The Food Chain

A former-coffee lover goes on the hunt for a decent cup without the buzz, and discovers why it's so hard to get flavour without a fix. Emily Thomas delves into the complex art of caffeine extraction and discovers that taste is not the only challenge when it comes to taking the bounce out of a bean. The environmental and economic costs of decaf coffee soon add up, meaning a cup may carry a higher carbon footprint and be made with cheaper beans than the full-blooded stuff. Could a caffeine free coffee plant hold all the answers? A botanist explains why finding a suitable candidate is an unpalatable challenge.Or are we being over sensitive? A scientist explains why some of us react badly to caffeine, whereas others can fall into a slumber after two espressos.(Photo: Cup of coffee with drop suspended above it. Credit: BBC)

Does bourbon have the strength to reinvigorate a whole city? And is it really wise to seek answers at the bottom of a barrel?Kentucky produces 95 percent of the world’s bourbon and its history is richly steeped in the drink. But now its largest city, Louisville, has decided the future should rest on it too. Could ‘bourbonism’ revive the city? According to Louisville's mayor, tourism based on the amber liquor is ‘shooting through the roof’. But, for many, alcohol is a gateway into other forms of addiction, and Kentucky is already facing a drugs epidemic. Alcohol-induced death rates in Louisville are higher than state and national figures.In this episode, journalist Phil Reevell explores the emergence of ‘bourbonism’ through the city’s food and music scene. He joins the ‘bourbon trail’ which attracted 1.4 million people last year. As the coal industry has turned to dust, large areas of the city have been deindustrialised, but Phil finds there are plans for the construction of more than 20 hotels, and that some tourists will pay hundreds of dollars for a bottle - or more. (Photo: Giant bourbon bottle looms over cityscape of Louisville, Kentucky. Credit: Getty Images).

Why do we get so angry when we talk about food? When conversation turns to meat in particular, it doesn’t take long for debate to become heated and emotive. Voices get louder. Insults are hurled. Death threats are issued.Earlier this month, a group of UK scientists suggested a tax on red and processed meat would save thousands of lives. The discussion that followed quickly changed from being scientific and factual, to personal. It’s not the first food debate to have turned ugly - and in this episode Emily Thomas sets out to ask why. What is it about meat that gets us so mad? How are conversations around what we eat manipulated for political and personal gain? And if we understood more about science, would debate around diet be less vulnerable to hijack?Contributors: Dr Marco Springmann, researcher at the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food; Chris Snowden, head of Lifestyle Economics at The Institute of Economic Affairs; Dr Catherine Happer, Lecturer in Sociology at Glasgow University; and Sarah Boseley, Health Editor of The Guardian. (Picture: Sausage on fork, Credit: BBC)

Who gets to decide what our food tastes like - and what gives them the authority to do so?Emily Thomas meets three people who are employed by the food industry to choose how processed food should taste. One of them has had his tongue insured for over one million dollars. All of them can identify complex flavour combinations with a single bite. They even speak in their own language...sometimes.So what’s it like to have such an enhanced sense of flavour? When you can smell someone else's meal in a restaurant from several tables away, is it a blessing or a curse? Do meals shared with ‘normal’ people ever become too prosaic to bear? And how can all of us learn to perceive more flavour in our food?Sebastian Michaelis drops by for a carefully curated cup of tea. He’s a master tea taster for Tata Global Beverages in London. The company considers its tasters so important that they are asked not to ever be on the same plane. Later we’re joined by Sarah Masoni, who has been said to have ‘a million dollar palate’. She is Product and Process Development Director at the Food Innovation Center of Oregon State University. She discusses the flavour trade with Danny Kite, who has been a ‘flavourist’ for almost half a century. He works at TasteTech, a 'flavour house' which manufactures flavourings and ingredients for the global food industry.(Photo: A man sips tea from a spoon. Credit: BBC)

This episode includes audio of the slaughter of farm animals, which some may find upsetting. But if you happily eat meat, should you be willing to listen along as cows become beef? Would you be happy to witness it? And what might change if you did?Emily Thomas visits Tideford Abattoir, a slaughterhouse in the south of England to get an uncomfortably close up view of animals becoming food.As our food supply becomes ever more global and industrial, many of us have become distanced from the origins of what we eat. And nowhere, perhaps is this more pronounced, than with animals. Most of the meat we buy bears little resemblance to the breathing, thinking creature it once was. Across the world, slaughterhouses, or abattoirs, have long stayed in the shadows, inviting little public scrutiny. But as consumers demand a more transparent food chain, could we be heading towards a more open approach to slaughter? And how would this change our attitudes to meat?(Photo: Slaughterman with cow carcass. Credit: BBC)

