
The Food Programme
Investigating every aspect of the food we eat
Latest episodes

Jan 16, 2022 • 28min
Keto: Diet fad or food fix?
Dan Saladino explores keto to understand the appeal of this low carb way of eating. Featuring Gary Taubes (book) The Case for Keto), GP Dr David Unwin, Anna Tebbs (The Green Chef), Prof. Mike Lean (Glasgow University), Panagiotis Kottas (KeOntrack) and Prof. Helen Cross (Great Ormond Street Hospital). Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Jan 9, 2022 • 28min
Gabriella D'Cruz: Global Youth Champion
Gabriella D’Cruz, from Goa, wants to improve diets, transform livelihoods and protect the planet using an often-overlooked marine vegetable - seaweed.Ruth Alexander speaks to the 29-year-old about her big plans for the underwater crop, and her hope that it could bring lasting economic and environmental change to India’s coastal communities.Gabriella’s passion and her project’s potential saw her chosen by a panel of international judges as the winner of The Food Chain Global Youth Champion Award 2021.Produced by Simon Tulett originally for The Food Chain on the BBC World Service

Jan 2, 2022 • 29min
#FoodTok: Mastering the Art of Cooking in Three Minutes
Jaega Wise and her co-presenters start the New Year having a go on TikTok after #FoodTok raked in billions of views in 2021. What, if anything, can be learned from the app, which dishes up creator-made videos in three-minute-long bursts? The presenters are joined by TikTok Chef Poppy O'Toole, who posts as PoppyCooks to her two million followers. From turning ordinary cooks into stars, to setting off trends for kitchen gadgets, viral recipes, and #WhatIeatinaday getting millions of views, people using TikTok are going mad for gastronomy. However unlike other social media sites where picture-perfect images of food are shared, TikTok takes viewers into ordinary kitchens, and seems to celebrate (mostly) the creation of lavish looking dishes with seemingly very little skill or effort. Food on TikTok has also become tied in with the ASMR genre (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) where creators deliberately emphasise the sounds and textures involved in cooking. So could TikTok be the inspiration for a new generation of cooks? And can the more mature cook learn anything new? Or is the so-called Wild West of the web’s version of cookery too unwieldy to properly inform? Will the hype around influencers and their inevitable marketing tie-ins put an end to any ‘authenticity’ on there? And is the site doing enough to protect those with eating disorders? Presented by Jaega Wise
Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

Dec 26, 2021 • 28min
The Rise of Ultra-Fast Grocery Delivery
Leyla Kazim dives into the world of rapid grocery delivery, one of the newest trends to hit the world of food retail. In scarcely more than a year, a wave of new companies like Getir, Weezy, Gorillas, Jiffy, Zapp and Gopuff has arrived in cities across the UK which can deliver products to your door in as little as 10 minutes. It’s a sector that’s raised billions of pounds of investment and wants to disrupt the grocery market – so what impact could it have on the way we buy food?Key to the ultra-fast delivery speeds are 'dark stores', or hyperlocal fulfilment centres, which have been growing in number since the start of the pandemic – Leyla visits one run by Gorillas, and talks to their UK General Manager Eddie Lee about their plans for expansion. To consider the future of the rapid grocery delivery companies and what impact they are having on the rest of the food retail world, we hear from: Matt Truman, co-founder and CEO of specialist retail and consumer investor, True; Chris Noice, Communications Director at the Association of Convenience Stores; George Nott, Technology Editor at The Grocer; and Professor Annabelle Gower, Director of the Centre of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey.Presented by Leyla Kazim and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Dec 19, 2021 • 28min
A Christmas Feast Special.
Some of the biggest names in the food world join Dan and Sheila with their favourite Christmas dishes, including Claudia Roden, Jeremy Lee and Paula McIntyre. Noble Rot's Dan Keeling selects the wine.Presented by Dan Saladino and Sheila Dillon.
Produced by Dan Saladino.

Dec 12, 2021 • 28min
The Meaning of Cod
How did cod become such an important fish in so many different and diverse parts of Europe? In search of the past, present and future of cod, Dan Saladino travels to the west coast of Norway and the Arctic island of Lofoten.Presented and produced by Dan Saladino.

Dec 5, 2021 • 28min
The BBC Food and Farming Awards 2021 - Second Course
Sheila Dillon presents more stories of the winners of the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2021, which celebrates the people across the UK who've changed lives for the better, through food and drink. We meet Countryfile's Young Countryside Champion and The One Show’s Community Food Champion, as well as the winners of the Best Streetfood or Takeway and Farming Today's Farming for the Future categories. Finally Dan Saladino goes to surprise the recipient of this year’s Derek Cooper Outstanding Achievement Award, food writer Claudia Roden.

Nov 30, 2021 • 29min
The BBC Food and Farming Awards 2021 - First Course
The winners of the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2021 are announced at a ceremony at London's Broadcasting House.

Nov 21, 2021 • 29min
Cookbooks of 2021
What are the books that the presenters of Radio 4's The Food Programme have been relishing this year? You are about to find out. In this episode, Sheila, Dan, Jaega and Leyla get together at 'Books for Cooks' in London's Notting Hill to share their favourite titles; the ones that have made them think, that have inspired them to get creative, and have simply filled them with joy.We also catch up with The Bookseller's Tom Tivnan to hear how publications and sales have been this year, food writer Signe Johansen shares her knowledge and experiences of ghost-writing in the cookbook world, and Eric Treuille, who first opened 'Books for Cooks' in 1983 shares with the team a recipe from his book of 2021. Produced by Natalie Donovan in Bristol.

Nov 14, 2021 • 28min
Best Shop or Market of the Year: Meet the Finalists
Leyla Kazim visits 2021’s Best Shop or Market finalists in the 20th BBC Food and Farming Awards – a food co-op, rural farm shop and city market which are going the extra mile to support local food production and their communities. We meet the teams behind these three outstanding retailers, which are providing boundary-pushing models for the future by trying to create alternative food networks.Nearly 20 years ago Jed and Emma set about rearing their own meat to supply them and their friends and family as an experiment after becoming increasingly frustrated with the quality of the meat available from the supermarkets. This has now developed into a farm shop, Blue Tin Produce, selling their own free range pork & rare breed Dexter beef alongside produce from the surrounding Chiltern Hills including fresh English veg, their free range eggs, farmhouse baking, jams, jellies, chutneys and many other goods.Falmouth Food Co-op started as a food hub selling groceries with the aim of making good food available to all and supporting local non-industrial farmers. This developed into a kitchen to celebrate their community and feed those who need help. They have recently started a new project – Love Land, a community field where they aiming to grow their own food sustainably and get local people to get more involved in the growing of their food.Headed by chef and grower Joe Fennerty, Food Circle York runs a food market for local producers all specialising in organic, regenerative and sustainable food production, and facilitates direct links between producer and consumers. Joe’s aim is to create a viable alternative to the current food system. In the nominations, people called Joe a catalyst and inspiration for change in York.Presented by Leyla Kazim and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.