Episodes
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Dan Saladino explores new science that's revealing the complexity hidden within our food.
In New York City he meets the team mapping previously unknown edible compounds in fruits and vegetables, many of which are thought to have health benefits.
Will delving deeper into the 'dark matter' of food make it possible to produce food that's better for both us and the planet? Also in the programme is Franco Fubini, founder of the food businesses and author of In Search of The Perfect Peach, who for 20 years has been in search of ingredients with exceptional flavour. It's through flavour, Fubini believes, that we can create a food system that's better for us and also the planet.
Dan also meets Dan Kitteridge, who, through the Bio-nutrient Association, is convinced that quality of food, and its nutrient density is dependent on the quality of the soil microbiome it grows in.
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
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In this episode, social media chef and queen of potatoes, Poppy O'Toole, explores the world of her favourite ingredient, the Potato.
Last year, Poppy appeared on Mastermind, choosing the history of the potato as her specialist subject. Let’s just say… it didn’t quite go to plan. So now, she’s joining the team at The Food Programme to fill in the gaps in her knowledge.
Along the way, she meets historian Professor Rebecca Earle from the University of Warwick, who explains how potatoes travelled from the Andes to Europe. She visits Lima, a Peruvian restaurant in London, where she speaks with sous chef William Coz about how potatoes remain central to Peruvian cuisine. Dr Stef de Haan from the International Potato Center shares how Peru continues to cultivate thousands of potato varieties.
In Suffolk, Poppy visits James Foskett’s farm to discover how he grows both organic and conventional potatoes. And she speaks with Dr Jean Beagle Ristaino—known by some as “the Sherlock of Spuds”—about her work investigating the pathogen behind the Irish Potato Famine.
The programme includes archive from Mastermind which is co-produced for BBC 2 by Hindsight and Hat Trick.
Presented by Poppy O'TooleProduced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
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With the price of olive oil soaring in the shops after drought disrupted production in Spain, Leyla Kazim looks into the English farms planting olive groves in the hope of bottling their own oil. She meets a farmer in Essex who explains that English growing conditions are more suitable than you might think and discovers a producer in Cornwall who has already started pressing his own extra virgin olive oil. So will olive oil from Essex or Cornwall become the new English sparkling wine?
Dan Saladino reports from Sicily where hotter conditions due to climate change are presenting new challenges for growers. Food historian Dr Annie Gray debunks some of the myths around olive oil consumption in England and Leyla learns the correct way to approach an oil-tasting from one of the country’s biggest suppliers.
Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol.
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Dan Saladino meets pioneering thinkers to hear about future food ideas ranging from edible protein sourced from chicken feathers to crops inoculated with fungi capable of tolerating a hotter climate.
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino
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In this episode of 'A Life Through Food', Sheila Dillon meets one of the most provocative scientific minds of the last half-century: Professor Michael Crawford. Now in his 90s, Crawford’s pioneering research into the brain and nutrition has reshaped how we understand the essential role of food—especially Omega-3 fatty acids—in human development and health.
Long before Omega-3 became a buzzword on supermarket shelves, Crawford was uncovering its vital connection to brain function. His work, often at odds with mainstream science, has led to over 300 peer-reviewed papers and three books challenging conventional theories of human evolution and nutrition.
The programme also features chef and broadcaster Rick Stein, who reflects on Crawford’s influence and the importance of sustainable seafood. And we hear from Dr Anneli Löfstedt, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and Environment, who is building on Crawford’s legacy by exploring the links between nutrition, sustainability, and the future of food systems.
Presented by Sheila DillonProduced by Natalie Donovan for BBC Audio in Bristol.
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The BBC Food & Farming Awards are back for 2025!
Jaega Wise visits River Cottage HQ to meet returning head judge Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. They talk about what Hugh is looking for in this year's awards, what makes the West Country a special place for food and farming and some of the history of River Cottage. She also visits previous winners Westcombe Dairy who not only have been thriving since winning in their award, they have been something of an incubation hub sharing a site with other artisanal food businesses like Brickell's Ice Cream, Woodshedding brewery and Landrace Bakery. She also talks to Farming Today's Charlotte Smith and Mali Harries who plays Natasha Archer on the Archers about the Farming for the Future Award.
To nominate in this year's awards go to bbc.co.uk/foodawards where you can also find the terms and privacy notice. You have between 6am on 6th June and midday 30th June 2025 to nominate.
Presented by Jaega WiseProduced in Bristol by Sam Grist
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Campaigners are calling for the ingredients of sourdough to be laid out in law. So are there too many loaves on sale that are more sourfaux than sourdough? Leyla Kazim investigates.
