The Food Chain

Humans have been accidentally feeding wild birds for millennia; any leftover food scraps to be scooped up by opportunistic, feathered friends. The deliberate feeding of birds, however - placing seeds out on a feeder in the garden, taking crumbs to a nearby park or lake – is a more recent, cultural phenomenon. In some countries, it has deep significance and one of the most popular ways humans interact with wild animals – and it’s big business. In other places, it’s practically unheard of. So, why do humans feed wild birds? In this programme, Ruth Alexander delves into the many aspects of this human-animal interaction and asks the question; who’s benefiting more, the birds or us? Ruth speaks to urban ecologist, Dr Darryl Jones, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and to keen bird feeders Dan DeBaun, in Minnesota, US; Fung Sing Wong in Singapore; Bylgja Valtýsdóttir in Reykjavík, Iceland; and Antony Tiernan, in Surrey, UK. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk (Picture: Blue tit on garden feeder. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

How do you make Michelin Star-level food, for hundreds of people, in a kitchen you just built in someone’s garden, and with no access to cooking gas? That’s just a typical scenario facing chefs in the world of high end mass catering. In this episode, we hear from John Downey, the Catering Manager at the Web Summit tech conference, on the pressures of feeding high profile figures, and VIPs who've spent $26,000 on a ticket. We also hear from Matt and Ted Lee, authors of the book Hot Box: Inside catering, the food world's riskiest business. They tell us about the stresses and often extraordinary challenges of providing high end food, at scale, at some of the USA’s most fancy weddings and galas.Presenter: Marie Keyworth Producer: Sarah Treanor(Picture: A chef's hand, putting the final touches to some dishes. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Food banks have operated for decades in North America and Europe. They are generally operated as non profits, connecting food businesses that have waste with individuals, families and charities that need food. In 2006 there was just one African food bank in Egypt. A second opened in South Africa in 2009. Today there are around twenty five across the continent. In this programme we look at how African countries have adapted food banks to their needs, and hear how they address criticisms that the food bank model itself is flawed when it comes to addressing food poverty. We ask Nairobi based reporter Michael Kaloki to spend a day with Food Banking Kenya, and its founder and CEO John Gathungu. Michael visits their warehouse storage, meets small holder farmers donating surplus food, and speaks to women living in some of Nairobi’s informal settlements that rely on food donations. Ruth Alexander speaks to Elijah Addo, who founded one of Africa’s first food banks in 2015, Food for All Africa in Ghana. Gaby Kafarhire at The Global FoodBanking Network, based in Chicago in the United States, talks about the particular challenges African food banks face. And researcher Gareth Haysom at the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town shares his concerns about the current system. Presented by Ruth Alexander. Produced by Beatrice Pickup. Additional reporting by Michael Kaloki in Nairobi. (Image: a food bank worker lifting a crate of vegetables onto a truck. Credit: BBC)

Spaghetti, penne, farfalle, gnocchi, lasagna – just a few of the 300-plus shapes of pasta in existence. And there are some very strong opinions about them. This Italian staple is one of the world’s most popular foods and one of the most versatile. In this programme, Ruth Alexander delves into the history, culture and passions of pasta-making to ask a controversial question – what is the best pasta shape? She speaks to restaurateur Elisa Cavigliasso and chef Giulia Martinelli, from The Pasta Factory in Manchester, UK; pasta historian Luca Cesari, in Bologna, Italy; pasta shape inventor and host of the Sporkful podcast, Dan Pashman, in New York; and Andrea Butti, co-owner of Dominioni Pasta, a pasta machine manufacturer near Como, Italy. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: Nine small piles of different pasta shapes. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

