
Nov 08, 2020•28 min
It's been five years since Nadiya Hussain left the Great British Bake Off tent victorious, inspiring and instilling confidence in wannabe bakers across the UK. In that time, Nadiya has presented eight TV series and a one off documentary and written 11 books. No surprise then that as a child Nadiya was academic, loved exams and says that in everything she's done in her life since, she has always strived to be the best she can possible be. Leyla Kazim sits down for a conversation with the baker fr...
Nov 01, 2020•29 min
Food can tell us a lot about our politicians, at least that seems to be what we think. We love to see them eat and we obsess about what goes in their mouths. It can be a high-wire act. Do it right to prove that you are just like your voters but do it wrong and you are a slob, a phoney or a weirdo. In this week’s food programme Sheila Dillon investigates the power of public eating in political campaigning. We talk to Trump’s former communications Director Anthony 'The Mooch' Scaramucci about the ...
Oct 25, 2020•28 min
This year’s autumn run of Jewish holy days has been like no other; but even with coronavirus-related restrictions in place, food and community has remained at the heart of celebrations for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Leyla Kazim hears from a socially distanced Sukkot meal in North London hosted by Rabbi Daniel Epstein and his wife Ilana - founder of the Jewish food and heritage organisation Ta'am - along with their son Jacob, and their guest: long-term friend and comedian Rachel Creege...
Oct 18, 2020•28 min
Dan Saladino visits shepherd and writer James Rebanks whose farm in Cumbria spans three generations. What does can that history teach us about where food and farming go next? In his latest book English Pastoral: An Inheritance James Rebanks provides an insiders account of the seismic changes to farming from the 1960s to the present day. Farming became brilliantly productive, he argues , but ecologically destructive. He explains how Cumbria's landscape was transformed by more intensive agricultur...
Oct 11, 2020•29 min
Biscuits aren’t just a classic accompaniment to a cuppa: they’re also somehow an edible comforter - very often providing a link to childhood, to family, to happy memories. And of course, giving that all-important sugary pick-me-up. All of which goes some way towards explaining why, over just one month of lockdown, the UK spent an extra £19 million on biscuits, according to market research firm Kantar; and why baking biscuits helped keep so many of us sane during what's been a tough year. But the...
Oct 04, 2020•29 min
Dan Saladino tells the story of wheat from the domestication of wild grasses in the Neolithic Revolution through to the controversial Green Revolution of the 20th century.
Sep 27, 2020•29 min
March 2020. Supermarket shelves were bare, restaurants and takeaways were closed, schools and workplaces closed. Perhaps it's no surprise then that all around the world, people started getting creative in the kitchen. But as Leyla Kazim finds in this programme, some cooks took lockdown cooking to a whole new level. Warwickshire cook Dan Fell made headlines for sharing his 'perfect' fried chicken recipe after spending 18 months testing it. In New York, journalist and chef Bill Buford became obses...
Sep 20, 2020•29 min
Dan Saladino and his dad Bobo (a former ice-cream man) talk Mr Whippy, 99s and Screwballs. Together Dan and Bobo (who also used to work in restaurants) have explored the wonders of pizza, and looked at the rise of 'Spag Bol,' Now they turn their attention to the history, science and magic of ice-cream on wheels. Featuring John Dickie (author of Delizia and The Craft) and Polly Russell (British Library) on the history of ice cream. Graphic novelist Matthew Dooley (who drew the image for this edit...
Sep 13, 2020•26 min
In 2019, Romy Gill met Randeep Singh, CEO of NishkamSWAT (Sikh Welfare & Awareness Team). 10 years previous, Randeep and his colleagues had a moment of realisation. More than 200 people in their immediate local community were living without a home. They were hidden from normal life, living beneath bridges or in refuse collection rooms. Together, they decided they could do something to help them, and they begun a project cooking hot meals and sourcing food donations. But they didn't stop ther...
Sep 07, 2020•30 min
Prime Minister Carolyn Steel joins Sheila Dillon for this special edition of The Food Programme from the year 2030. Sheila discusses the prime minister’s rise to power after Britain saw food shortages and riots in the 2020s and what it is like to now live in Sitopia - a land with food at the centre of everyone’s lives. After meeting the prime minister in the Rose Garden, which is now a bounteous vegetable garden, Ms Steel and Sheila take a walk around London to see the radical changes to the cou...
Aug 30, 2020•30 min
This year has already been a big one for food-related events and announcements - from the impact of Covid-19 and panic buying stripping supermarket shelves, to high-profile campaigns around school holiday hunger, to the government's plan to tackle obesity, to the recent launch of Part One of the National Food Strategy. So what does all this mean for the UK's food future? Sheila Dillon is joined by industry experts, to discuss how our food system could and should change in future, and answer ques...
Aug 23, 2020•30 min
Jaega Wise and Dan Saladino investigate the hidden story of slavery in our food. Between the 17th century and into the 19th, twelve million enslaved Africans were transported to the Caribbean and into the rest of the Americas. Their work transformed industries, including tobacco and cotton, but it was their agricultural labour that made the biggest impact on the world. The modern food system as we know it would not exist without the centuries of the brutal slavery put in place by European powers...
Aug 16, 2020•29 min
Many UK cheese makers depend on supplying restaurants and hospitality. They faced ruin when lockdown struck but were saved by consumers buying tonnes of cheese in just a few weeks. In this programme, Sheila Dillon meets those behind the campaign that saved British cheese makers, as well as those who benefited. She finds out why cheese is more than just a delicious treat, and asks 'what now' for the industry. A BBC Audio production, presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Heather Si...
Aug 09, 2020•29 min
