Start the Week

Breaking bread together


Listen Later

Hospitality and hostility come from a common root, according to the writer Priya Basil. In her latest book, Be My Guest, she explores the diverse meaning of the Indo-European word ‘ghos-ti’ which combines host, guest and stranger. She tells Kirsty Wark how breaking bread together is a way of breaking down barriers.

Shamil Thakrar is the co-founder of the award-winning restaurant chain, Dishoom. He traces the roots of the restaurant’s success, looking back to the sights, sounds and tastes of the much-loved cosmopolitan Bombay of his childhood.

While Thakrar’s father and uncle established the food company, Tilda Rice, when they arrived in London in the 1970s, Thomas Harding’s relatives came to Britain in the early 1800s and went on to create the largest catering company in the world: J. Lyons. In Legacy, Harding, looks at how Lyons tea rooms became a fixture on every high street in the country, transforming the way we eat and drink, and democratising eating out.

Lyons pioneered different processed foods, from coffee to ice cream. Food writer Joanna Blythman sees processed food as the biggest peril to our health today. She worries that in the rush to adopt a plant-based diet, we will swap nutritious red meat for meat substitutes full of gum and other additives. Blythman also challenges the idea that only by giving up meat can we save our planet from climate change,

Producer: Katy Hickman

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Start the WeekBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

152 ratings


More shows like Start the Week

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,731 Listeners

The LRB Podcast by The London Review of Books

The LRB Podcast

290 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

367 Listeners

More or Less by BBC Radio 4

More or Less

882 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,038 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,500 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,815 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,873 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

604 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

290 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,820 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,072 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,936 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

521 Listeners

Last Word by BBC Radio 4

Last Word

47 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

302 Listeners

Moral Maze by BBC Radio 4

Moral Maze

61 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

832 Listeners

Front Row by BBC Radio 4

Front Row

128 Listeners

Private Passions by BBC Radio 3

Private Passions

44 Listeners

The Briefing Room by BBC Radio 4

The Briefing Room

74 Listeners

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle by BBC World Service

13 Minutes Presents: The Space Shuttle

4,177 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,175 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

114 Listeners