The Food Programme
Episodes
Japanese Whisky: A Beginners Guide
14 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino goes on a journey through the history, culture and flavours of Japanese whisky. Why and how has this nation taken a drink so strongly ass...
The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2018: Finalist stories
30 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You know their names, now Sheila Dillon helps tell the stories of the finalists in the BBC Food and Farming Awards 2018. For the last month, our judge...
Is There a Place for Salt?
22 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Salt has long been prized, but in recent years it has become, for many, something to be avoided: to reduce or even eliminate. At the same time, there ...
Northern Ireland: Food at a Crossroads
15 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon travels from the border to Belfast to learn why Northern Irish food has blossomed in recent years and what leaving the EU could mean for...
The Sugar Tax: A (Short) History
15 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino looks behind the headlines of the newly introduced sugar tax.
The Power of Food: Parabere Forum
01 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino reports from Parabere Forum, with five life changing food stories. At the annual gathering for women working in food Dan finds unexpected...
Doctor's Orders: Getting Tomorrow's Medics Cooking
25 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The NHS is at crisis point. Despite the diet books, the fitness videos, the health bloggers, in 2016, Public Health England estimated that Illness ass...
The Future of Bread
19 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino talks to Modernist Bread author, Nathan Myhrvold, about one of the biggest bread research projects ever undertaken, which involved the ba...
African Food
11 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's a matter of course that in January, food writers, critics and chefs try to predict the food trends of the year ahead. And if you trawled the colu...
Eat to Run, Part 3
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino meets the runners convinced low or no carbs is the way to peak performance.
The Big Pig Roadtrip
04 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Hayward embarks on the big pig road trip to meet some of the people who devote their lives to rare breeds of British pigs. He speaks to Adam Henso...
Comfort food for dark days
18 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon celebrates the power of food to comfort us in hard times, especially during these dark days of the year. Dumplings, marshmallows, chicke...
The Vegetable Yoda: Charlie Hicks
11 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon and Dan Saladino pay tribute to greengrocer extraordinaire, the late, great and encyclopaedic Charlie Hicks with help from Jamie Oliver,...
The World Service Cookbook
04 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When the BBC World Service's Language Services moved into New Broadcasting House in central London, different services would take it in turns to host ...
Britain's Secret Saffron Story
28 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Saffron is one of the world's most evocative spices, shrouded in myth and mystery and conjuring up images from the ancient Silk Road. Often seen as 'e...
What Delicious Future?
21 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino looks at ideas that could make an impact on our food future featuring America's Impossible Burger, a Sardinian maggot infested cheese and...
The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2018: The Search Begins...
14 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Where are the cooks changing the lives of their communities? Which food shops or markets make shopping a more unique experience? Who is making the UK ...
Porridge
07 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The sudden proliferation of porridge is there for all to see, across the country. Café chains like Pret, Starbucks, McDonalds; instant tubs on offer ...
The Champagne Underground
31 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Champagne sceptic Dan Saladino travels to the French region in search of the mavericks of fizz. These wine producers are part of a movement that's cau...
Sheila Dillon's Christmas Dinner
24 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon invites some special guests, friends old and new, to come and share a festive meal.Before they start to arrive, Nigel Slater drops by to...
The World's Most Popular Cheese: The Story of Cheddar
18 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino reports on the past, present and future of what's thought to be the world's most widely produced and consumed cheese, Cheddar. Dan also m...
Crisps
10 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We have a national passion for crisps. Every week, on average, each person in Britain eats 4 bags of crisps - a staggering 240 million bags a week. Th...
Cookbooks of 2017
03 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's that time of year when Sheila Dillon and special guests take a close look at the food, cookery and drink books of 2017.Joining Sheila are the foo...
Food on the Edge (A Food Story Mix-Tape)
27 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino is at Food On The Edge, a gathering of people with food stories to tell; from a Black Panther breakfast to a chef convinced her emotions ...
Young and Vegan
19 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The number of young people turning vegan is rising. Grace Dent meets some of the people opening vegan eateries and finds out how creatives are using s...
Catalonia
13 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
With Catalonia in the midst of a political crisis, Sheila Dillon travels to the region just as they self-declared independence and discovers how the s...
