The Food Programme
Episodes
A Life through Food: Harold McGee
21 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Harold McGee, the man who helped explain the science of the kitchen, tells his food story. His book, published in 1984, On Food and Cooking, has influ...
In a Stew about Rabbits
19 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon discovers the delights of eating rabbit meat, but also why some people think it is unjustifiable.Dil Peeling from Compassion in World Fa...
Mouthwatering Mutton
05 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Mutton tastier than lamb - why we should all demand to eat older meat. Dan Saladino uncovers the mystery of why we no longer eat mutton, despite it be...
Bees and the City - the Urban Honey Story
28 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
As bee populations fall, Sheila Dillon asks if some salvation may be found in the mean streets of our cities. With a report from New York where bee ke...
Food Is MAD
22 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
From a lesson in "guerrilla gardening" by LA's Ron Finley to Mastering the Art of Soviet cooking with food writer Anya Von Bremzen, Dan Saladino repor...
Ethiopian Teff - An Ancient Grain
16 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Teff has been grown in Ethiopia for Millennia. Traditionally, it's ground, milled, mixed with water and fermented for days to make the sour staple fla...
A Taste of Britain Revisited - Yorkshire
07 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino revisits Yorkshire food traditions which were captured on film in 1974 by Derek Cooper, previous presenter of The Food Programme. From Yo...
A Taste of Britain Revisited - Wales
31 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In 1974, Derek Cooper set off on a hunt - for BBC Television - around Britain to discover what was left of its regional foods and traditional ingredie...
A Taste of Britain Revisited - Dorset
26 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In 1974, Derek Cooper set off on a hunt - for BBC Television - around Britain to discover what was left of its regional foods and traditional ingredie...
Eat for Victory
17 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Eat for Victory - Sheila Dillon meets the people who are using the techniques of WWII rationing to improve their diet today. Clare Millar likes to dre...
Growing Veg, Not Drugs
10 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Growing salad leaves is changing the lives of former drug addicts in Bristol. Sheila Dillon visits The Severn Project run by Steve Glover. Steve emplo...
Problems with Poultry?
04 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Is the poultry industry fit for purpose? As our consumption of chicken increases and UK poultry production intensifies, Dan Saladino looks at the mode...
English Wine
27 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
English and Welsh wines are on the up and up, as Sheila Dillon investigates.Wine production is well known as a risky investment, not least because it ...
Salad leaves
20 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
It's boom time in the world of lettuce and salad leaves. More leafy greens were sold in the UK last year than ever before, and that upward trend looks...
Food in Opera
13 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Food in Opera. Sheila Dillon hears the story of food told through 400 years of music history. Gluttonous composers, cuisine centred plotlines and sing...
Food and the Curriculum
06 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Stefan Gates talks to teachers, kids and cooks about food and the curriculum, ahead of the changes that come into force from September. Stefan asks ho...
Mexican cooking and the food adventures of Diana Kennedy
30 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino meets the world authority on the food of Mexico, the British born writer Diana Kennedy.Diana Kennedy's life reads like an adventure story...
Sweeteners: The answer to our sugar cravings?
22 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon asks whether sweeteners could be the way for us to cut down sugar but to keep enjoying sweet treats. Presented by Sheila Dillon and prod...
US Southern Cooking and Chef Sean Brock
15 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Johnson is in South Carolina to meet Charleston chef, Sean Brock, who is on a mission to revive ingredients and flavours not experienced for h...
Holy Food
08 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Hayward looks at the tradition of monastic food production, with stories from Sicily, New York as well as from closer to home.Ever since the 6th c...
Knives
01 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon takes a look at that most coveted of kitchen tools; the knife.One of the most primal yet treasured implements, any chef worth their salt...
Wild Booze
25 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Writer and forager Andy Hamilton leads a journey hunting for plants to make incredible drinks, and looks again at the wild world all around us.
Fish Farming
19 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Fields of Fish - The huge rise in farmed fish and the people trying to make it sustainable. The world is now producing more farmed fish than farmed be...
Ken Hom 2 (of 2) - Politics, influence and the future
12 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this second of two special editions recorded at the Bristol Food Connections Festival, Sheila Dillon talks to Ken Hom about his extraordinary life ...
