Sweet, sour, salty, bitter and... umami. Have you heard of the fifth taste?

Umami, meaning ‘delicious flavour’ in Japanese, was discovered by a chemist in Japan in 1908 but it took nearly 100 years for it to be recognised as a fifth distinct taste. It is described by many as a savoury or meaty taste.

In this programme Ruth Alexander learns about the chemist who first discovered umami, and the industrially produced version he created – monosodium glutamate, or MSG. It’s a food additive that’s been the subject of health scares, but today it’s one of the most tested additives in our food and considered to be safe for consumption.

Yukari Sakamoto, trained chef and food tour leader in Tokyo explains how umami features in Japanese cuisine; she says miso soup is one of the best examples of maximum umami flavour. Professor Barry Smith, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Senses in the UK, explains the science behind umami and MSG. Calvin Eng, chef and owner of Bonnie’s restaurant in Brooklyn New York, is one of a number of chefs trying to rehabilitate MSG’s reputation – he uses it not just in savoury dishes, but also desserts and drinks.

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

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

(Image: a bowl of miso soup, containing tofu and spring onions. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Three school chefs tell Ruth Alexander what it’s like serving up canteen food every day.

Find out how they manage hundreds of hungry child customers, what pro tips they have for making vegetables seem delicious, and why they all find the job so satisfying.

We hear from the USA, Liverpool in the UK and a school chef in the far north of Finland about the challenges of cooking mountains of meatballs, how to cope when the vegetable biriyani goes all over the ceiling, and why it’s one of the most rewarding – but probably overlooked – professions.

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

Producers: Hannah Bewley and Rumella Dasgupta

(Image: a plastic lunch tray with meat, vegetables and gravy, fruit and a plastic cup. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Have you heard of ultra processed food?

In 2010 a group of Brazilian scientists said we should be focusing less on the nutritional content of food, and more on the form of processing it undergoes. They created the Nova system, a way of categorising foods based on how processed they are. It identifies ultra processed foods as generally industrially manufactured, containing ingredients such as emulsifiers, stabilisers and other additives that would not be found in an average home kitchen.

A growing body of scientific research suggests a link between this category of ultra processed foods and ill health, although there’s still some uncertainty around why this could be.

In this programme we look at what ultra processed food is, how you spot it, and how practical it is to avoid it, should you wish to.

Ruth Alexander speaks to listener Jen Sherman in California who is trying to reduce the amount of ultra processed food her family eats. Ruth also hears from one of the public health scientists behind the Nova classification, Jean-Claude Moubarac at the University of Montreal in Canada, and from Pierre Slamich, co-founder of the Open Food Facts app and website, a database of foods that can help you identify products that are ultra processed. Kate Halliwell, Chief Scientific Officer at the Food and Drink Federation in the UK, which represents manufacturers, says evidence of harm from ultra processed foods is not yet strong enough.

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

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

Additional reporting by Jane Chambers in Chile.

What do you and your family chat about at dinner? We eavesdrop on conversations over food all over the world, hearing about poetry, politics, what is on TV and how Morag’s leg is recovering.

Whether you gossip or have more philosophical debates find out how integral good communication is while we are eating, often marking the only point in the day or week when a family gathers together.

We learn why a matchmaker thinks a dinner date might not be such a good idea after all if you want the conversation to flow. And, psychotherapist Philippa Perry tells us how to keep the peace with the family over Sunday lunch.

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

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

(Image: Family and friends sit around the dinner table. Credit: BBC)

The city of Detroit in the United States has a lot of vacant space – as much as a quarter of residential, commercial and industrial sites lie unused today.

In this programme Ruth Alexander meets the people who are growing food in their neighbourhoods, creating urban farms and community gardens where houses once stood. Mark Covington is the founder of Georgia Street Community Collective, and Tyson Gersh is the co-founder of the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative.

Ruth learns why so much land stands empty from the city’s official historian Jamon Jordan. Jamon explains the role of the automobile industry in bringing jobs and people to Detroit in the early 1900s, and the circumstances that led to decades of population decline, job losses and debt for the city government, culminating in bankruptcy in 2013.

Tepfirah Rushdan is the newly appointed, first Director of Urban Agriculture for the city of Detroit. She explains how she hopes to bring urban farmers and politicians together to find a way for food to be grown alongside new developments as investment returns to the city.

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

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

(Image: the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative a farm in downtown Detroit, surrounded by roads and buildings. Credit: Michelle and Chris Gerard/BBC)

In February 2023, two earthquakes devastated parts of Turkey. The disaster claimed the lives of nearly 60,000 people in southern Turkey and northern Syria.

