The Food Programme

Food markets have been the heart of our towns and cities for thousands of years. Now, with financial pressure on local authorities, and growing competition from a supermarkets price war, Sheila Dillon and guests discuss what a market needs to survive in 2015.Sheila is joined by award winning markets organiser Malcolm Veigas, Carolyn Steel architect and author of 'Hungry City' and market trader and BBC Food and Farming Awards 2015 judge in the Best Market category, Peter Gott.She also hears from a 'monstrously huge' and revolutionary new market development in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, from one of the UK's oldest established markets in Leicester and from the organiser of Iceland's first ever farmers market.Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

Sheila Dillon unveils a new team of judges for the 2015 BBC Food and Farming Awards, including Giorgio Locatelli, Diana Henry and Cyrus Todiwala.Sheila catches up with previous nominees and winners, looks ahead to the big food stories of the coming year, and explains how you can send in your nominations.Producer: Rich Ward.

Sheila Dillon is joined by Harold McGee to answer your food science questions.Harold McGee is fascinated by what we are actually doing to our food when we prepare and cook it. His research and writing have inspired many chefs, including Heston Blumenthal. Today he answers questions from listeners, food writers and chefs about the chemistry of food and cooking.Producer: Sarah Langan.

Redemption through food. Sheila Dillon brings you her selection of inspirational stories from The Food Programme in 2014.Ken Hom tells Sheila how food changed his life and his fortunes. Claudia Roden explains how food brought the Egyptian diaspora together. And we hear from a former drug addict who found a new life growing salad. Presented by Sheila Dillon produced by Emma Weatherill in Bristol.

Feeding Britain - The story of one shop in South Yorkshire which is changing the way we think about food waste and food poverty. A year ago the Community Shop opened in Goldthorpe. It takes food which would otherwise have gone to landfill and sells it at a heavily discounted price.Now the model is expanding. This Monday, 15th December, a new community shop is opening in Lambeth, South London. The aim is for dozens of these stores to be across the country.This week's Food Poverty Inquiry 'Feeding Britain' recommended more of these social supermarkets. But some people do not believe that the problem of food waste should solve the problem of food poverty.Presented by Dan Saladino and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

A review of cookbooks and food writing of 2014. Sheila Dillon is joined to discuss the year in books by Allan Jenkins, editor of Observer Food Monthly, investigative journalist Joanna Blythman and blogger Alex Ryder aka Gingey Bites.Sheila also hears from publisher Sarah Lavelle about this year's sales. And cookery writer Diana Henry talks about her addiction to cookbooks.Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

New York's south Bronx is still one of the city's most deprived areas; low incomes, unemployment and health problems abound. In the 1970's it captured headlines for a "burn for hate" policy that appeared to have taken hold; abandoned (and sometimes occupied) buildings were set on fire and raised to the ground. Entire blocks were destroyed giving the borough, in some eyes, the look of a war zone.In recent years the changes that have unfolded in the Bronx have been significant. In part the progress made, making the area more desirable to live in, and home to a more united community, can be put down to food. New York City has had a network of public gardens where food can be grown dating back to the 1880's but in recent years, this resource has taken on new meaning, and in the Bronx it's changed lives.Sheila Dillon meets Karen Washington a woman who's using food and farming to transform her part of the Bronx through "the Garden of Happiness", a three-quarter acre abandoned lot that she turned into an "urban farm" back in 1988. It's gone from strength to strength and this garden, in which Mexicans, African-American, Asian and Caribbean neighbours come together to grow food, has changed a part of the south Bronx for good.In the programme Karen Washington explains why the garden has not only become a valuable source of fresh food but has also helped solve many of the social issues in the neighbourhood. Sheila also speaks to Marcel Van-Ooyen, head of Grow NYC, a part of the Mayor's office in New York, to hear how the city's gardens have also become part of an anti-obesity strategy. Producer: Dan Saladino.

Sheila Dillon invites Diana Henry to provide a guide to an Eastern Christmas. With experts Bee Wilson and Sally Butcher on hand, Diana looks at 'get ahead' treats, and finds out why certain foods from the east feature so prominently at Christmas.They also explore some of the symbolism of 'exotic' food stuffs like dates and pomegranates that have become so much part and parcel of the Christmas feast. All of the recipes are featured on The Food Programme website.Producer: Sarah Langan.

Food stories from across the world. Dan Saladino travels to Terra Madre 2014 in Turin. It is a global movement of farmers and food producers which attracts the attention of world leaders - from Michelle Obama to Pope Francis.Last month, 250,000 people from 160 countries gathered at a former Olympic venue in Turin to taste and celebrate diverse foods and to discuss and debate the issues affecting the world's food.Jamie Oliver shows Dan around the Ark of Taste - a collection of 2,000 traditional foods which are in danger of extinction. Edie Mukiibi, Vice President of Slow Food International, explains the impact of the project 10,000 Food Gardens in Africa.Northern Irish chef Paula McIntyre cooks with chefs from Uganda. Dr Geoff Andrews from The Open University explains the political roots of Terra Madre. And Richard McCarthy tells Dan about projects from Slow Food USA - including 'nose-to-tailgating'.Presented by Dan Saladino and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

From the king oyster to the not-so-humble button, Dan Saladino discovers a world of mushrooms, grown for food - and follows the spores to reveal the secrets of mycelium, hunts for the perfect mushroom sandwich, and finds that there is one species in particular that dominates the supermarkets and our kitchens.With more types of cultivated mushroom available in the UK now than there has ever been, Dan hears about Korean mushrooms grown in jars, visits Europe's biggest mushroom farm, and tracks down the biggest global company in the ultra-specialised world of spawn production. Dan also encounters a photographer whose street-food mushroom project inspired him to create a new type of imagery - the 'fungi luminogram', gets insights from Eugenia Bone - author of 'Mycophilia' - and Paul Stamets, legendary mycologist and advocate of mycelium. There will also be plenty of butter and garlic.Presenter: Dan Saladino Producer: Rich Ward.