There exists a distinctly middle class culture in Britain that has taught us to love our meat, especially if we feel guilty about eating it. But what if rather than caring for the animals we eat, we thought about animals as an exploited class who deserve justice, not a cuddle before they are slaughtered? So argues Amber Husain in Meat Love, a powerful little book that is out now.

Lewis Bassett speaks to Amber Husain about the book, whether capitalism really is a barrier to changing our food system and whether it's wrong to love your meat.

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By creating a network of pubs that are accessible to anyone with 89p for a coffee, JD Wetherspoon has become something of a public service. But should Britain's most popular pub chain really be owned by Tim Martin and a small group of shareholders? Is it time to nationalise Wetherspoons?

In this episode, Lewis Bassett is joined by Jemma Greenwood to discuss the origins and meanings of Spoons, and by James Meadway to discuss pubs and public ownership.

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British people are fatter and sicker than people in most other rich nations. That's down to our food system, argues Henry Dimbleby in his new book Ravenous, co-authored with Jemima Lewis. In this episode, Lewis Bassett speaks to Henry about his book, covering everything from why exercise won't help you lose weight to how what we eat is a leading cause of climate change to why food companies are helpless to create the kind of food system we all need to stay alive.

Henry Dimbleby is the co-founder of the restaurant chain LEON and author of the government initiated National Food Strategy. He is also a co-founder of Chefs in Schools.

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The British realise their food is bland and that's a good thing, according to world renowned economist Ha-Joon Chang.

In this interview, Lewis Bassett speaks to Ha-Joon about some of the key themes in his latest book 'Edible Economics'; from how the field of economics has become something of a monoculture, to why its hypocritical of rich nations to encourage poorer ones to accept free trade.

Ha-Joon Chang is a professor of economics at SOAS university London. 'Edible Economics' is out now.

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From around the 1500s to the early 19th century, when the price of food went up poor people were likely to riot. Today we've seen the highest food price rises in a generation, but does anyone feel angry?

Lewis Bassett speaks to economist James Meadway on the causes of rising prices, to historians Steve Poole and Joe Stanley on the history of food riots in England as well as to regular shoppers in Rotherham. We find out whether people are angry about the cost of living crisis today and whether we feel there's anything to be done about it.

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Lewis Bassett talks all things curry with the writer Sejal Sukhadwala. Find Sejal's book, The Philosophy of Curry, here.

You can also find Sejal's work in the Guardian, the FT, Atlas Obscurer, The Fence and elsewhere.

Find out more about the course on Food, Politics and City which I mention in the show in this YouTube video or at the Birkbeck website here.

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Fishing was often at the heart of the Brexit debate. But three years on, what are the results? Lewis speaks to Jerry Percy, a retired commercial fisherman and director of the chair of New Under Ten Fishermen's Association. If anyone has a grasp of what Brexit has, and could, mean for commercial fishing its Jerry.

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Greggs is one of the biggest food to go retailers in the UK, selling 3 million sausage rolls each week. It has its own line in branded sportswear and a huge fan base. But how did Greggs get so big and what does it all mean?

Lewis Bassett speaks to Jake Grover (aka Pasty), Ed Cumming, Sam White, Kate Magee and Sabine Benoit.

Pasty can be found on Instagram here.

Check out Ed Cumming's article on Greggs in The Guardian here.

Sam White is the Editor of Bakery Business Magazine. Kate Magee is the editor of Management Today. And Sabine Benoit teaches at the University of Surrey, and you can find her here.

I also mention this article in the Guardian about the rise of the packaged sandwich.

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Why is our food so expensive now? James Meadway explains. We also discuss the link between inflation and trade unions, and the current wave of strikes in the UK right now.

James has held senior roles at the New Economics Foundation and the Progressive Economy Forum. He hosts the weekly economics podcast Macrodose.

This interview forms a part of an upcoming episode on whether high food prices (still) make us angry. Be sure to check that out in the New Year!

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Lewis Bassett speaks to Diane Purkiss about her new book 'English Food: A People's History'.

We talk about what English food is, how and when English food became bland, why Elizabeth David is a food snob, why we fear GMOs and how what we eat in England is so deeply interwoven with our social class.

Diane Purkiss is a professor of English Literature at Oxford University. Her book 'English Food' is out now.

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