Sheila Dillon hears the first exclusive readings from a Tudor ‘pamphlet of cheese’ that details the cheesemaking traditions of the 16th century, and reveals how cheese was seen as a nutrient-rich health food - from digestion aid to wound cleaner. Fast-forward to today, and Sheila visits Yorkshire cheesemongers Andy and Kathy Swinscoe to help recreate one of these historic recipes by hand in their dairy, as they discuss the significance of cheese history and how milk and cheese have a ’terroir’ just like wine.

While the Tudors believed cheese was inherently good for you, modern-day science is still exploring the evidence. Now, cheese scientists are producing ground-breaking research investigating links between cheese and the health of our hearts and gut microbiome. But making cheese today is a tough job, from complying with food safety rules to the challenges of setting up and maintaining a small business. Sheila speaks to renowned cheesemaker Martin Gott to hear the strange tale of how gave up his career in the UK to set up the first ever organic creamery in Oman. Are we losing our cheesemakers just at the point when we’re rediscovering more about its potential health benefits?

Sheila’s journey to find out how our cheese heritage faltered takes her to the Middle East, Japan and finally back to Yorkshire, where a new raw milk cheesemaker sparks hope for the future.

Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Nina Pullman for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Dan Saladino finds out how a family farm in west Cork became one of the world's most influential cookery schools. Featuring Darina and Rachel Allen, Rory O'Connell and JR Ryall.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

In this second episode from Copenhagen, Sheila Dillon explores why Denmark leads the way in organic food consumption.

In 2023, nearly 12% of all food bought in Denmark was organic—one of the highest levels in the world. In the UK, that figure is just 1.5%.

But how did Denmark get here? And can the organic movement keep growing as the conversation shifts toward climate concerns and plant-based eating?

Sheila meets the people shaping Denmark’s food future, from organic farmers to chefs and researchers. She also asks how does this apparent national embrace of organic food sit alongside Denmark’s industrial farming, including its vast pork industry?

Featuring conversations with:

Presented by Sheila Dillon

Restaurant critic and lifelong Charlton Athletic fan Jimi Famurewa finds out how football clubs are upping their game when it comes to serving food for their fans. He’ll taste the world at AFC Wimbledon’s Food Village, hear how Forest Green Rovers went vegan and discover the secret liquor behind Leyton Orient’s pie and mash. Food writers Jack Peat and Daniel Gray pitch in with their thoughts on a world that has moved far beyond Bovril and burnt burgers.

Presented by Jimi Famurewa

The Bovril Song was composed by Roger Jackson and Phil Nicholl and performed by Sing! Cambridge in 2013

Five years on from the first Covid lockdown Dan Saladino asks if our food supply can withstand more shock to the system? Is there resilience to face another pandemic or even war?

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Bradford is this year’s UK City of Culture - but what does food have to do with it? Sheila Dillon visits the city to meet market traders, chefs and restaurateurs to find out how its industrial past has influenced the thriving food culture of today.

She visits Bradford’s St James wholesale market to discover how the Asian restaurant trade has been integral to the market’s survival, before eating breakfast at The Sweet Centre, which serves the same Kashmiri breakfast speciality as it did for millworkers in the 60s. Two food projects are harnessing the vibrant multicultural nature of Bradford as part of its City of Culture celebrations. The Bradford Selection, orchestrated by artists Sonia Sandhu and Harry Jelley, tells the stories of Bradford communities through a series of biscuits. Meet My Mothers is a recipe book project representing the diverse food cultures in Bradford, as participant coordinator Aamta Waheed tells Sheila at the Women Zone community centre.

Renowned Yorkshire food historian Peter Brears meets Sheila for a tea and some traditional pork ‘savoury duck’ to talk about pre-industrial food of the Bradford district. Meanwhile, on BBC One, Harry Virdee is the eponymous detective star of thriller series Virdee, written by Bradford native A.A.Dhand. Sheila speaks to the bestselling author to find out how he wrote specific south Asian food and drink traditions into the series and his own childhood food memories of growing up in the city.

How important is the city’s food history, economics and culture to its hopes for regeneration? Shanaz Gulzar, creative director of Bradford 2025, summarises the city’s belief in food as social cohesion and the confidence that the city feels after winning the title.

Presenter: Sheila Dillon

Sheila Dillon joins diners eating together in Manchester and Copenhagen, and hears why some think we should be making more time in the UK for eating communally.

During World War II, British Restaurants provided nutritious, affordable meals across the UK. Endorsed by Winston Churchill, they ensured good food was accessible to all. Now, some believe this model should return.

Professor Bryce Evans from Liverpool Hope University explains why reviving communal dining could help tackle today’s cost-of-living crisis. In Manchester, we hear from "The Manc Kitchen" - a pilot inspired by MP Ian Byrne’s "Scouse Kitchen" and his "Right to Food" campaign. Similar initiatives are emerging across the UK.

Sheila Dillon travels to Copenhagen, "the capital of communal dining," to see how the Danes have embraced eating together. She visits Absalon, a repurposed church where 200 people dine each night, and Grønne Eng (Green Meadows), a co-housing community where 190 residents cook and share meals communally four times a week. Even in workplaces, communal dining is the norm—Sheila eats with a team of architects at a long table.

Food writer Heidi Svømmekjær explains how Denmark’s long, dark winters have shaped this culture, making shared meals a way to foster warmth and connection.

With food insecurity and loneliness on the rise, Sheila asks if communal restaurants be a solution?

Presented by Sheila Dillon

Two of the country's largest wholesale markets are on the brink of closure. The City of London Corporation has decided to shut the historic meat market at Smithfield and the fish market at Billingsgate, bringing to an end centuries of food history. Sheila Dillon is given a tour of Smithfield market by the historian Matthew Green who describes how Smithfield features in the work of Charles Dickens and was once described as the "kitchen of the universe" by the writer Ned Ward in 1702.

The programme hears from the Smithfield traders who work through the night butchering and selling meat to restaurants and shops across London, the South East of England and beyond.

There has been considerable opposition to the closure of the markets. More than 37,000 people have signed a petition asking the City of London Corporation to keep the markets where they are including Alicia Weston who we meet at Ridley Road street market in East London. Here fishmongers are concerned about where they will source their supplies if Billingsgate closes. The City of London Corporation chairman Chris Hayward responds.

Finally, the author of Hungry City Carolyn Steel and Professor Tim Lang from City University reflect on the importance of wholesale markets in strengthening food supply chains as well as their contribution to the social and cultural fabric of a place.

Presented by Sheila Dillon

It's a term used by the smallest farmers and the world's biggest food businesses. But what does 'regenerative agriculture' mean?

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Sheila Dillon revisits the idea of our grannies’ cooking and how it shapes us, hearing from listeners who sent in their own stories. Why does learning to cook from your granny seem to be such a powerful experience? What about those grannies who leapt at the chance technology offered to escape the endless cycle of cooking from scratch? And – for those of us who feel we’re relying too much on processed food - can we find a granny substitute to help us put down the takeaway menu and pick up a peeler?

Guests include:

We'd like to thank all of the listeners who wrote in to us following the broadcast of the programme "Nan the Wiser", but we'd like to say a special thanks to Matthew, Lynn, Mary, Tony, Marie, Peter, Rob and Giselle.

Presented by Sheila Dillon

Archive from Birmingham's Food and Drink Oral Histories Project: