The Food Programme

The Food Programme episodes:

• 04.12.2024

  A Celebration of the Birthday Cake

  Jaega Wise delves into the history, traditions and culture surrounding the birthday cake, meeting bespoke baker Adam Cox, and attending a traditional Mexican "cake smash" along the way. She'll also find out what happens when a cake historian takes on...

  
• 04.05.2024

  Cooking at home with Gary Lineker

  Footballing legend, broadcaster and our host for lunch… Gary Lineker makes his famous 'gambas al ajillo' for Leyla Kazim at his home as she hears how he learnt to cook nine years ago and never looked back. They also discuss...

  
• 03.31.2024

  Lamb Season

  Although chocolate eggs and Hot Cross buns take centre stage at Easter, millions of people also sit down to share a joint of lamb to celebrate. In this episode, Sheila Dillon finds out more about the tradition for eating lamb...

  
• 03.24.2024

  Stouts and Porters: How dark beers became cool

  Stouts and porters, dark malty beers maybe used to have a reputation of being a bit stuffy but there has been a recent trend of these drinks growing in popularity. Guinness, the biggest player in the market, has seen a...

  
• 03.17.2024

  The Plant-Based Diet Boom: How is it changing food culture?

  The last decade has seen an explosion in the trend of plant-based eating, from the growth of plant-based products in supermarkets and vegan options on menus, to celebrities and diet influencers making plant-based cool on social media. In this programme,...

  
• 03.10.2024

  The herb and spice scam?

  What’s really in your spice rack? In this exclusive investigation by The Food Programme, Jaega Wise investigates the authenticity of spices sold by a number of high street, online and health food chains. Using brand new technology outside of the...

  
• 03.04.2024

  Feeding Norfolk

  A message from Delia Smith takes the Food Programme team to Norfolk to see how a network of social supermarkets is helping people out of food poverty. Nourishing Norfolk, is a project linking a large number of smaller shops, or...

  
• 02.26.2024

  The power of poems to connect us to food

  Getting people to engage with food and ideas for agricultural change can be really difficult - but that’s the hope of a major new arts project called We Feed The UK. Farmers, poets and photographers have collaborated to tell ten...

  
• 02.18.2024

  A Bitter Taste?

  Appetite suppressant, glucose control and inflammation antidote... The scientific research around the power of bitter foods may sound far-fetched. But new studies are continuing to add to our knowledge of what this food group, disliked by many, can do for...

  
• 02.11.2024

  Love on a Plate

  From warming aphrodisiacs in the early modern period, to date-night oysters and champagne or a loving dish of hot macaroni cheese, sharing food has always been a way for people to connect, and in some cases it can make us...

  
• 02.04.2024

  Destination Food

  Many of us are travel looking for food experiences and we often want to eat something that is authentically of that place. So we seek out the local delicacy which hopefully reflects the local landscape, history and people. However...

  
• 01.28.2024

  How has a small island become the nation with the highest rate of obesity?

  Sheila Dillon investigates what we can learn about food and public health from the extreme case of Nauru. It’s the world’s smallest republic yet has the highest rate of obesity.

  
• 01.21.2024

  Haggis and Hosting: Celebrating Burns Night

  In the dark nights of January, celebrating the work of poet Robert Burns by feasting, toasting and speaking poetry has become a much-loved tradition in Scotland and around the world. Sheila Dillon joins Scottish-Malaysian chef Julie Lin in Glasgow as...

  
• 01.14.2024

  Eating for Two?

  Jaega Wise is on a mission to find out what she should really be eating while pregnant - from conception to birth. Presented by Jaega Wise Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Natalie Donovan

  
• 01.07.2024

  A Seaweed Revolution in the UK?

  Seaweed farming could be a huge boon for the UK, restoring biodiversity, cleaning the sea and could even be capturing carbon. Seaweed is healthy and delicious but UK grown seaweed has a very low profile with only a handful of...

  
• 12.31.2023

  New Year’s Eve Food Around the World

  Join Leyla Kazim for a tour of New Year’s Eve food traditions around the world, from eating lentils in Italy, scoffing 12 grapes in Spain, slurping soba noodles in Japan and Kransekage in Denmark and Norway. We hear from food...

  
• 12.24.2023

  Christmas with The Food Programme

  Cooking at Christmas is so much more than just the main meal, so this year Sheila Dillon, and chef Thomasina Miers, show us how to do more with less. Sheila Dillon joins chef Thomasina Miers in her kitchen who shows...