Ken Hom 1 (of 2) - The Early Years
11 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Over 2 special programmes from the Food Connections festival in Bristol, Sheila Dillon talks to Ken Hom about his extraordinary life through food. Par...
Behind the Scenes at BBC Food and Farming Awards 2014
04 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The first of two-part special on the prestigious BBC Food and Farming Awards - now in its 14th year on Radio 4 and being hosted in Bristol for the fir...
Plantains and pleasure; Jamaican food in the UK
27 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Hayward on the evolution of Jamaican food in the UK with chefs and cooks in Bristol.
A Tribute to Derek Cooper
22 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon pays tribute to the late Derek Cooper who started The Food Programme back in 1979 and changed the face of food broadcasting and journali...
Food in Northern Ireland: A Golden Era?
13 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon meets Northern Ireland's chefs and producers leading a food renaissance.
Raw Milk
06 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
With a Food Standards Agency consultation underway, Sheila Dillon and guests discuss the controversial subject of raw milk. Banned in Scotland in 1983...
Wild Beer
30 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino meets the brewers transforming the flavours and styles of the British craft beer scene. From experiments with seaweed to efforts to find ...
Micro-Bakeries
23 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The rise and rise of the micro-bakery. How home baked bread became a business opportunity.
Hospital Food
16 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon investigates the government's latest plans to improve food in the NHS. The government is introducing a new incentive to encourage hospit...
BBC Food & Farming Awards: Meet the Finalists
10 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
A special edition introducing the producers, farmers and cooks who have made it through to the final stage of 2014's BBC Food & Farming Awards, fe...
A Renaissance for Butchers?
02 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon examines the state of the Butchery profession to find out how it has weathered the storm since the horsemeat scandal. She asks how our c...
The Future of Fairtrade
23 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Hill reports on the future of Fairtrade as the label marks its 20th anniversary. Some are arguing that a new initiative is weakening the found...
Really Wild Food
16 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon interviews the team behind the BBC's Natural History Unit to uncover the strangest collection of food stories from around the world. Fro...
Claudia Roden: A Life Through Food
09 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In 1968 Claudia Roden published her first book, 'A Book of Middle Eastern Food', and with it introduced many people to an unfamiliar food culture.When...
Britain and the Ready Meal
04 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Ready meals divide Britain, some love them, others think they're a problem for our health and wellbeing and a major culprit in de-skilling us in the k...
Greek Yogurt: a global love affair
26 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In the Great Taste Awards last year, a yogurt from a small British dairy beat over 10,000 competitors to win the Supreme Champion title. This surprise...
Food and the Future of Pubs
19 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon hears the latest on the role of food in the future of the British pub. From traditional Asian curries to the influence of Michelin starr...
Three inspirational cooks
12 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon revisits the inspirational caterers from the very first BBC Food & Farming Awards. They share stories of cooking for people with can...
The best of British food and farming.... the search begins
05 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon, chef Richard Corrigan and food writer and broadcaster Valentine Warner help launch the 2014 BBC Food & Farming Awards. From the UK'...
Fish & Chips
03 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon explores a renaissance in the great British fish and chip shop, with the help of food blogger Daniel Young.At Upton Chippy near Gainsbor...
100 years of Elizabeth David
29 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon and Tim Hayward discuss the legacy of Elizabeth David 100 years after her birth. The iconic food writer is credited for bringing Mediter...
Nutmeg: The Smell of Christmas?
22 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
For cook and author Nigel Slater, 'Nutmeg and citrus are the scents of Christmas' but Sheila Dillon needs convincing.Together they look at the versati...
Bovril
08 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Cambridge University historian Lesley Steinitz explains the pioneering story of Bovril. From its beginnings at the end of the 19th Century there are m...
Alice Waters, a Delicious Revolution
01 Dec 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The Californian chef and campaigner Alice Waters shares her story with Sheila Dillon; from early life in the 1960's counter-culture to influencing the...
Cook Books
27 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Cookery Books of 2013.Ahead of the Christmas shopping season Sheila Dillon reviews this year's best cook books. Sheila is joined by comedian Stephen K...
Why is Grimsby's smoked fish special?
18 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Fenland celery has recently joined a select list of only fifty-five British foods to achieve the same EU protection as champagne, stilton and Melton M...