Three top food stylists - all of whom have ghost-written and cooked on behalf of the world’s top chefs - step out from behind the scenes. More often than not, when it comes to food in the media, a lot of what you are seeing, and reading is the work - not of a top chef - but a food stylist. ‘Home economists’ as they are also known, do everything from cooking the dishes you see on screen, to ghost-writing whole cookery books, with all kinds of weird and wonderful food tasks in between. They churn out hundreds of recipes without breaking a sweat, but get none of the credit, staying firmly in the shadows of the kitchen. Until now. Move over Jamie and Gordon, it’s time to meet your supporting cast. Emily Thomas talks to Rob Allison, Nicole Herft and Abi Fawcett. Between them they’ve worked for most of the world’s best known chefs including Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson and Heston Blumenthal.(Photo: Chef garnishing soup with tweezers. Credit: Getty Images)

A powerful colossus is controlling most of what we eat. Who has the guts to take it on?Emily Thomas meets three people who have gone up against the food industry. From following trucks across Thailand to expose slavery in the fishing industry, to going undercover in Europe to reveal the hidden ingredients in processed food, to finding their phones have been infiltrated by spyware, these are people prepared to take risks. They talk about what it feels like to have such a powerful opponent, why they’re prepared to go to such lengths, and how the consumer needs to be vigilant.Our guests are Joanna Blythman, journalist and author, Alejandro Calvillo, director of El Poder del Consumidor, a consumer rights organisation in Mexico, and Margie Mason, investigative reporter for The Associated Press.(Photo: Man carved out of orange peel. Credit: Getty Images)

If you think you’d like your other half to be able to cook like a Michelin-starred chef, this episode might make you think again. When a professional cook is at the top of their game, there might just be someone at home, picking up the pieces of a brutal schedule.Emily Thomas sits down with three people who are in long-term relationships with successful chefs and restaurateurs. They lift the lid on what it’s really like to live your life alongside someone in a profession notorious for being intensely stressful, competitive and sometimes a little wild.Can top chefs be bothered to cook when they get home? And how do they respond to criticism in the kitchen? Behind every head chef there’s a great woman or man, it seems. And this episode has three of them: PR executive Samantha Wong, partner of Hong Kong chef and restaurateur May Chow; sculptor Beth Cullen-Kerridge, who is married to Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge; and engineer Gundeep Gill who is married to Indian restaurateur Romy Gill MBE.(Photo: A couple kiss behind a heart shaped balloon. Credit: Getty Images)

Have you ever felt the urge to share exactly the same culinary experience as your ancestors? Do you care what ancient Roman bread tasted like? Or what a 16th Century courtier smelt as he lifted a slice of roast beef to his mouth? Would you understand yourself, or today’s food system, better if you did?And if the closest you come to experiencing the past is watching period dramas on television, are you bothered by whether the pigeon is actually chicken - or the fish, cream cheese? How real do we want the imaginary to be?Emily Thomas asks what we can learn about the past and present from the painstaking reconstruction of old recipes. Four people who dedicate their lives to recreating historical dishes make their case: An archaeologist tirelessly trying to uncover the secrets of the bread of Pompeii in Italy; The food stylist on the film set of the globally popular period drama Downton Abbey; An historian earnestly roasting beef at a Tudor palace; and a Polish chef desperately trying to preserve traditions he fears are becoming lost.(Photo: Woman in a baroque wig, Credit: Getty Images)

Emily Thomas explores a stereotype with potentially life-threatening consequences - the idea that eating disorders are a problem that only affects white women in wealthy countries. She talks to black women in South Africa, Nigeria and the US who have had eating disorders. Their experiences and their cultural backgrounds are very different, but they all say the prevailing stereotype that eating disorders are a ‘white’ problem, makes it harder for black women to speak out and get the help they need. They also challenge the notion that these illnesses are caused by the pursuit of western beauty ideals.(Picture: Young woman. Credit: Getty Images)