The Food Programme
Episodes
Is Food Processing the ‘Missing Middle’?
27 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Much focus goes on food growing and selling, but is the missing link in increasing the UK's food self sufficiency actually food processing? It might b...
Posh Water
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Should we be taking water more seriously? The emergence of the water sommelier would suggest so. Jaega Wise visits a Cheshire restaurant that now of...
What’s Next for Portugal’s Ancient Export: Cork?
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Leyla Kazim reports from cork country in Portugal - where up to 10,000 of hectares of cork oak trees are being lost every year, despite laws protectin...
Food Stories from the Philippines
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Shaped by centuries of colonialism and challenged by a changing climate, what is the future of food for the Philippines? Recent typhoons and floods we...
Chefs, Creativity and the Cost of Living Crisis
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this edition Sheila Dillon explores the creativity of chefs, and asks how it’s being affected by the ongoing cost of living crisis. For Sheila, c...
Eating Together
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A year after sharing a £10 supper with 200 strangers in Copenhagen’s Absalon - an old church turned community hub - Sheila asks whether that experi...
The Future of Our Food
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In a special edition Dan Saladino talks to the UK's biggest food producers and retailers to hear their visions for the future of food, health, sustain...
The Honey Trap
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After concerns that honey from overseas is being watered down with cheap rice and corn syrups, Sheila Dillon investigates the scale of global honey fr...
The Low-Alcohol Drinks Revolution: Can Wine Keep Up?
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
One thing that could make us all healthier is drinking less alcohol – and there’s now a huge market for alcohol‑free drinks. But one category th...
The Science of Fermentation
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Fermented foods are more popular than ever, but what's the science? Dan Saladino explores the latest research into fermentation and the many health cl...
Desi Pubs
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Desi pubs, boozers run by people of South Asian heritage, have been around since the 1960s. Originally a safe haven for immigrant drinkers during a ti...
A Wild Mushroom Chase
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon goes foraging for wild mushrooms in the Peak District in Derbyshire to find out what common fungi are easy to find - and delicious to ea...
A Life Through Drink: Dave Broom
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Whisky writer Dave Broom has helped transform how the world tastes and talks about spirits, bringing flavour, culture, and meaning to a new generation...
Dates: A User's Guide
26 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino explores culinary cultures and world religions to find out how the date became one of the earliest, most revered, and diverse of all cult...
Going Cold Turkey: Alternative Christmas Dinners
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Annie Gray always rejects turkey and the trimmings at Christmas. She believes they are a construct of a bygone era and will often eat pizza on the big...
The Food Books of 2025
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leyla Kazim takes a look at the best food books and writing from 2025, and chats to food writer Ruby Tandoh about her new book looking at why we eat t...
The Great Tartan Tea Swindle
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Tam o’ Braan began marketing Scottish Tea from his Wee Tea Plantation, the response was astonishing. Upmarket retailers such as Fortnum and Ma...
And the Winner Is... The BBC Food And Farming Awards 2025
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The judges have reached their verdicts so who has won the coveted Food Programme chopping boards in 2025's BBC Food and Farming Awards? Sheila Dillon...
Why Is Africa Feeding Us?
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino and reporter Jack Thompson investigate the UK's growing dependence on two farms in northern Senegal based around a lake. In recent years ...
The Breakfast Club Challenge
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day - but what happens when thousands of children arrive at school too hungry to learn? In this p...
Eels and Elvers
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino looks at why eels numbers are plummeting and asks if the species can be saved. On the River Severn he meets the last of the glass eel fis...
Keeping It Local: A Suffolk Story
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's twenty years since the Aldeburgh Food Festival began. Sheila Dillon examines its impact in this small Suffolk seaside town where food producers w...
Feeding Britain: Can Our Best Food Producers Deliver?
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon and this year’s head judge of the BBC Food and Farming Awards, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, hit the road to meet the finalists in the ...
The Food Innovators: 2025
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino meets people behind pioneering projects rethinking the future of chocolate, seafood and food forests. Which one will win this year's BBC ...
In Search of Mustard in Norwich
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Five years ago, after 160 years in Norwich, the Colman's factory shut its doors for the last time. John Osborne is a writer, a poet and a performer - ...
