All Consuming

Charlotte and Amit dive into the story of microwaves and ask if they have enough power for a comeback.

Around nine out of ten of us have a microwave in the UK, making it a trendy gadget. But most of us use it for reheating food or zapping a microwave meal. Amit Katwala and Charlotte Stavrou find out if we are missing a trick by not incorporating microwaves further into our cooking and delve into whether these gadgets can help us during the cost of living crisis.

We meet MasterChef winner Tim Anderson who explains why he’s a self-described ‘microwave evangelist’ as he creates an emergency cookie for us in the studio. Alan Kelly, a professor in Food Science at University College Cork, tells us about the inner workings of microwaves and we trace the device's history, evolving from radar technology used in the Second World War.

Food writer Bee Wilson, author of the new book The Secret of Cooking, charts how her mother’s attitudes to microwaves changed through the years while Louis Platman, a curator at the Museum of the Home, tells us when microwaves began to appear in our homes.

Producer: Emily Uchida Finch

It’s not an understatement to say that microchips are now everywhere - from phone chargers to our beloved pets, there’s probably a microchip embedded within. But who invented them and how do they dictate computing power?

Amit Katwala and Charlotte Stavrou dig their hands into a bowl of microchips for this episode of All Consuming.

They meet Ken Shirriff, a former engineer at Google, who explains the crucial role of transistors in microchips, which are tiny switches etched into the silicon wafer.

When the first microchip was invented in the 1950s there were just three transistors, but some microchips can now contain billions. Over the decades, this has hugely increased computing power and changed our daily lives.

But microchip fabrication plants - called ‘fabs’ to those in the industry - require large volumes of water. Amit and Charlotte speak to Anurag Bajpayee, the co-founder of a company that recycles water at microchip manufacturing plants and Dr Yu Shu, a researcher at Oxford University, who is working on a novel method of creating microchips which are less harmful to the environment.

We end our tour of the world of microchips with a visit to the University of Sussex quantum lab where they’ve recently had a breakthrough in quantum microchips, which could change the world in a way that we can’t yet compute.

Producer: Emily Uchida Finch

Around 70 million pairs of denim jeans are sold every year in the UK. They come in a dizzying array of shapes and styles, but the essentials haven’t changed since they were first conceived in the Californian gold rush 150 years ago.

Sir John Hegarty discusses his agency’s relaunch of Levi’s 501 jeans in the 1980s when an irresistible combination of visual and music references made this item so desirable it became a symbol of rebellion in the Cold War. We hear from Nicolai Khalezin of the Belarus Free Theatre about how denim was used in Belarus to bolster a protest movement.

Produced by: Ruth Abrahams and Emily Uchida Finch

Charlotte Stavrou and Amit Katwala take a deep dive into the world of Board Games - from the Ancient Egyptian game of Senet to more recent classics like Monopoly and Catan.

Along the way, they talk history with Dan Jolin, the co-founder of the board game magazine Senet, meet the acknowledged master of the modern strategy game Reiner Knizia who has invented over 800 games, and learn the tricks of the trade from world Monopoly champion Nicolo Falcone who reveals why getting stuck in jail isn't always a bad thing.

Presented by Charlotte Stavrou and Amit Katwala

With over 90% of our photos now captured on phones, Charlotte Stavrou and Amit Katwala go in search of what cameras mean today and how they have evolved since their origins in the 19th century.

Amit Katwala and Charlotte Stavrou explore our unending appetite for manicures and find out that it's much more than just a buff and cuticle pushback.

Gel, acrylics, French tips - there's a seemingly endless list of services that can be applied to our fingertips. But some salons have taken nail art to the next level as Charlotte found out when she visited NUKA nails in West London.

While manicures seem to be enjoying a heyday, nail treatments aren't a modern phenomenon as writer Suzanne E Shapiro explains as she takes us on a journey from Ancient Egypt to the French Riveria of the 1920s.

Consultant dermatologist Dr Deirdre Buckley is also on hand to warn us about the emergence of plastic allergies in manicure lovers and we also uncover the dark underside of the industry when it comes to trafficked salon workers.

Producer: Emily Uchida Finch

From the running boom at the end of the 19th century to a lockdown-inspired desire to lace up, running shoes have evolved to fit the shape of our lives for over 150 years.

Charlotte Stavrou and Amit Katwala go mushy for houseplants in this episode of All Consuming where they explore our culture of consumption.

Philodendrons, Hoyas, Monsteras - the list of plants available to consumers is now almost endless and these green companions became a crucial part of our home during lockdown when we craved the outdoors.

In recent years, our love for houseplants has seen the plant market explode - but at what cost?

Charlotte and Amit meet Jacob James, a seller of rare plants at the Royal Chelsea Flower Show, who reveals that there’s been a recent crash in rare houseplant prices.

We check in with historian Catherine Horwood to find out how houseplants first entered the home and ecologist Dr Adam Cross gives us a fly’s eye view of a rare carnivorous plant.

Amateur biologist Sebastian Cocioba tells us how he hacks orchids for a special Mother’s Day present.

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

From the first spectacles that perched on noses around 750 years ago to AI-enhanced glasses for the visually impaired, we have been harnessing science - and design - to help us see for centuries.

Meanwhile, historian Jo Gooding explores the role of the British welfare state in influencing glasses styles and the unintended consequences that arose from state provision.

For the UK consumer, things changed dramatically in the 1980s and Graham Daldry, former Creative Director of Specsavers shares the secrets of the winning ‘Should’ve gone to…’ campaign. And taking us to the next level, Karthik Mahadevan, the Founder and CEO of Envision gives us a demo of glasses that use AI and camera technology to assist people who are severely visually impaired.

Presenters: Charlotte Stavrou and Amit Katwala

Did you know there was a time when you could only buy green tea in the UK? Tea is now a staple product for most of us, but it has a long and complicated past.

In this episode of All Consuming, Charlotte Stavrou (née Williams) and Amit Katwala steep themselves in the intriguing history of tea. They talk to advertising expert Paul Feldwick to get the inside story of how chimps were used to advertise the drink, historian Jane Pettigrew explains how tea reached our shores from China, and we also delve into the links between tea and sympathy with psychologist Dr Andrea Shortland.

Producer: Emily Uchida Finch