This programme features a visit to the Batch event at the Long Table in Stroud to meet baker and author David Wright as well as Chris Young from the Real Bread Campaign. Nutritionist Dr Vanessa Kimbell discusses how sourdough impacts on our gut health and bread historian Professor Steven Kaplan chews over whether more regulation is strictly necessary and questions how it would be enforced.
Cereal scientist Stanley Cauvain shines a light on a huge moment in British baking - the invention of the Chorleywood process - and Jules Chambe from the award-winning Wild Frog Bakehouse in Oxfordshire looks to his native France where the government did act to protect the beloved baguette.
Produced in Bristol by Robin Markwell for BBC AudioFeaturing the "Happy Knocker-Upper" 1960s Mother's Pride television advert featuring Dusty Springfield
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Dan Saladino hears from coffee industry insiders about the current spike in global prices.
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
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Leyla Kazim visits York, the UK's 'chocolate city', on the centenary of Joseph Rowntree’s death, to find out how the Quaker entrepreneur pioneered both social reform and iconic chocolate brands like Smarties and Kit Kat.
Today, many independent chocolate makers still call York home, as do some of the word's biggest multinational confectionary makers. Leyla Kazim wanders through York Chocolate Festival to trace the city’s unique chocolate heritage and find out what changed when global companies got involved.
As the so-called 'Dubai chocolate' drives a frenzy of demand for filled bars and imitations, Leyla meets a Newcastle chocolate maker with a penchant for wacky flavours and who inspired the original sell-out hit.
Leyla also hears how falling global production and high prices of cocoa could be the end of chocolate as we know it.
Produced by Nina Pullman for BBC Audio in Bristol.
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Baroness Floella Benjamin once said “childhood lasts a lifetime” and our experiences of school dinners can shape how we eat for the rest of our lives. In this edition of The Food Programme Sheila Dillon investigates the importance of those early food memories with the help of Dr Heather Ellis from the School Meals Project. The Project says its aim is to produce the first ever comprehensive history of school meals across the different nations of the United Kingdom The programme makes a trip to the Food Museum in Suffolk to see a landmark exhibition around school food and Sheila pays a visit to a forward-thinking school in West London which bakes its own bread with flour made from the wheat that it grows just outside the school kitchen!
Presented by Sheila DillonProduced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Robin Markwell
Featuring an archive clip from BBC Breakfast in April 2025 with Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson MPAlso a brief extract from the book The Farmer's Wife: My Life In Days by Helen Rebanks
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With the Government pledging to overhaul the way food is sourced for public institutions like hospitals, schools, prisons, and army bases, Sheila Dillon explores how these changes could be implemented and why they are deemed essential by many.
Sheila visits St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, Surrey, where chef Raouf Mansour has transformed the canteen for staff and visitors. After bringing the operation in-house post-Covid, the hospital began collaborating with local suppliers to provide fresh, seasonal produce. Raouf emphasises that retraining chefs to prepare nutritious, mezze-style meals has been crucial in encouraging staff to dine at the restaurant. The hospital is also working on plans to revamp patient meals, which are all prepared off-site, by working with smaller local caterers who can better meet some of the specific needs of patients there.
Following her visit, Sheila returns to the studio to discuss whether the changes in Chertsey could signal a broader trend. She is joined by:
Kevin Morgan, Professor of Governance and Development at Cardiff University and author of "Serving the Public: The Good Food Revolution in Schools, Hospitals, and Prisons"Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of SustainKatie Palmer from Food Sense Wales, who is working on the Welsh Veg in Schools ProjectDerek Wright from Blackpool Catering Services, which has expanded its school meal provision over the past five years, with on-site chefs and locally sourced produce.
Presented by Sheila DillonProduced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Natalie Donovan
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The restaurant trade is fickle and can be a "here today, gone tomorrow" business. But a very small number of restaurants seem to have been with us for ever. Dan Saladino explores the secrets of the world's oldest restaurants.
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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.
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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.
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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:• Trine Hahnemann – Chef, writer, and campaigner• Trine Krebs – Organic farmer and Green Chef at The Food Organisation of Denmark• Prof. Ole Mouritsen – Gastrophysicist researching how to encourage more plant-based eating• Søren Buhl Steiniche – Head chef at EAT, a public kitchen serving Copenhagen’s schools• Heidi Svømmekjær – Copenhagen-based food writer and home cook
Presented by Sheila DillonProduced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan
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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 FamurewaProduced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Robin Markwell
The Bovril Song was composed by Roger Jackson and Phil Nicholl and performed by Sing! Cambridge in 2013 Football commentary courtesy of BBC Radio London and BBC Radio Nottingham
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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.
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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 Producer: Nina Pullman
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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 DillonProduced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Natalie Donovan
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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 DillonProduced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Robin Markwell
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