The Food Chain

The term 'food noise' has been used by some to describe thoughts about food that are unwelcome and intrusive. People who have used weight-loss medication have reported that the drugs can help to quieten these thoughts.

Ruth Alexander explores how frequent thoughts about food can be a pleasure for some, but distressing for others.

Ashley Ripple in Alabama explains why she feels the term fits her own thoughts about food and what happened when she took GLP-1 medication.

Daisuke Hayashi a phd student at Pennsylvania State University has conducted research on what the term means to different people and Emily Dhurandhar an obesity scientist at Texas Tech University worked on one of the first questionnaires seeking to measure food noise.

Dr Charlotte Ord a counselling psychologist in the UK specialising in eating disorders and body image says she’s concerned people may get the message that all thoughts about food should be silenced.

And Mexican chef and food writer, Pati Jinich, author of 'Foods of La Frontera', explains why her constant thoughts about food are a source of joy and inspiration.

(Image: A cartoon silhouette of a woman who is thinking, images of different foods such as a hotdog, egg and avocado float around her head. Credit: Getty Images)

If you’d like to contact the programme you can email [email protected]

Producer: Beatrice Pickup and Amber Mehmood

Sound engineer: Hal Haines

Do you love to share food with friends and family? Or resent handing over even one french fry from your plate?

Sharing food has a long and proud tradition in some cultures and is relatively rare in others. Ruth Alexander looks at what it does for our relationships, how it can enhance the experience of a meal and how it can help boost a restaurant's bottom line. It can even improve the outcome of tricky work negotiations.

But what if you can't bear to share? You're not alone. Ruth hears from dedicated anti-sharers who will protect their own private portion at all costs.

Produced by Lexy O'Connor, Amber Mehmood and Beatrice Pickup.

Sound engineer: Hal Haines.

Image: A woman and a man's hand reach across table laden with curries and breads. She is dipping bread into a dish and the red and gold embroidery of her sleeve is also visible. Credit: Getty.

What does a life on tour do to a stand-up comedian's eating habits? And how do you stay healthy if half of your working life is spent travelling?

Ruth Alexander finds out.

If you travel regularly for work you'll know how hard it can be to hold onto good eating patterns. International flights, client dinners and the hotel's buffet breakfast can blow your diet out of the water. And that's before you consider the impact of sleep disruption, jet lag, late finishes and early starts.

Plus a work trip may involve a big presentation, a stressful conversation or a performance of some kind. So what do nerves and stress do to your appetite? And can you eat to maximise your performance?

Ruth chats to comedian Celya AB, currently three weeks into her UK tour and hears from Marisa Poster, boss of Perfect Ted Matcha who spends half of every month travelling – often taking long-haul flights.

Plus South African dietician Nathalie Mat on how to handle stress and jet lag and the vital importance of travelling with good snacks.

Produced by Lexy O'Connor, Sam Clack and Beatrice Pickup.

Image: A young woman in a business suit sits on the end of a hotel bed, gazing out of the window. She is holding a wheelie suitcase. Credit: Getty.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Are you hungry? How often do you stop to think about why that is and what sort of foods you are hungry for?

In this programme Ruth Alexander explores the science of appetite – what causes us to feel hungry and full and why our appetites differ from one person to the next.

Geneticist Professor Giles Yeo at the University of Cambridge in the UK explains how much of our appetite is informed by our genes and how much by our environment. Registered public health nutritionist Federica Amati, author of 'The Appetite Reset', explains what happens in our gut to help us feel full, not just immediately but for hours after eating. Amber Alhadeff, neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, US says that GLP-1 weight-loss medications are changing what we know about appetite.

And Ruth meets Darren Ratcliffe at his home in Manchester, UK. Darren shares how GLP-1 medications affected his appetite, and what happened when he stopped taking them.

If you'd like to contact the programme you can email [email protected].

Produced by Beatrice Pickup and Lexy O'Connor.

(Image: Darren Ratcliffe is standing in his kitchen. He is wearing a green t-shirt and holding a plate of food that contains a baked potato with tuna and sweetcorn and a salad. Credit: BBC).

Weight-loss medication, or GLP-1s as they are also known, are designed to suppress your appetite - so how do you make every mouthful count?

Ruth Alexander looks into what happens to the body on these drugs and what it feels like to take them. She learns why it's vital to change your diet to minimise side effects like nausea and constipation and to avoid vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Plus why what you eat before you start taking the medicines also matters, and how to give yourself the best chance of coming off them without regaining all of your weight.