In this programme Victoria Craig travels to the city of Antakya, part of Hatay Province, close to the border with Syria. It’s a region long famed for its cuisine, and even has special UNESCO recognition for its gastronomy. Since the earthquake a year ago much of the local population has left the badly damaged area, and food businesses in the historic bazaar are waiting for rebuilding work to begin. Victoria hears from the people of Antakya why food is such an important part of their culture and community.

Produced and presented by Victoria Craig.

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

(Image: tray kebab from the bazaar in Antakya. Credit: Victoria Craig/BBC)

Chinese food is popular and successful around the world. But is it afforded the respect it deserves?

In some countries Chinese food has been seen as something tasty, but ultimately cheap and not very healthy, despite it being a cuisine with a focus on health, seasonality and gastronomic skill for centuries.

In this programme Ruth Alexander meets Fuchsia Dunlop, a British food writer who has spent a career studying Chinese cuisine. She argues that the food has long been undervalued in the West, and it’s time for that to change.

Ruth also meets chef Andrew Wong, whose restaurant A.Wong in London holds two Michelin stars, the first Chinese restaurant outside of Asia to receive that accolade. A.Wong operates on the same site as Andrew’s parents’ Chinese restaurant in the 1980s and he talks about how the business, and Chinese food in the UK, has evolved.

And she hears from Rica Leon, CEO of ‘Chifa’, a restaurant in LA that celebrates her family’s Chinese and Peruvian heritage. Rica explains how Chinese flavours and ingredients have influenced Peruvian food.

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

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

(Image: A table of tofu dishes prepared by Fuchsia Dunlop, including mapo tofu, smoked tofu salad, shredded tofu leather, silken tofu with avocado, an imitation roast duck dish made from layers of tofu, and deep fried tofu served in a soup. Credit: Fuchsia Dunlop/BBC)

Have you ever wondered why the apple you bite in to is so crisp and juicy? And why it’s available all year round?

Apples originated in the mountains of Central Asia, and made their way along trade routes to Europe and then on to the rest of the world. They are now one of the most widely consumed fruit worldwide.

An apple seed will produce a completely different fruit to the tree it came from – so new varieties have to be bred and cultivated.

In this week’s episode Ruth Alexander finds out about the science behind finding that perfect crunch, how long it takes to be able to taste an apple you’ve spent years planning and how to grab consumers’ attention with a new breed.

Ruth also visits a wassail near Manchester in England to experience an ancient tradition involving cider, hanging toast on a tree and lots of singing to encourage a good apple harvest for the year ahead.

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

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producer: Hannah Bewley

(Image: A bright red apple on a green background. Credit: Getty Images)

Humans have preserved food to make it last longer for thousands of years. In this programme Ruth Alexander learns about different methods of food preservation used around the world, including pickling, dehydrating and canning.

Food historian and writer Darra Goldstein in the US explains the history of this art. Yukari Sakamoto is a trained chef and sommelier who leads food tours in Tokyo, she explains why people in Japan take the idea of a well stocked pantry seriously. And Usha Prabakaran in Chennai, India talks about her love of the Indian pickle and its role in Indian cuisine.

There are some important safety considerations if you want food to last longer, particularly if you want to store it at room temperature. There is a risk of botulism if food is not heated to the correct temperature for the correct amount of time, particularly for foods that are low in acid. Ruth hears about the laboratory testing done by Carla Schwan, Director at the National Home Food Preservation Centre based in Georgia, United States which tests recipes that can be used safely for home preserves.

Canning – storing food in glass jars and heating it – has seen a resurgence recently. Some enthusiasts refer to themselves as ‘rebel canners’, which in general refers to people wanting to use recipes other than those that have been lab tested and approved. The ‘Canning Diva’, Diane Devereaux a food preservation educator and blogger in the United States explains what motivates rebel canners, and the recipes she thinks are missing for consumers.

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

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

(Image: a selection of foods preserved in jars of different shapes and sizes. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Ruth Alexander talks to two families displaced by the war in Ukraine, as they reflect on their second year away from home.

They discuss the difficulties of being away from loved ones and the solace home cooking can provide.

Ruth speaks to Natalia Lomonosova, who’d had to flee her home in Kyiv with her teenage daughter and has set up a new life in Berlin, Germany; and she visits Mariya Dmytrenko and her family, who are living with their hosts Brian and Julie Lamb, in Blackburn, England.

If you’d like to contact the programme, please email [email protected].

Producer: Beatrice Pickup

(Image: Mariya Dmytrenko and family with their hosts Brian and Julie Lamb. Credit: BBC)