Wales's Secret Ingredient: Lessons from Cymru on the Future of Food
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon is joined by four guests who each have a deep connection with Welsh food and farming for a panel discussion recorded at the 2025 Abergav...
The Rise of Matcha
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As sales of matcha continue to boom, Leyla Kazim traces the story of the powdered green tea from centuries-old Japanese tradition to global health tre...
Follow the Food: The Rise of Food Tourism
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon investigates the growing number of food tours and trails in the UK as consumers show more and more interest in the provenance of what is...
Manx Made
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jaega Wise heads to the Isle of Man to find out what’s driving a growing movement to produce more of the island’s own food, and why its approach m...
Cooking From Landscape: Rethinking Scottish Food
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Polly Russell and chef Pam Brunton explore Scotland's landscapes to answer the question, 'what is modern Scottish food?'. On a road trip th...
Butter Is Back
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Butter superfan Felicity Cloake asks whether the movement against ultra-processed foods is linked to a recent rise in popularity of her favourite kitc...
The Crayfish Question
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been nearly 50 years since invasive American Signal Crayfish were introduced to the UK, and we still haven’t figured out how to get rid of th...
Polski Sklep: A Recent History of the Polish Shop
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since the early 2000s, one type of shop has quietly become a regular feature on British high streets: the Polski sklep – or Polish shop.Known for th...
Food and the Elements
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino explores stories of food and 'the elements', the theme of this year's Oxford Food Symposium. Expect surprising insights on earth, fire, a...
Big Food, Big Power
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon looks into claims that big food companies wield too much influence over government decisions and public health. The episode follows news...
The New Good Life
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The adventures of Barbara and Tom Good in Surbiton brought self-sufficiency to the small screens of the nation. Fifty years on from the airing of tha...
The Periodic Table of Food
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino explores new science that's revealing the complexity hidden within our food.In New York City he meets the team mapping previously unknown...
Potatoes with Poppy O'Toole
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, social media chef and queen of potatoes, Poppy O'Toole, explores the world of her favourite ingredient, the Potato. Last year, Poppy ...
English Olive Oil
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the price of olive oil soaring in the shops after drought disrupted production in Spain, Leyla Kazim looks into the English farms planting olive ...
A Food Revolution in Eight (More) Ideas
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino meets pioneering thinkers to hear about future food ideas ranging from edible protein sourced from chicken feathers to crops inoculated w...
Professor Michael Crawford: A Life through Food
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of 'A Life Through Food', Sheila Dillon meets one of the most provocative scientific minds of the last half-century: Professor Michael...
The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2025 Launch
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The BBC Food & Farming Awards are back for 2025! Jaega Wise visits River Cottage HQ to meet returning head judge Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. They...
Sourfaux
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Campaigners are calling for the ingredients of sourdough to be laid out in law. So are there too many loaves on sale that are more sourfaux than sour...
Coffee Crisis: Why are Prices Breaking Records?
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino hears from coffee industry insiders about the current spike in global prices.Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
From York to Dubai: The Rise of Chocolate
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Leyla Kazim visits York, the UK's 'chocolate city', on the centenary of Joseph Rowntree’s death, to find out how the Quaker entrepreneur pioneered b...
School Dinners - Past, Present and Future
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Baroness Floella Benjamin once said “childhood lasts a lifetime” and our experiences of school dinners can shape how we eat for the rest of our li...
Feeding the Nation
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the Government pledging to overhaul the way food is sourced for public institutions like hospitals, schools, prisons, and army bases, Sheila Dill...
The World's Historic Restaurants
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The restaurant trade is fickle and can be a "here today, gone tomorrow" business. But a very small number of restaurants seem to have been with us fo...
Is our cheese heritage ancient history?
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon hears the first exclusive readings from a Tudor ‘pamphlet of cheese’ that details the cheesemaking traditions of the 16th century, a...
Darina Allen: A Life Through Food
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino finds out how a family farm in west Cork became one of the world's most influential cookery schools. Featuring Darina and Rachel Allen, R...
Denmark's Food Revolution?