  
• 12.17.2023

  Reflections on rum

  Jaega Wise reflects on her findings and a few surprising moments during the making of this week's rum programme, with producer Nina Pullman.

  
• 12.17.2023

  Dark and stormy: A journey through rum

  A refreshing mojito? Rum punch? Maybe just a simple rum and coke? Many of us might think no further about rum than how to mix it within a drink. But it actually has a unique story within our history through...

  
• 12.10.2023

  Recipes for Long Life

  Dan Buettner believes that "when a ritual lasts for hundreds or thousands of years, like prayer before a meal, it serves some purpose". Dan is the best-selling author of and founder of The Blue Zones; five parts of the...

  
• 12.03.2023

  The food books of 2023

  Over a coffee in community arts space The Place in Newport, south Wales, The Food Programme presenters Sheila Dillon, Leyla Kazim and Dan Saladino choose two books each from the year: one that has made them cook, and one that...

  
• 11.26.2023

  Food Under Siege in Gaza

  Sheila Dillon looks at what the current conflict in Gaza has done to food supplies in one of the most densely populated places on earth. After Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on October...

  
• 11.19.2023

  Older Men Learning to Cook

  Jimi Famurewa talks to men learning or rediscovering cooking later in life, maybe due to a change of circumstance or loss of a partner, to hear how it's changing their lives. In the programme we meet the participants of the...

  
• 11.12.2023

  Mezcal: A Beginners Guide

  Dan Saladino explores the Mexican spirit mezcal and the diverse world of agave spirits. Contents include: Gary Nabhan (Agave Spirits book): https://www.garynabhan.com/ Agave Road Trip Podcast: https://agaveroadtrip.com/ Sin Gusano: https://www.singusano.com/story Kol: https://kolrestaurant.com/ El Pastore: https://www.tacoselpastor.co.uk/ Produced and presented by...

  
• 11.05.2023

  BBC Food and Farming Awards 2023: Second Course

  Sheila Dillon presents more winners from the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2023, including who was crowned Best Streetfood, Takeaway or Small Eatery and the winner of the Food Innovation Award. We also hear stories of the amazing finalists and...

  
• 11.03.2023

  BBC Food and Farming Awards 2023: First Course

  Join Sheila Dillon from the International Convention Centre Wales in Newport for the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2023. In this first episode from the ceremony, we hear the winners of awards including Best Food Producer, Best Drinks Producer and...

  
• 10.22.2023

  Prescribing Fruit and Veg – A New Model for the NHS?

  A pilot public health scheme in south east London is prescribing fresh fruit & veg to people with chronic disease and mental health conditions. Sheila Dillon meets Dr Chi-Chi Ekhator, an NHS GP and lead at the A.T Beacon Project,...

  
• 10.15.2023

  Eating Wild Part 2: Inside the Gut Microbiome

  Dan Saladino finds out what happened to people who embarked on a wild food adventure, including chef and Arctic explorer Mike Keen and a group of British foragers involved in the Wild Biome Project. After three months, their physical health...

  
• 10.08.2023

  Kombucha: A Miracle Drink?

  Kombucha has been around for a while but it has not had huge success in this country like it has in the US and Australia. In this programme, Jaega Wise looks at why that may be as well as sampling...

  
• 10.01.2023

  Local food – is it working?

  Local food networks thrived during lockdown with more people turning to local producers, farm shops and veg box schemes as supermarket shelves ran dry. But how are they doing now? The Covid pandemic was a reminder that localised networks give...

  
• 09.24.2023

  Abergavenny at 25

  25 years ago two Monmouthshire farmers had a plan. BSE had hit the rural area hard, and they wanted to create a food festival to showcase the area's produce. They set about putting it together in the relatively unknown town...

  
• 09.17.2023

  BBC Food and Farming Awards: street food finalists

  Judges have been visiting the finalists in this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards. This episode of The Food Programme celebrates the businesses shortlisted for the street food and take-away category. This year it's been extended to include small eateries...

  
• 09.11.2023

  The Food Innovators: Radical Thinkers, Big Ideas.

  Dan Saladino judges the The Food Innovation Award part of the BBC Food & Farming Awards. He is searching for big ideas that can change the food system. In this programme he meets the three finalists: Wildfarmed grow cereals, alongside...

