The Food Programme

Sheila Dillon explores a renaissance in the great British fish and chip shop, with the help of food blogger Daniel Young.At Upton Chippy near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, not much has changed since the first fry there in 1948. The fish comes fresh from Grimsby market, the potatoes from a local farmer. The batter recipe is the same (and yes, it's a secret) and it's all cooked in beef dripping on a coal-fired range, one of the last in the UK. Not many fish and chip shops have kept the faith like owner Sally Shaw and her loyal customers, one of whom admits that even when he owned his own fish and chip shop, he always had Friday off so he could come here.Sheila visits Rhoti Chai, an Indian street-food restaurant in London, for an Indian-style pop-up fish & chips event organised by food blogger Daniel Young. Amritsari fish and masala fries as well as curried mayo and chai-spiced pickled eggs are on the menu.James Ritchie of Simpsons in Cheltenham explains why there's nowhere to hide with a chip and Mitch Tonks of the multi-award-winning Rockfish Seafood & Chips in Devon explains why you have to know the fish game to become a winner.Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery.

Sheila Dillon and Tim Hayward discuss the legacy of Elizabeth David 100 years after her birth. The iconic food writer is credited for bringing Mediterranean cooking to post-war Britain.Sir Terence Conran speaks about Elizabeth David's influence on kitchen design. Her nephew Johnny Grey discusses the shop Elizabeth David opened in Pimlico. And Elizabeth David's editor, Jill Norman, says that today she would not have been published.Presented by Sheila Dillon and Tim Hayward. Produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

For cook and author Nigel Slater, 'Nutmeg and citrus are the scents of Christmas' but Sheila Dillon needs convincing.Together they look at the versatility of nutmeg as a spice that can bring life to mulled wine, egg custards, meats and puddings.People take it for granted now but nutmeg was highly prized in the kitchens of 16th and 17th century Europe. Traders ventured to the ends of the earth to secure it because of its value. The Dutch and the English vied for nutmeg supremacy and, in December 1616, Nathaniel Courthope and his small army saw off all competitors to gain control of the valuable nut so it could be shipped back to Britain for the culinary elite to enjoy.Today in Grenada the spice is so important it features on the national flag. But when Hurricane Ivan struck in 2004 it devastated the entire crop and hit the economy with a vengeance. Almost ten years on the nutmeg crop seems to be well on its way to recovery and we find out how it is used on the island. Producer : Perminder Khatkar.

Cambridge University historian Lesley Steinitz explains the pioneering story of Bovril. From its beginnings at the end of the 19th Century there are many parallels between Bovril then and our food production today.Robert Opie takes Sheila round the Museum of Brands to see Bovril's strong advertizing campaigns. Pete Simson drinks beef tea with the crowds at a Bristol Rovers game. And Sheila samples a Bovril cocktail.Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

The Californian chef and campaigner Alice Waters shares her story with Sheila Dillon; from early life in the 1960's counter-culture to influencing the food thinking of Presidents.Alice Waters founded the restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971. Her life had been changed forever by experiences as a student in France and at UC Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement lay the ground for the big political movements of the sixties. Alice and her restaurant went from these humble and idealistic beginnings to international recognition. With a focus on local, organic ingredients and farmers' markets before they were widely celebrated she moved on to educate children and prisoners about growing and cooking food. In her own words Alice's food journey became a 'delicious revolution'.As debates in the US rage about healthcare and the nation's relationship with food, this is a story of one woman's attempts to show the way to an alternative way to eat. It's a story that took her from small French taverns to Californian growers and even to the White House.Producers: Rich Ward & Dan Saladino.

Cookery Books of 2013.Ahead of the Christmas shopping season Sheila Dillon reviews this year's best cook books. Sheila is joined by comedian Stephen K Amos and food writers Catherine Phipps and Fiona Beckett.Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

Fenland celery has recently joined a select list of only fifty-five British foods to achieve the same EU protection as champagne, stilton and Melton Mowbray pork pies. But what difference will this status realistically make to the people who grow it?Sheila Dillon investigates the longer term impact of PGI status on another iconic English product, Grimsby Traditional Smoked Fish.She visits Grimsby fish market to meet the owner of the only remaining Grimsby-based fishing fleet, Andrew Allard, the chief executive of Grimsby Fish Merchants Association Steve Norton, and Richard Enderby, whose family have been smoking fish for generations.

Leontino Balbo - The Sugarman of Brazil. The incredible story of one maverick farmer who is trying to change the way we produce our food.David Baker brings us a story from Sao Paulo about a man who is managing to produce sugar whilst also helping wildlife.Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

In January of this year the Food Standards Agency confirmed results showing horsemeat had been found in supermarket burgers. Over the next few days and weeks, more DNA testing would reveal more beef products contained horsemeat.Ten months on there have been no prosecutions or fines and we're still waiting to be told how the unlabelled horsemeat entered the food chain, and who put it there.Criminal investigations are underway across Europe, led in the UK by the City of London Police. Most public information on the scandal however has come from two sources, a report by Ireland's Department of Agriculture and secondly, the hours of evidence heard by MPs on the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee.The Food Programme explains what we know from these sources and also why an out of court settlement between two companies reveals much about one of the meat supply chains from the Netherlands into the UK.The programme hears from the Guardian's Special Correspondent, Felicity Lawrence, whose updated book, Not On The Label, gives a detailed account of the scandal. Reporters Ella McSweeney and Anna Holligan give the latest developments in Ireland and the Netherlands. The Grocer magazine's Julia Glotz, explains how our shopping habits have changed since the scandal and why this proving to be a problem for companies with no involvement in the contamination.Where are the investigations heading and what chances of successful convictions? These are questions Sheila Dillon puts to Andrew Rhodes of the Food Standards Agency.The programme is produced by Dan Saladino.

Restaurant reviews - who can we trust? Sheila Dillon investigates online review sites, newspaper reviews and guidelines to try and discover the impartiality of different criticism. She is aided by reviewer and editor Joe Warwick and previous restaurant inspector Peter Chapman.Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.