The Sugarman of Brazil
10 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Leontino Balbo - The Sugarman of Brazil. The incredible story of one maverick farmer who is trying to change the way we produce our food.David Baker b...
Horsemeat - a Food Programme update
05 Nov 2013
Contributed by Lukas
In January of this year the Food Standards Agency confirmed results showing horsemeat had been found in supermarket burgers. Over the next few days an...
Restaurant Reviews
28 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Restaurant reviews - who can we trust? Sheila Dillon investigates online review sites, newspaper reviews and guidelines to try and discover the impart...
Cider: Britain's Most Misunderstood Drink?
21 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Award winning drinks writer Pete Brown joins Sheila Dillon to explain why bottles of cider should be the drink of choice on the UK's dinner tables.A c...
The Great British Hop
13 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Three decades ago Miles Warde worked on a hop farm in Herefordshire. Split shifts, tractors with lights, and when you weren't sleeping you'd be in the...
Cook Slow, Cook Fast
07 Oct 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon meets a new generation of cooks using slow and pressure cookers. Sales of slow cookers and pressure cookers have increased over the past...
The School Food Plan
30 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The School Food Plan, written by Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, aims to increase take-up of school meals, improve the quality of food served and tac...
A Quiet Food Revolution: The Story of Myrtle and Darina Allen
22 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Myrtle and Darina Allen, revolutionised food in Ireland with their cooking. From pioneering restaurants to groundbreaking farmers' markets, Dan Saladi...
Booze-free Bars
16 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Booze Free Bars - With an increasing number of us giving up alcohol, new bars are popping up across the country to provide an alternative to pub drink...
The Future of Street Food
08 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Can street food change the world? Richard Johnson looks at ideas being tried around the world, from food carts setting up in "food deserts" to night t...
DIY Food
02 Sep 2013
Contributed by Lukas
DIY Foods - Tim Hayward meets the people taking ambitious food production into their own hands. Andy Mahoney makes his own cheese in the spare room of...
In Praise of Bacon
25 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
An Ode To The Bacon Butty. Hardeep Singh Kohli's personal plea to the nation to reflect on a food of wonder: bacon. Hardeep goes on a roadtrip around ...
Feeding the Detectives
18 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino looks at how food has increasingly become a big ingredient in crime fiction.
A World Stage for Food and Music
11 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Every year at the WOMAD festival, one tent in a field in Wiltshire becomes the venue for a remarkable meeting of food and music. Solo artists and band...
The Banana - fascinating history, uncertain future
05 Aug 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon asks why the future of the UK's most popular fruit, the banana, is uncertain.Producer: Emma Weatherill.
Skint Foodies
28 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon meets the cooks specialising in great food on small budgets, part of a world of food blogging influenced by life of benefits, periods of...
Rethinking Veganism
21 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The word 'vegan' has for the nearly seventy years of its existence - represented a diet and a way of eating that has not captured hearts - or stomachs...
Valentine Warner and Magnus Nilsson's Food Exchange, Part 2
14 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of their exchange of food stories Magnus Nilsson invites Valentine Warner to venture into the lakes of Sweden's Jamtland in search of wild...
Valentine Warner and Magnus Nilsson's Food Exchange
07 Jul 2013
Contributed by Lukas
In a two part special Valentine Warner and Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson swap food stories from their own very different food cultures.Magnus Nilsson co...
Butter, a delicious story of decline and revival
30 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon meets a new generation of producers making butter special again.
Food, game changers and career movers
23 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon looks at the award winners who are leaving high flying careers to follow their passions and dreams in food productionProducer: Maggie Ay...
The chocolate world of Mott Green
16 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
The story of Mott Green, cocoa farmer and chocolate maker, who was changing the industry one bar at a time.Born in New York, this gifted engineer and ...
Bereavement and Food
09 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
In the throes of bereavement food can seem unimportant. People lose both their appetite and their sense of taste. But food and cooking can also play a...
Michael Pollan: Why Cooking Matters
04 Jun 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon speaks to the writer Michael Pollan on the craft, science and pleasures of cooking. In his new book, Cooked, "a love letter to cooking",...
Sugar: Pure, White and Deadly?
28 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon finds out why the debate about the role of sugar in our lives is hotting up. Recent books and news stories have re-awoken a forty year d...
