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 aston...
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 ...
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 nort...
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 childr...
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 R...
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...
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-Whittin...
The Food Innovators: 2025
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino meets people behind pioneering projects rethinking the future of chocolate, seafood and...
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. J...
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 f...
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 cen...
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 m...
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 ...
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, '...
Butter Is Back
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Butter superfan Felicity Cloake asks whether the movement against ultra-processed foods is linked to...
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 w...
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...
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 Sympo...
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 dec...
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 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...
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 f...
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 ...
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 s...
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...
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 retu...
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 ma...
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 a...
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, t...
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 d...
Feeding the Nation
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the Government pledging to overhaul the way food is sourced for public institutions like hospit...
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 ...
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 ...
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 coo...
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 ...
When Saturday Comes
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Restaurant critic and lifelong Charlton Athletic fan Jimi Famurewa finds out how football clubs are ...
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 ...
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 ...
Communal Dining
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon joins diners eating together in Manchester and Copenhagen, and hears why some think we...
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 Corp...
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 'reg...
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 listen...
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 pe...
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...
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 h...
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-d...
Food and AI
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How will Artificial Intelligence (AI) transform the food industry? Experts say it's already having ...
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 thousan...
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 fest...
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 t...
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 Salad...
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 aw...
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 ...
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...
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 m...
Frankopan on Food
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Peter Frankopan, the author of Silk Roads and Earth Transformed, shares his insights with Dan Saladi...
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 ea...
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 fermentati...
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 progr...
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 y...
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 a...
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...
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 origi...
The Sourdough Library
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino visits a unique collection of sourdough bread starters from around the world and explor...
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 th...
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 m...
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 ...
Addicted to Food
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon hears why some clinicians and researchers want the condition 'Ultra-Processed Food Add...
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 g...
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. Sh...
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...
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...
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...
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? Shei...
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 vie...
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 ...
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 th...
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...
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...
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 ...
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 coun...
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 wit...
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 —...
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 t...
Brexit's Import Controls
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Physical checks will soon be carried out on some foods being imported from the EU, but how will it i...
A Celebration of the Birthday Cake
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jaega Wise delves into the history, traditions and culture surrounding the birthday cake, meeting be...
Cooking at home with Gary Lineker
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Footballing legend, broadcaster and our host for lunch… Gary Lineker makes his famous 'gambas al a...
Lamb Season
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Although chocolate eggs and Hot Cross buns take centre stage at Easter, millions of people also sit ...
Stouts and Porters: How dark beers became cool
24 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stouts and porters, dark malty beers maybe used to have a reputation of being a bit stuffy but there...
The Plant-Based Diet Boom: How is it changing food culture?
17 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The last decade has seen an explosion in the trend of plant-based eating, from the growth of plant-b...
The herb and spice scam?
10 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What’s really in your spice rack? In this exclusive investigation by The Food Programme, Jaega Wis...
Feeding Norfolk
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A message from Delia Smith takes the Food Programme team to Norfolk to see how a network of social s...
The power of poems to connect us to food
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Getting people to engage with food and ideas for agricultural change can be really difficult - but t...
A Bitter Taste?
18 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Appetite suppressant, glucose control and inflammation antidote... The scientific research around th...
Love on a Plate
11 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From warming aphrodisiacs in the early modern period, to date-night oysters and champagne or a lovin...
Destination Food
04 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us are travel looking for food experiences and we often want to eat something that is authen...
How has a small island become the nation with the highest rate of obesity?
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon investigates what we can learn about food and public health from the extreme case of N...
Haggis and Hosting: Celebrating Burns Night
21 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the dark nights of January, celebrating the work of poet Robert Burns by feasting, toasting and s...
Eating for Two?
14 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jaega Wise is on a mission to find out what she should really be eating while pregnant - from concep...
A Seaweed Revolution in the UK?
07 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Seaweed farming could be a huge boon for the UK, restoring biodiversity, cleaning the sea and could ...