How do you feed a dog? The answer may be more fraught than you had imagined. Should you give them ‘dog food’? Is it a step too far to feed them at the table? And can man’s best friend thrive on a vegetarian diet? we bring together three dog-loving experts from the UK, India and the USA to analyse what dog feeding reveals about our relationship with animals and even our own relationship with food. Be prepared to hear some surprises, some empowering advice and maybe some uncomfortable home truths. And even if you don’t have a dog, you may get some ideas that you can apply to your own life. If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: dogs licks lips. Credit: Getty/BBC)Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Sarah Stolarz Contributors: Shirin Merchant, dog trainer and behaviourist in Mumbai, India Louise Glazebrook, dog trainer and behaviourist in London, UK Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA

A lack of sleep might leave us tired, but it can also have a major impact on what we eat, and our health. Ruth Alexander explores the surprising relationship between diet and a poor night’s rest, and learns that it’s not just what we’re eating, but when: we hear about the perils of consuming calories late into the evening or, even worse, overnight. But it’s not all bad news: there’s growing research into the idea that we might be able to improve our sleep quality by tweaking our diets. If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Producer: Simon Tulett Contributors: Tania Whalen, fire brigade despatcher, Melbourne, Australia; Matthew Walker, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Maxine Bonham, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Marie-Pierre St-Onge, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA.(Picture: A young girl asleep on a plate of spaghetti. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Caffeine is a key ingredient in some of our favourite foods and drinks, but it’s also a mind-altering drug that can be very tricky to quit. Tamasin Ford meets three people who’ve tried to cut caffeine out of their lives by eliminating some of its main sources from their diets - coffee, tea and chocolate. We hear about some uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms, social awkwardness, and the struggle to adapt to life without a caffeine high. How long did they stay caffeine-free? If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah StolarzContributors: Petteri Rantamäki, business software professional, Helsinki, Finland; Abigail James, aesthetician and author, London, UK; John Horgan, science journalist, New York, USA.(Picture: A young woman holding a cup of coffee. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

In this final episode of 2021, we're revisiting some of the most powerful food stories from the pandemic. Following widespread restaurant closures and labour shortages across the hospitality sector, we catch up with a New York chef who is forging a new path. And what about those people who thanks to Covid-19 can’t even smell or taste their food anymore? We’ll be finding out whether this leading symptom of the virus is now better understood. Plus, how is one of the world’s newest emojis – the arepa flatbread - faring, one year on? (Picture: Drawing of sweet being unwrapped. Credit: BBC/Getty) If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk Contributors: Amanda Cohen, Chef and owner, Dirt Candy restaurant New York Chrissi Kelly, founder, smell and taste loss charity AbScent Sebastian Delmont, software developer and co-creator of the arepa emoji

World War Two rationing imposed severe restrictions on food, so why would anyone voluntarily go back to it? Ruth Alexander meets three women who chose to adopt the diet endured in 1940s and 1950s Britain, one of them for an entire year. We hear how such scarcity inspired creativity, a reverence for the ingenuity of wartime cooks, and an enduring change of perspective on the responsibility of the 21st century food consumer. If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Producer: Simon TulettContributors: Karen Burns-Booth, food writer - www.lavenderandlovage.com/category/recipes/general-recipes/wartime-recipes Claud Fullwood, author of The Rations Challenge: Forty Days of Feasting in a Wartime Kitchen Carolyn Ekins, blogger - https://the1940sexperiment.com(Picture: Basket of food rations on display at the Imperial War Museum, London, in 2011. Credit: Paul Kerley/BBC)

What dish says Christmas to you - roast turkey, goat? Carp perhaps? What about fried chicken? In Japan nothing says ‘festive family food’ more than a bucket of KFC fried chicken. And if you’re Jewish and from the US, a Christmas meal will almost certainly mean a trip to Chinatown. Ruth Alexander unearths the origin stories of these two unlikely, but incredibly popular, - alternative Christmas food traditions, and finds out how food can help give you a sense of belonging, even if celebrating Christmas isn’t for you. (Picture: Bucket of fried chicken and bowl of Chinese food. Credit: Getty/BBC) If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk Contributors: Nina Li Coomes, writer based in Chicago, USA Rabbi Joshua Plaut, author ‘A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to be Kosher’. Producers: Sarah Stolarz and Simon Tulett

Catering on film and TV sets is notorious for being one of the toughest jobs in the hospitality industry. Imagine feeding hundreds of people in a different location every day, running your kitchen in some of the world’s most remote places, and accommodating the varied diets of the planet’s biggest stars. Tamasin Ford speaks to three caterers to find out what it takes to succeed in Hollywood, Bollywood, and the world of reality TV, and finds out how vital food can be to the success of a shoot. If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Producer: Simon TulettContributors:Sid Ghai, director of Ghai Caterers Ltd, London; Antonia Crowley, executive chef and event stylist at Flying Trestles, Auckland; Wayne Brown, co-founder of Red Radish, London.(Picture: A stack of pizza boxes next to a film director's chair. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Rationing looms large in the memories of a generation who lived through World War Two. Basic groceries were limited and getting enough food on the table became a daily challenge that went on long after the last bombs fell. Ruth Alexander brings together a German and an English woman, who grew up on opposite sides of the world’s deadliest ever conflict, to share their recollections of wartime eating. What was it like struggling to find food, how did they adapt, and how has it changed their approach to food forever? (Picture: Ingeborg Schreib-Wywiorski and Beryl Kingston, Credit: BBC) If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodhchain@bbc.co.uk Contributors: Ingeborg Schreib-Wywiorski and Beryl Kingston. Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Sarah Stolarz

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.If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Producer: Simon TulettContributors:Gabriella D'Cruz, founder of The Good Ocean; Ismahane Elouafi, chief scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.(Picture: Gabriella D'Cruz in the sea holding a basket of seaweed. Credit: Gabriella D'Cruz/BBC)

How is a new cuisine created? Ruth Alexander explores two unique cuisines in South Africa and the USA: ‘Cape-Malay’- a 300-year old tradition born out of colonialism and slavery that unites Indonesian and Dutch tastes; and ‘Viet-Cajun’ - a more recent phenomenon that has seen the Vietnamese diaspora experimenting with Cajun flavours in Texas. We explore how history’s darkest episodes can lead to some of the most captivating flavour combinations and ask why some people will cringe at the term ‘fusion food’. (Picture: Pot lid being opened. Credit: Getty/BBC)If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukContributors:Cass Abrahams: Chef and Author, Cape Town, South Africa Mai Pham: Food writer, Houston, USA