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this second episode from Copenhagen, Sheila Dillon explores why Denmark leads the way in organic food consumption. In 2023, nearly 12% of all food ...
When Saturday Comes
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Restaurant critic and lifelong Charlton Athletic fan Jimi Famurewa finds out how football clubs are upping their game when it comes to serving food fo...
Are We Prepared? Could the UK Feed Itself in a Crisis?
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Five years on from the first Covid lockdown Dan Saladino asks if our food supply can withstand more shock to the system? Is there resilience to face a...
Bradford: City of Food Culture
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bradford is this year’s UK City of Culture - but what does food have to do with it? Sheila Dillon visits the city to meet market traders, chefs and ...
Communal Dining
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon joins diners eating together in Manchester and Copenhagen, and hears why some think we should be making more time in the UK for eating c...
Closing London's 'Kitchen of the Universe'
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two of the country's largest wholesale markets are on the brink of closure. The City of London Corporation has decided to shut the historic meat mark...
Regenerative farming and food. What does it mean?
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's a term used by the smallest farmers and the world's biggest food businesses. But what does 'regenerative agriculture' mean?Produced and presented...
Second to Nan
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon revisits the idea of our grannies’ cooking and how it shapes us, hearing from listeners who sent in their own stories. Why does learni...
Broken Policies
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's 2025, and the same old questions are still being asked about food and health—how do we get people eating better, reduce obesity, improve health...
Low and No
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's behind the rise and rise of low alcohol and alcohol free drinks? The sector grew by a quarter last year alone, fuelled by our changing relation...
Food and Exercise: A Puzzle
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Want to lose weight? How much can you achieve through exercise? Dan Saladino investigates with the help of Mike Keen, a chef and Arctic explorer. Mike...
What's this emulsifier doing in my food?
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Emulsifiers are among the most common food additives found in ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a much-discussed category of foods commonly defined as tho...
Food and AI
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How will Artificial Intelligence (AI) transform the food industry? Experts say it's already having an effect - whether through self-service checkouts...
Food Bank Nation
03 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the year 2000 there were barely any food banks in the UK but today there are nearly three thousand. So what's behind the sharp rise and how did it...
The Dickens Effect: How the Writer Influenced Food at Christmas.
27 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino explores the impact a Christmas Carol and other Charles Dickens novels have had on festive eating, with food historian Ivan Day and food ...
Christmas: The Gift of Food
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas is a time for giving, and for many charities, that often means food. Jaega Wise explores the tradition and looks into the planning that goes...
Restaurants: A Survival Guide
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Restaurant businesses say it's getting tougher to survive? So what does it take to thrive? Dan Saladino speaks to leading chefs, some successful, othe...
BBC Food and Farming Awards 2024
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Join Sheila Dillon at the Old Fruitmarket in Glasgow for the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2024.The awards honour those who have done most to promote th...
Nan the Wiser
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon explores how our grannies' cooking can shape who we are—and asks what we lose if we let go of those traditions. Guests include: Vicky ...
Once Upon a Mealtime
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whether it's Turkish Delight, chocolate cake or ginger beer - some of our earliest food memories are shaped by the books we read. In this episode She...
Fishing for Change
16 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Five seafood species make up 80% of what is consumed in the UK – while at the same time the vast majority of what is caught in UK waters gets export...
Frankopan on Food
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Frankopan, the author of Silk Roads and Earth Transformed, shares his insights with Dan Saladino on food, history and questions for our future. ...
Back Stage Food – How performers eat before, during and after the show.
02 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this exploration of backstage food, Jaega Wise meets actors and musicians to find out how they eat to fuel their performance. The journey begins ba...
Food Stories From Terra Madre
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the indigenous food of the USA to extraordinary cheeses from Ukraine, the wonders of fermentation to a revolutionary network of bakers, Dan Salad...
Eating on the Spectrum
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leyla Kazim explores how neurodivergence can affect the way people eat and experience food.The programme visits Aubergine Café in Cardiff, which is o...
The Champagne of Dairy and other drinks
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jaega Wise travels the country to meet the three finalists in the Drinks Producer category in this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards. Her journey ta...