The Art of Fermentation - A Masterclass
04 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino gets a practical masterclass with the world-renowned teacher and author of 'The Art of Fermentation' - Sandor Ellix Katz.Presenter: Dan S...
More Problems with Poultry?
30 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Following years of reporting on UK chicken scandals, Dan Saladino looks at investigations now underway by The Food Standards Agency and MPs into pract...
How We Eat: 4. Eating as a Family
23 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this final programme of the series How We Eat, Sheila Dillon explores eating as a family, the reality and the myth. As working hours increase and w...
How We Eat: 3. Eating By The Rules
16 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Increasing numbers of people in Britain seem to eat according to very clearly defined rules, from fashionable Clean Eaters to religious believers to p...
How We Eat: 2. Eating with Strangers
09 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you share a meal with strangers? What chemistry fizzes around the table, what bonds are formed, what happens next? In this programme...
How We Eat: 1. Eating Alone
02 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How we eat says so much about us. Where we come from, our family background, our feelings about our bodies even - our appetite for all kinds of pleasu...
The BBC Food & Farming Awards 2017
26 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon presents the highlights of this year's awards with Giorgio Locatelli
Future Food
18 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Seaweed, hydroponics and seeds. Dan Saladino meets the 'Future Food' finalists in the 2017 BBC Food and Farming Awards, and asks what their stories te...
Zero Compromise: A (Georgian) Natural Wine Story.
11 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino travels into the Caucasus in search of "zero compromise" natural wine makers. He finds them in Georgia, thought to be the birthplace of w...
Feast Like a Georgian: A Food Guide to the Caucasus.
03 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino travels to a Georgia, considered to be an undiscovered food and drink gem at the heart of the meeting point between Europe and Asia. Food...
Salt Fish
27 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Once a cheap dish to feed workers, salted cod has been preserved by cooks around the world who serve it to celebrate: On Sundays, at Carnival, at Chri...
Chef Stress
21 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino investigates current pressures on chefs and the darker side of the restaurant kitchen. From breakdowns to addictions, is it a profession ...
Dishing The Dirt on Clean Eating
13 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Grace Dent discovers what has made Anthony Warner into the Angry Chef and unpicks the role that social media plays in spurring people towards diet pla...
Patience Gray: A Life Through Food
06 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
"Poverty rather than wealth gives the good things of life their true significance. Home-made bread rubbed with garlic and sprinkled with olive oil, sh...
Summer camping special
30 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon and The Food Programme team go camping, to discover the possibilities of food and drink in the outdoors.Joining Sheila around a Monmouth...
Greece: Return to the land?
23 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Sheila Dillon is in Greece to speak to farmers and food producers about how they are carving new lives for themselves out of the financial ...
Sandor Katz and the Art of Fermentation
16 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sandor Katz has been enchanted by fermentation, the mysterious process by which microbes transform food and drink, for some two decades. Since making ...
Hunting With The Hadza 2: The Microbiome.
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino asks if hunter gatherers, the Hadza tribe, hold the key to our future health. Presented and produced by Dan Saladino.
Hunting with the Hadza
02 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino eats with one of the last remaining hunter gatherer tribes, Tanzania's Hadza.
Diet and Dementia: An Update
25 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What can I do? That was the question posed to us by Food Programme listener Angie Roberts who cares for her mother Clara. Clara, like 850 thousand oth...
Alastair Little: A Life through Food
18 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As he prepares to move to Australia, leaving a lasting culinary legacy here in the UK, chef and food writer Alastair Little shares his life in food wi...
Women & Beer
11 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Think beer. Think boys with beards? Think again. The last time Sheila Dillon reported on the women in British beer, in 2013, she met Sara Barton head ...
Cult Fiction and Food
05 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From Confederacy of Dunces to Absolute Beginners and On The Road, Dan Saladino explores cult novels to find out how writers Jack Kerouac, Colin MacInn...
Turmeric
28 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon takes a journey into the culinary use, history and the latest medical findings about turmeric.Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is a member of th...
Mac 'n' Cheese
21 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon charts the rise of the humble mac'n'cheese: a dish that crosses culture and classes and has established itself as a popular comfort food...