Food, Cancer and Well-Being
19 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon asks if food and nutrition should have a bigger role in treating cancer. Is the medical profession too reluctant to see food as an essen...
A Life Through Wine: Jancis Robinson
16 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Jancis Robinson remembers the specific bottle of wine which ignited her passion for both drinking wine and writing about it. She began reviewing for t...
Digital Dishes - life stories through recipes
05 May 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Inside one kitchen in Bristol, thirteen strangers from all over Europe gathered to share food and stories about food. The Food Programme was there to ...
Black Pudding v Boudin Noir
30 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Campion reports from Normandy in France as he helps judge the world black pudding championships, which features entries from Japanese, Austria...
Food on the Road
21 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
There's an army of lorries at work right now, transporting food and other goods all over the country. They keep food on our shelves and without them t...
Chilli Britannia
18 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Hayward bites into Britain's growing chilli scene, from growers to expert eaters and those who like their chillies red hot.Producer: Maggie Ayre.
Madhur Jaffrey, a life through food
08 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon meets Madhur Jaffrey, Indian cooking legend, who's just returned from the sub-continent on her latest adventures into its vast food cult...
Fasting, old and new
01 Apr 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon looks at the practice of fasting - then and now - from a religious and medical perspectiveProducer: Maggie Ayre.
Marmalade
25 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Each January, with the arrival of the seville oranges, hundreds of people across the UK ritually boil and jar batches of marmalade, following family r...
Our Changing Taste
18 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon looks at how our sense of taste develops throughout our lifetimes, and what happens when we lose it, through old age, illness or injury....
Forest foods, Africa's secret ingredients
11 Mar 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon explores Africa's forest foods, both an emergency larder and source of wonderful flavours.With the support of Comic Relief and funds rai...
The Death of Three Square Meals?
25 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Hectic lifestyles are increasing the demand for ready-made, 'grab n go' convenient foods. Today's time pressed commuters buy bagels at the station or ...
Garlic, the wonder bulb
20 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
It's an ingredient that is key to many cuisines of the world, and has a prominent role in folklore and traditional medical systems- although some peop...
Food on a Pension
15 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon investigates the food lives of people surviving on the basic state pension. To fully understand the experience of living on a small inco...
Horsemeat Scandal: A Food Programme Special
11 Feb 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon reports on fresh developments in the horsemeat scandal. As more tests reveal large amounts of horsemeat in beef products, Sheila investi...
Food in the life of Sir Paul McCartney
28 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon with an exclusive food interview with former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney. More than thirty years since becoming a vegetarian he reflects o...
Horsemeat and the Irish burger scandal
21 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Ireland's horsemeat burger scandal makes the guarantees on traceability and product standards by some supermarkets look unreliable. The discovery may ...
Traffic light labels
14 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Traffic light labelling - whether red lights will stop us eating bad foods. Sheila Dillon investigates whether this year's change in food labelling wi...
From Our Own Food Correspondent
04 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon presents a special New Year, "From our Own Food Correspondent" with stories from China, France, Italy, Britain and the United States tha...
The cocktail, old and new
02 Jan 2013
Contributed by Lukas
Dan Saladino explores the cocktail, a story which begins with 18th century Indian punch and keeps on evolving with new wave flavours being developed i...
Christmas Necessary Pleasures
23 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Christmas Necessary Pleasures - Sheila Dillon hears from leading chefs and writers on their favourite Christmas foods.Jamie Oliver, Angela Hartnett an...
Cheap Veg
17 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Cheap veg - the surprising stories behind humble British vegetables. Sheila Dillon enlists three experts to uncover the hidden side of our veggies. Et...
09/12/2012
10 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Sheila Dillon looks at the role food plays in different faiths and how increasingly churches, temples and mosques are being tasked with feeding people...
A Winning Meal - The BBC Food Awards menu
03 Dec 2012
Contributed by Lukas
A Winning Meal - the menu behind the Food and Farming Awards. Chef, Arthur Potts-Dawson tells the story behind a celebratory meal created using ingred...
Rethinking the hot dog
26 Nov 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Originally the street food of German immigrants to the United States, the hot dog was the original artisan sausage in the late nineteenth century befo...