The Food Programme

Dan Saladino hears three stories of how three very different individuals are reimagining food waste - solving problems, discovering flavours, and changing lives.Chido Govera grew up in rural Zimbabwe, and was orphaned aged seven. She suffered abuse and struggled to find enough food for herself and her younger brother. But she found a way out of her situation - through the power of mushrooms - becoming an acknowledged specialist in growing edible fungi using food and agri-waste.Chido is now teaching hundreds of orphans and other vulnerable people in Zimbabwe and beyond how to break the cycle of poverty and abuse, and delicious mushrooms are at the heart of it all.Isabel Soares, an engineer from Portugal, set up Fruta Feia (or ugly fruit) to deliver perfectly good fruit and veg that were being discarded by the big retailers, to a willing community. Its community co-operative model is now wildly successful in Lisbon.John Greany Sørensen is a scientist by day, chef by night, who in his lab at the University of Copenhagen stumbled accidentally on a way of creating something truly extraordinary from rejected vegetables - veg crystals.Presenter: Dan Saladino Producer: Rich Ward.

In a special edition Sheila Dillon reveals the finalists for this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards.At the beginning of the year Radio 4 listeners were asked to nominate their favourite producers, farmers and retailers. The response was huge, and from over four thousand nominations the judges have decided on their shortlist.The categories include Best Street Food or Takeaway, You and Your's Retailer of the Year, BBC Cook of the Year, Countryfile's Farming Hero and the Food Game Changer. On 30 April in Bristol at the annual Awards ceremony we'll find out which of these finalists go on to become the winners. Producer: Toby Field.

Oysters are receiving renewed attention around the world, with new ideas for producing more, and eating more. Dan Saladino finds out what's driving this oyster enthusiasm.As Drew Smith, author of Oyster: A World History explains, "the oyster is older than us, they're older than grass, they go back into pre-history and it's quite mind boggling how we've forgotten we really survive on this planet because of oysters".From discoveries of middens (piles of oyster shells left by our ancestors) through to tales of the Victorian Britain's enormous appetite for the oyster, Dan hears the evidence of why we used to have a much more intimate relationship with the bivalve.Overfishing, disease and parasites turned something that was abundant into a rarity a century ago, but now people around the world are making an effort to bring the oyster back into mainstream.In Denmark, where there still is an abundance of oysters in their waters, a national park along the Wadden Sea, on the north west coast of Denmark has started to encourage people to wade in the water and gather as many oysters as they can carry and eat. It's hoped the experience will help people understand the oyster more and also fight to protect the environment it lives in.Meanwhile on the British Isles the oyster is seeing interest from brewers and shellfish farmers alike, all convinced we need to reconsider how delicious and import the animal has been in our food culture.In New York, the most ambitious oyster mission of all is underway, the "billion oyster project", an effort to return the oyster to New York City's harbour, once a breeding ground for trillions of oysters.Listen to the programme and hear why these efforts are underway, and why a gold speckled jar of marmite could be the oysters' best friend.Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

For over a decade consumers have become finely attuned to E-numbers, flavourings, colourings and additives in our food. Food manufacturers have changed the way they do things in pursuit of 'clean label' - a more natural sounding ingredients list. But do we fully understand the new processes involved, the terms used and how safe they really are?Sheila Dillon talks to Joanna Blythman, in her first broadcast interview about her new book 'Swallow This' in which she investigates some of the processes involved in making products taste and look good and last longer and her concerns about the ingredients and the secrecy that often surrounds them. We hear reports from food development teams about how they find new ways to produce food and ask the regulators if we can be sure they're safe.Photo by Alan Peebles.