  
• 09.03.2023

  Festival Food

  As summer draws to a close, Jaega Wise heads to the Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons) to learn what goes into feeding the thousands of fans gathered for the Green Man festival. Over the past 20 years or so, the...

  
• 08.27.2023

  A Food Museum – can it make us care about food?

  If food is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and also a lens through which we can interpret our history and how we live now, then surely it deserves a museum? The UK has only just got its first permanent Food...

  
• 08.20.2023

  Wedding Food

  Wedding food is one of the biggest costs on the big day but the sit-down three-course dinner is making way for food trucks and festival-style take-aways. We explore how the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have affected couples and...

  
• 08.13.2023

  The Global Food System: Too Big to Fix?

  World leaders met in Rome to fix the food system. Dan Saladino reports on what happened at the United Nations summit and looks at some of the big ideas put forward for change. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

  
• 08.06.2023

  Medicinal mushrooms – magically good for our health?

  Mushrooms like Chaga, Reishi, Lion’s Mane and Turkey Tail are popping up all over the place at the moment, in supplements, powders, and even coffee. These are the so-called medicinal species of mushroom that have been used for centuries by...

  
• 07.30.2023

  Feeding Your Brain: A Users Guide.

  Dan Saladino and psychologist Kimberley Wilson explore the latest science about food, mental health and boosting our brain power. Featuring Professor Michael A Crawford (Imperial), Professor Felice Jacka, Professor Felice Jacka of the Food & Mood Centre, Deakin University,...

  
• 07.23.2023

  UPF WTF?

  Ultra-Processed Food makes up more than 50% of all calories consumed in the UK - but UPFs are being linked with obesity and disease, and there are calls for tougher regulations. In this programme, Sheila Dillon meets the Conservative MP...

  
• 07.16.2023

  Smoke, Fire and Flame: Trends v Tradition

  The practice of smoking is one of the world’s oldest food preservation methods, but which techniques are catching fire today, while other processes risk being extinguished? We hear from producers bringing diverse barbecue and smoking techniques to new audiences,...

  
• 07.10.2023

  Bread, Baking, War and Ukraine

  Dan Saladino hears from the bakers in Ukraine supplying fresh bread to the frontline, and journalist Felicity Spector travels across the country to visit the bakeries supplying people in need, the elderly, displaced and soldiers. Produced by Dan Saladino.

  
• 07.02.2023

  The Wild Venison Project

  Eighty six year old Fergie MacDonald remembers shooting Red deer as a nine year old boy. The Second World War was on and food was scarce in his home village in the rugged Moidart peninsula, in the Scottish Highlands....

  
• 06.25.2023

  Agritourism: Italian-inspired hospitality in the UK

  Italy is famous the world over for its delicious food and beautiful countryside. The two come together in the form of the agriturismo, a type of farm-stay where the food – produced on the farm itself – takes centre...

  
• 06.18.2023

  Learning to Eat Part 2 – How the French do it

  The diets of children in the UK are now mostly made up of ultra-processed food, so can we learn from the French in how they teach children healthy eating habits? Sheila Dillon finds out. Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced...

  
• 06.11.2023

  Learning to Eat Part 1 – Do Kids Need Special Food?

  Sheila Dillon explores how food habits are formed in the early years, and how parents and nurseries are coping with a food environment full of unhealthy ultra-processed food. Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio...

  
• 06.04.2023

  Pavlov to Plant Breeding: Food Prizes that Changed the World.

  From Nobel winners to great innovators, Dan Saladino explores the history of prize-winning food ideas that changed the world, including researchers who uncovered the secrets of our stomachs to the plant breeds transforming the future of wheat. Nominations are now...

  
• 05.31.2023

  The Awards Return

  The BBC Food and Farming Awards are back for 2023 and now is the time to get nominating. This year the judging will be lead by former Masterchef winner, and founder of the Mexican restaurant chain, Thomasina Miers. ...

  
• 05.21.2023

  Tech, TikTok and the Future of Food Writing

  Leyla Kazim examines the growing influence apps, maps and lists are having on restaurant recommendations, food writing and the way we eat. Leyla sits down for lunch with Michael O’Shea from the restaurant recommendation app Jacapo, ‘the social network...

  
• 05.14.2023

  Eating Wild

  Can you eat like a hunter-gatherer in 21st Century Britain? Dan Saladino meets a group of people doing exactly that to see how their bodies change during the three-month experiment. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.