Noma – considered by some to be the ‘world’s best restaurant’ - has announced it will close in 2024. The news has prompted headlines around the world and a renewed discussion about the culture of fine dining, and whether it is sustainable as a business model. In this programme, Ruth Alexander asks ‘what’s the big deal about fine dining?’. Is it an industry that exists only for the very wealthy, or do its innovations and trends affect how we all eat? Ruth is joined by Pete Wells, restaurant critic for The New York Times, who ate at Noma in Copenhagen in 2018. Food historian Dr Rachel Rich at Leeds Beckett University in the UK talks about the history of fine dining, and the celebrity chefs of the 19th century. Chef Sarah Francis knows what it is like to be at the top of your game but want to do something different – in 2018 she and her partner gave back the Michelin star awarded to their restaurant The Checkers in Wales. And BBC World Service listeners and self-confessed ‘foodies’, Casey Griffiths in the UK and Pamela Garelick in Greece, tell Ruth about their best and worst fine dining experiences. Presented by Ruth Alexander. Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

Exploring the challenges of children with swallowing difficulties, parents share their emotional journeys, doctors advocate for better understanding of dysphagia, and kids like Bodhi and Ophelia share their thoughts on food.

Who wrote the cook books on your kitchen shelves? For many celebrity chefs, a cook book, or several, is an obvious way to extend their brand. But if they don’t have the time or the skills to write one, they may hire a ghost writer or co-author to work with them. It’s not just writing, the work can involve project management, recipe testing, meeting deadlines and handling some big egos. Sometimes writers are credited on the cover of the book, sometimes in the introduction, sometimes not at all. In this programme Ruth Alexander meets two people who have worked as ghost writers on cookbooks. JJ Goode lives in New York in the United States; he’s credited on the cover of many celeb chef cookbooks, and recently won a prestigious James Beard award for the book he wrote with Gregory Gourdet, ‘Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health’. Signe Johansen is a Norwegian American trained chef and food writer living in London; she worked as a ghost writer on cookbooks early in her career before publishing her own, such as ‘Solo: The Joy of Cooking for One’. Presented by Ruth Alexander. Produced by Beatrice Pickup. (Image: ghostly-looking open book. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Opera is viewed as something of an endurance sport in the musical world. Hours spent on stage, in costume, doing a very physical job far away from home comforts can take its toll on the body if it’s not adequately fuelled. As Ruth Alexander discovers in this programme, diet is of paramount importance to a professional singer. Sopranos Rachel Nicholls and Lucy Schaufer, and Fred Plotkin - opera and food writer and friend of Luciano Pavarotti – share the secrets of the relationship between singing and sustenance, and what foods can help achieve a star performance. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukThe piece of music at the start and end of this programme is If Music be the Food of Love, by Henry Purcell. Performed by Rachel Nicholls.(Picture: Pavarotti eating from a spoon. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

Working as a chef can be creative and rewarding when people love your food, but it can also be demanding, requiring long and antisocial hours. In this programme we hear about the highs and lows of working in some of the world’s best kitchens, and why it ultimately isn’t right for everyone. Ruth Alexander speaks to three chefs who chose to leave the profession. Former head chef Philip Barantini in the UK is now a TV and film director, his film Boiling Point, released in 2021 is about a chef struggling to run a successful restaurant. Genevieve Yam left behind Michelin starred restaurants in New York to become a food writer, she’s currently culinary editor at the website Serious Eats. Riley Redfern was a pastry chef in Michelin starred restaurants in San Francisco and New York, having lost her job in the pandemic, today she has a new career as a software developer. If you’ve been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, such as alcohol and drug dependance, you can access support via the BBC Action Line page - https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline/ Excerpts from Boiling Point used courtesy of Vertigo Releasing. Presented by Ruth Alexander. Produced by Beatrice Pickup. (Image: chef cooking with open flame in frying pan in a professional kitchen. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Why hold on to an old clay pot, a worn-out metal spoon, or a plain glass bowl? Earlier this year, we made a programme celebrating old and cherished cookware and received a huge response from World Service listeners. So, in this edition, Ruth Alexander hears your stories of the poignance that can be found in the most unassuming kitchen utensil, and explores a few other tales we’ve uncovered of cooking with love. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukProducer: Elisabeth Mahy Researcher: Siobhan O'Connell