Ruth Alexander talks to UK based medical scientist Federica Amati, author of The Appetite Reset and US dietician Whitney Black who takes the drugs herself and specialises in supporting patients on GLP-1s. Whitney shares her real-life experience alongside Michelle Herum from Denmark, a busy mum of four who's been taking Wegovy for three years.

Produced by Lexy O'Connor and Beatrice Pickup.

Sound Engineers: Hal Haines.

Image: Two donuts, one pink and one brown are balanced on a small plate in the foreground. A woman's hands are visible, holding an apple in one hand and holding up her other hand to reject the donuts. (Credit: Getty)

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Imagine not recognising the food in the shops, markets and restaurants around you. Moving to a new country to live and work can come with some culture shocks and food can be a big part of that.

Ruth Alexander speaks to people who have lived in different countries. Listener Jen Ballantyne in the UK has taught in Japan, Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Brunei. Chinese Canadian chef Kelvin Cheung has lived in Belgium and India and today has a restaurant called Jun's in Dubai. Miwa Kishi is a Japanese cookery teacher living with her family in The Netherlands. We also hear from listener Juanita Ruiz a Colombian chef living and working in a small ski town in British Columbia, Canada.

(Photo: a man wearing a blue shirt pushing a supermarket trolley and looking at the shelves of food in a confused manner. Credit: Getty Images)

If you'd like to contact the programme you can email [email protected]

Producer: Beatrice Pickup and Rumella Dasgupta

Is it more expensive to eat healthily?

You might think the answer is simple: Yes of course, if you buy fruits, vegetables, beans and pulses and cook from scratch.

But is it that easy?

With the help of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, Ruth Alexander finds out where in the world a healthy basket of food costs the most, and why globally, billions of people are priced out of a nutritious and varied diet.

She hears from Frances in Nigeria, struggling to afford healthy basics for her family, and from Aurora in the US state of Arizona, who is out of work and has lost the food benefit known as SNAP. She's being supported by the charity St Vincent de Paul.

And even if you can afford healthy food, is it readily available within easy distance of where you live? Hear from the team running the mobile fruit and veg bus known as The Queen of Greens, tackling so called "food deserts" in Liverpool, North-West England.

Plus your questions answered: How to eat well on any budget, with dietician Grace Derocha.

Produced by Lexy O'Connor, Niamh McDermott and Beatrice Pickup

Sound Engineer: Hal Haines

Image: A woman with brown hair and glasses leans glumly on the handle of a supermarket trolley, contemplating the store's display of fruits and vegetables. (Credit: Getty)

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Ever wondered what the chef is eating? Snacking on the finest produce or surviving on thin air and caffeine?

In this episode Ruth Alexander speaks to three chefs about how they get through the day, and the importance of the ‘family’ or staff meal.

She’s joined by Juliette Feller, a Swiss chef working in London, Marisha Shukla a pastry chef in Bengaluru India, and Sam Grainger, an exec chef and restaurateur in Manchester in England.

You can contact the programme by emailing [email protected].

(Image: from left to right, Juliette Feller wearing a pinstripe blazer, Marisha Shukla wearing a white shirt and Sam Grainger wearing a blue denim apron. Credit: Fin Nichols, Victoire Terrade, Sam Grainger)

Do you have a local cafe, restaurant or bar that you go to all the time? Maybe the staff recognise you or know you by name, perhaps you even get special treatment.

In this programme Rumella Dasgupta finds out why people like to return to the same place, and the commercial value to a business of having regular customers.

You can contact the programme by emailing [email protected].

Produced by Izzy Greenfield.

(Image: a man sat at a bar chatting to a barman who is wearing an apron and cleaning a glass. Credit: Getty Images)

Moving out of the family home can be a big first step at whatever age you do it. Paying bills, budgeting, shopping, and importantly cooking for yourself.

In this programme Rumella Dasgupta asks what dishes you should be able to cook when you leave home for the first time.

Rumella meets chef and food writer Claire Thomson and her daughter Grace Williamson in their kitchen in Bristol, England. Claire's latest cookbook, 'Dear Grace: Recipes from Your Mother for the Next Chapter in Life', was written when Grace left home for university a year ago.

At Salford Youth Zone, a youth centre in the North of England, Rumella talks to teenagers about how confident they feel in the kitchen.

Shahpar Salim in Bangladesh talks about the challenges of leaving home for a new country when she came to the UK for her studies.

Food writer and editor Yeonjoo Jung explains why young people often live at home throughout their twenties in South Korea.

And mothers in the United States tell us how mealtimes changed once faced with the so-called 'empty nest'.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

(Image: a young woman standing in a green open doorway holding a suitcase and looking hopeful. Credit: Getty Images)