Noma – considered by some to be the ‘world’s best restaurant’ - has announced it will close in 2024. The news has prompted headlines around the world and a renewed discussion about the culture of fine dining, and whether it is sustainable as a business model.

In this programme, Ruth Alexander asks ‘what’s the big deal about fine dining?’. Is it an industry that exists only for the very wealthy, or do its innovations and trends affect how we all eat?

Ruth is joined by Pete Wells, restaurant critic for The New York Times, who ate at Noma in Copenhagen in 2018. Food historian Dr Rachel Rich at Leeds Beckett University in the UK talks about the history of fine dining, and the celebrity chefs of the 19th century. Chef Sarah Francis knows what it is like to be at the top of your game but want to do something different – in 2018 she and her partner gave back the Michelin star awarded to their restaurant The Checkers in Wales. And BBC World Service listeners and self-confessed ‘foodies’, Casey Griffiths in the UK and Pamela Garelick in Greece, tell Ruth about their best and worst fine dining experiences.

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.