The Chef Who Vanished - The Story of Jeremiah Tower
15 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
At the age of 30, with no formal training, Jeremiah Tower became a chef. His approach to cooking changed the food world for good, then he walked away....
The Herbal World of Jekka McVicar
08 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Culinary herb grower Jekka McVicar shares her life through food with Sheila Dillon. Taking a walk through the small herb farm where Jekka grows some 6...
Out Like a Lamb
30 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Lamb. Long a staple of the UK dinner table. But one glance at the statistics and it's obvious that 'Generation Y' aren't inspired. Estimates suggest u...
The Potato
23 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon digs up the remarkable story of how potatoes changed the world, offer a whole spectrum of flavour, and might shape our food future.With ...
Food Stories from Venezuela Part 2: Maria Fernanda Di Giacobbe
18 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino meets a woman who believes Venezuela's escape from crisis rests on chocolate. Maria Fernanda Di Giacobbe is on a mission to reclaim her c...
Food Stories from Venezuela: Eating in a Failed State.
10 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Venezuela is seeing its worst economic crisis in living memory. As some of the most basic ingredients become unavailable or unaffordable Dan Saladino ...
Blood
04 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Blood in food is about as divisive as it comes. But Tim Hayward loves it. A rare steak, a carefully crisped slice of black pudding, a blood meringue.....
Chef Dan Barber: The Third Plate
26 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino profiles the influential US chef and writer Dan Barber, author of 'The Third Plate - Field Notes on the Future of Food'. Originally with ...
BBC Food & Farming Awards 2017: The Finalists
20 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You've cast your nominations in the thousands. Now it's time to reveal who's in the running in the BBC Food & Farming Awards 2017. Judges includin...
Tea: A Coffee Drinker's Guide, Part 2
13 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Do we pay enough for tea? Dan Saladino - a long-term and deeply committed coffee drinker - continues his look at our love affair with the leaf.Dan cat...
Tea: A Coffee Drinker's Guide
06 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hardened coffee drinker Dan Saladino investigates tea's past, present and future and finds out how our preference for the leaf has changed over three ...
Thailand: A Royal Food Legacy
26 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Dr Polly Russell and chef Ashley Palmer-Watts visit farming communities in the Northern Chang Mai province of Thailand who have given up far...
Let's Do Lunch
19 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What did you eat for lunch today? Whatever you ate, according to our recent national survey you took less than half an hour to do it. Twenty five minu...
Citrus
12 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon goes on a citrus journey, discovering vivid flavour possibilities and hidden histories.Joining Sheila are Catherine Phipps, food writer ...
Gumbo
06 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What can one single dish can tell you about America's history? One particular bowl of soup gives us an insight about the future of cultures that conve...
Leah Chase: The cook who changed America
30 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Meet 94 four year old Leah Chase. For seventy years she has led the kitchen at New Orleans famous Dooky Chase restaurant. During her time she's hoste...
Lancashire: My Food Roots
26 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon returns to her food roots in Lancashire, meeting people doing and creating extraordinary things - from food producers, to cooks to campa...
Introducing... The BBC Food and Farming Awards 2017
15 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The BBC Food & Farming Awards are back. Based on public nominations, the awards celebrate the unsung heroes of UK food and farming; From school co...
Belfast: Creating a New Food Tradition
08 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this series of four programmes broadcast over Christmas and the New Year, Sheila Dillon explores the link between tradition and food. Sheila ends t...
Loch Fyne: Celebrating Food Tradition
01 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this series of four programmes broadcast over the Christmas period, Sheila Dillon explores the link between tradition and food. Food can bind a com...
Wild Boar
25 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this series of four programmes broadcast over Christmas, Sheila Dillon explores the link between tradition and food. For Christmas Day, Sheila cele...
A Passion for Cake
20 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this series of four programmes broadcast over Christmas, Sheila Dillon explores the link between tradition and food. First, in the run-up to Christ...
The Future of Cheese
12 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino finds out what the future holds for cheese, including the role of raw milk. It's a story of microbes, mystery, discord and symphony.Dan i...
Sisters' Feast
05 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'Pop-up' chef and food writer Olia Hercules, The Great British Bake Off contestant turned Youtube star Chetna Makan, Film academic come supper club ho...