A Food Revolution in Ten Ideas.
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino looks at 10 potentially planet changing ideas for the future of food, from a farm out at sea to a pioneering rethink on how we can feed c...
The Brain Gut Connection
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why does food do our heads in? This episode is a panel recording from 2024 Abergavenny Food Festival with a live audience.Sheila Dillon is joined by C...
Nuts about Nuts
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leyla Kazim traces the journey of this unassuming wonder food, from its health benefits to its origins. Nuts, which once would have been central to th...
The Sourdough Library
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino visits a unique collection of sourdough bread starters from around the world and explores a hidden world of grains, yeasts, bacteria and ...
Fresh Food Ideas? Some new MPs look ahead
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As MPs return to Westminster after the summer recess, The Food Programme catches up with three of the newer recruits to discuss future food policies. ...
Food Waste: New Answers for Old Problems
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Food waste isn't a new story. So why cover it again? Well, in the UK, we are still wasting over 10 million tonnes of food a year. That's food that cou...
Taste the World
25 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Food, identity, myths and reality. In a globalised world can a dish reflect who we are and where we live? Dan Saladino explores fascinating stories of...
Addicted to Food
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon hears why some clinicians and researchers want the condition 'Ultra-Processed Food Addiction' to be recognised by groups such as The Wor...
How did Food Help Finland Become the Happiest Country in the World?
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Finland has once again topped the ranking for the happiest country in the world. But what has food got to do with it? In this programme, Sheila Dillon...
Why Are Celebrity Drinks Everywhere?
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jaega Wise and Robbie Armstrong explore the exponential growth of celebrity-backed drinks brands. She asks why so many stars want a piece of this rapi...
Becoming Michelin
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A meeting with top chef Hélène Darroze at Mayfair's Connaught Hotel leads Sheila Dillon to ask the question, why aren't there more female Michelin s...
Off the Rails: The Story of Train Food
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As the summer holidays kick off and people plan for journeys far and near, Sheila explores what food is provided on trains and at train stations acros...
Just One Thing with The Food Programme
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As part of Just One Thing Day on Radio 4, Sheila Dillon looks back at Dr Michael Mosley's legacy and comes up with 5 reasons why he mattered in gettin...
Has Finland Found the Future of Food?
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Saunas, pickled food.. even Nokia phones. But do you associate Finland with the future of food? Sheila Dillon visits the new factory making microbial ...
Pastry Nation: Hype Bakeries on the Rise
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Leyla Kazim and Robbie Armstrong explore the rise of a new wave of British bakeries, whose viral viennoiseries are leading to snaking queues and sell ...
What Makes Food Safe?
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a major outbreak from a new strain of E. coli makes headlines, we ask: what makes food safe? How are food producers coping with new strains of food...
D-Day - The Food that fuelled the assault
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As we mark 80 years since the D-Day assaults, Leyla Kazim gets a peek at what's thought to the be the world's only surviving unopened D-Day ration pac...
The BBC Food and Farming Awards 2024: The Search Begins...
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jaega Wise heads to Glasgow to open the nominations for this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards, and to announce that the 2024 ceremony will be held i...
Danny Trejo: A Life Through Food
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Danny Trejo is a Hollywood legend appearing in hundreds of films mostly playing tough guys, convicts and henchmen. He has starred in some of the great...
The Fight to Improve School Food in 2024
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon hears stories of how headteachers are transforming food in their schools in difficult economic conditions, as well as how flagship unive...
The Hong Kongers finding a new home through food
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jimi Famurewa meets the Hong Kongers who are serving, growing and eating the food of their home country to connect with their own food heritage and fi...
Posh Nosh: Food's Class Dilemma
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How much does what you choose to eat come from what social class you were born into, or identify with now? In this episode, Sheila Dillon takes on the...
Lessons from Leeds and Amsterdam on childhood obesity
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amsterdam and Leeds are two of the only places in the world to have cut rates of childhood obesity — and they’ve not done it by focussing just on ...
The secrets of sport food
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the explosion in sport food and drink, to the food diaries and routines of some of the UK’s top athletes, Leyla Kazim investigates food in the ...