Sheila goes behind bars to visit the most popular restaurant in Cardiff, The Clink, which is run by prisoners. Ten years ago Al Crisci was a winner at the BBC Food and Farming Awards for his work at High Down prison. At the ceremony he announced that he was going to open a restaurant in the prison which would be run by inmates and would serve high end food to the paying public. Now there are currently three prison restaurants across the country, with a fourth about to open in HMP Styal. Sheila visits The Clink Restaurant on the site of HMP Cardiff which has recently been voted the top restaurant in the city by Tripadvisor. She speaks with inmates and ex-prisoners about working in a restaurant and whether this model can help reduce prison re-offender rates.Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

With one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe, many parents in the UK feed their babies formula milk. But what's actually in it? Sheila Dillon discovers why it's an industry steeped in science and secrecy as well as controversy. Journalist Ella McSweeney reports from a lab to explain how its made and why formula is at the heart of Ireland's ambition to become a powerful global food player. Producer: Ruth Sanderson.

From a hearty warming bowl of chunky soup on a frosty Winter's day to the smooth comfort of home-made chicken soup when you're ill, the British, it seems, love soup. We spend £762million a year and the market's growing with trendy exotic flavours spicing up the choice on offer new gadgets to help make the dish and slimmers replacing juicing with 'souping', it's gaining pace. Tim Hayward is passionate that this dish is more than simply an appetiser and keen to stamp out memories of wishy-washy, tasteless broths. Past horrors had made it a laughing stock with 'Brown Windsor Soup' being the punchline of many jokes in the 50s and symbolic of austerity and low-quality catering. He searches out the roots of this much-mocked comic dish, alongside Turtle and Bombay duck varieties, and seeks to clear its name. Along the way he meets the man who made millions and revolutionised the market with fresh soups which are stealing our hearts from the old tins, gets top tips from the 'Soupsayer' and spins the colour wheel at the pub whose soup is always a mystery but 'never vegetarian'. Presented by Tim Hayward. Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

In a recent survey, the microwave was voted the kitchen gadget that people couldn't live without. 83% of all households in the UK have a microwave, yet many say they only use this hi tech device for re heating food. Sheila Dillon discovers how influences the way we eat, live and cook.The editor of BBC Good Food magazine Gillian Carter believes that there is an emerging sector who are using it to make full, nutritious dinners using new recipes tailored to their microwave.Microwaves were patented 60 years ago and hailed as the future of cookery. Helen Peavitt from the Science Museum in London explains how they went from hi tech war weapon to domestic every day item. Meanwhile self-proclaimed microwave hater food journalist Andrew Webb challenges himself to cook a full three course dinner entirely in the microwave.Presenter Sheila Dillon. Producer Ruth Sanderson.

As we prepare to tuck into our festive family meal, Sheila Dillon uncovers the food stories of those who won't be home for Christmas with the help of food writer Joe Warwick.

Wheat has, since the dawn of agriculture, been especially treasured amongst all of the food crops, and is now the most widely cultivated food plant on the planet. However, the relationship between humans and wheat has changed a great deal in recent times.With a high-profile documentary film, 'The Grain Divide', about to go on global release, Dan Saladino discovers a worldwide movement of farmers, bakers and breeders rethinking and rediscovering wheat - from long-lost varieties and flavours to re-imagining the future of our relationship with this grain.The film's Director, JD McLelland, explains how his film aims to change perceptions of wheat - and why this matters. Dan also talks to one of the stars of the film, chef Dan Barber - who's breeding a new variety of wheat named Barber Wheat, and is leading the charge to look again at the taste of wheat.On the archipelago of Svalbard, far north of the northernmost point of mainland Norway, is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Tunneled into the permafrost there lies a store of seeds like no other - which serves as a 'backup' facility, with samples from every country in the world. It houses the largest collection of wheat varieties on the planet. Dr Cary Fowler, who helped to set up the seed vault - reveals about the role wheat's past has to play in our future.Dan also meets Andy Forbes from Brockwell Bake, sourdough specialist Vanessa Kimbell and author of "Our Daily Bread - A History of the Cereals" - Professor Åsmund Bjørnstad... as well as Gotland farmer Curt Niklasson, whose life has been changed forever by the contents of a wooden treasure chest.Presenter: Dan Saladino Producer: Rich Ward.