Cookbooks of 2016
28 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon and guests discuss the year's food and cookery books - focussing on debut food books.Joining Sheila in the studio is cook, gardener and ...
Our Wild Spice Rack
21 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon heads to Galloway, Scotland, to meet forager and wild food teacher Mark Williams - who claims to be able to match anything in our spice ...
Cooking clubs in Basqueland
14 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Spain's Basque region exerts a powerful influence on global cuisine, Dan Saladino finds out why. Heston Blumenthal and writer Harold Mcgee provide ins...
Gavin and the Chinese Food Olympics
07 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Every four years, the most established names in Chinese cuisine pitch their skills against each other in an international competition which has become...
Pumpkins and Winter Squash
01 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon and special guests discover a delicious world of pumpkins and winter squash.It's Halloween time, and pumpkins are making their annual ap...
Terra Madre Part 2: A Global Food Gathering
24 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
From ancient Egyptian bread to Native American food, Dan Saladino reports from Terra Madre.
Terra Madre Part 1: A Global Food Gathering
17 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino reports from Slow Food's global food event Terra Madre with stories from Africa. Terra Madre (aka Mother Earth) is probably one of the wo...
The Apple: How British a Fruit?
09 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
As apple fairs and celebrations are held all around the country, Sheila Dillon travels to an orchard in Devon for a conversation with drinks writer Pe...
Diet and Dementia
03 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
For the 850 thousand families in the UK living with dementia, the simple daily practise of eating a meal can escalate into a dreaded challenge. Spurre...
Food Stories from Syria 2
28 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week, as aid convoys carrying food into Syria have been under attack, Dan Saladino revisits the conflict. A year ago, he reported on how displace...
An Antarctic Chef
18 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Green. Chas to his family, 'cook' to his colleagues. A young baker whose sense of adventure drew him to a career cooking on the sea. You may n...
Cooking for Poldark
12 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
As the much-anticipated new series of Poldark returns to our screens, most eyes will be on Aidan Turner but behind the scenes a raft of experts has wo...
Coffee and the God Shot. The Drinks Menu
06 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino journeys into coffee's past, present and future. He discovers a world of new flavours, far from his formative espresso experiences in Sic...
Whisky Britannia: The Drinks Menu
29 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
With 20 million casks lying in storage maturing, Scotch whisky looks set to hold its strong place in the world market for decades to come. It's the th...
Time for an Aperitif? The Drinks Menu
21 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In French, 'l'aperitif', in Italian, 'l'aperitivo'. We don't of course have a translation in English, but the aperitif, the drinks and snacks which pr...
Roger Protz: A Life Through Beer
15 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
From being tucked under the pub bar stool as a baby to getting into Fleet Street pubs underage, Roger Protz's passion for beer began early. He's spent...
The Surprising Strawberry
07 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
2016's strawberry solstice fell as the UK's strawberry pickers embarked on a bigger crop than ever before. Strawberries have become a supermarket stap...
Raising the Pulse
01 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Pulses are little marvels - protein packed lentils, peas and beans are cheap, good for health and help the soil. They're central to many food cultures...
A Fat Lot of Good
29 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The range of fats and oils available to us is growing but the advice has changed dramatically. Sheila Dillon looks to cut through the latest thinking ...
Kitchens of Power
29 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Why is cheese essential when the German Chancellor comes for dinner? Dan Saladino explains why a plate of food shouldn't be taken at face value in thi...
Albania and the Cheese Road
18 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino travels on a new road in Albania that leads to an undiscovered cheese world.
School food: An uncertain future
10 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In 2013, The School Food Plan was published aiming to revolutionise food in schools across England, and to show countries around the world what provid...
Brexit and Food: A Food Programme Special
04 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino outlines the big food issues we're facing because of Brexit. From the impact of a devalued pound to longer term questions over the future...
That Gut Feeling: Part Two
27 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino returns to the world of the gut microbiota, the vast array of microbes within us all. From the Amazon Basin to East Africa to the life un...
Food, Fishing and the Faroes
20 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino reports on food, survival and fishing from the Faroe Islands. From fermented sheep's head to whale blubber he finds out how people eat on...