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PODCAST

The Food Chain

BBC World Service

The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate.

arts food

All Episodes

27:10

Banh mi: A sandwich with a story

The Food Chain ·

2023/08/16

The banh mi is a staple street food in Vietnam and increasingly popular around the world. But how did it come to be a global sensation? In this edition of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander discovers how the signature sandwich - invented during the French occupation of Vietnam in the 1950s - went on to become popular around the world after the end of the Vietnam war. Ruth explores the traces of French history and politics found in the sandwich ingredients with former French diplomat to Vietnam Dr

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33:14

The Little Italy story

The Food Chain ·

2023/08/09

Italian food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world, but how did it first make its way out of Italy? In this edition of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander uncovers stories of migration, food culture and legacy in the Italian diaspora. Academic Donna Gabaccia explains why millions of Italians left their home country in the 1800s, creating new communities around the world that came to be known as ‘Little Italy’. Ruth visits one of them, in London’s Clerkenwell, to discover its history and how a

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31:41

This kid cooks

The Food Chain ·

2023/08/02

At what age should you start teaching children to cook, and why should you? In this programme, Ruth Alexander meets children and young people who are talented in the kitchen, making the case for why it might be worth the time and the mess to trust them to make dinner. We travel to the north-west of England to Sefton Carers Centre to meet Paige Jones, aged nine, who cares and cooks for her mum, Rachel, who has a health condition. Food writer Jenny Chandler, who has authored two cookbooks for

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32:09

Immersive dining

The Food Chain ·

2023/07/26

Immersive dining has become something of a culinary craze in recent years.As well as serving food, restaurants are providing multi-sensory experiences for customers; transforming their dining spaces into places where people can escape. In this edition of The Food Chain, we take a look at immersive dining establishments around the world, exploring why customers are increasingly choosing to be entertained while they eat, and asking – is this dining trend a bit of a fad, or is it the future of

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31:36

Africa's forgotten foods

The Food Chain ·

2023/07/19

The African continent is seeing one of the fastest rates of urbanisation in the world. As people move to cities, and lifestyles change, so do diets. Many indigenous ingredients and dishes become hard to source and prepare. Others become associated with rural or village ways of life and are no longer seen as sufficiently aspirational. In this programme, Michael Kaloki finds out about traditional dishes at risk of being forgotten. He cooks with his Aunty Naomi to learn about dishes from his own

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26:34

What the wedding caterer is really thinking

The Food Chain ·

2023/07/12

Going to a wedding this year? Spare a thought for the caterers - expected to put on ever-more elaborate feasts in ever-more challenging conditions. In this episode, three wedding caterers - in India, the US and the UK - share anecdotes about demanding guests, make-shift hillside kitchens and emergency trips to hospital. Warning: if you’re a bride- or groom-to-be, this programme might just give you a case of the jitters. You can share your tales of wedding banquet triumphs and disasters by emailing

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27:15

How I learnt to cook

The Food Chain ·

2023/07/05

Out of necessity, in adversity, or for the fun of it - how, and why did you learn to cook? Ruth Alexander hears the stories behind people’s kitchen skills - the highs, the lows, the challenges overcome, and the connections made – and discovers there’s often more than just dinner at stake. Growing up in Germany to Japanese parents, chef Nina Matsunaga remembers having to step up to the stove when her mother was taken ill; the eldest of three boys in Cameroon, Timah Julius Nyambod made breakfast and

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28:42

How did salt get so gourmet?

The Food Chain ·

2023/06/28

Salt has been a staple ingredient in cooking and preserving food for thousands of years. It adds flavour to food, preserves it, and keeps our bodies functioning. In recent years, gourmet brands have emerged and some consumers have been willing to pay higher prices for rock and sea salts. Ruth Alexander finds out how this trend started and asks whether there’s anything special about speciality salts. She speaks to Jess Lea-Wilson, Ronan Burns and Rob Jardine about how Halen Mon seasalt is made in

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30:23

Can you feed a city from its rooftops?

The Food Chain ·

2023/06/21

Could our office, apartment and public buildings also be farms? In this programme, Ruth Alexander meets the pioneers of rooftop farming, turning concrete into green spaces where fruit and vegetables are grown. We find out about the logistics, the challenges, and whether it has the potential to feed city populations. In Barcelona, Spain, she meets Joan Carulla, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday. Joan has been tending his private rooftop vegetable garden for fifty years with the help of his

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27:20

The power of heritage brands

The Food Chain ·

2023/06/14

Tabasco sauce, Lea and Perrins, Angostura Bitters. Those are a few of a very select number of sauces, condiments and tipples that have weathered changing tastes and trends over the years, even outliving their founders.How do some brands manage to survive for 100, 150 or 200 years?In this programme, David Reid lifts the lid on some of these store cupboard stalwarts to reveal the secrets of their longevity, heritage appeal, and what happens when a company tries to ‘tweak’ a winning recipe.If you’d

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34:04

How did TV cooking competitions get so big?

The Food Chain ·

2023/06/07

Television cookery competitions are big business – drawing audiences in their millions over multiple series. How did they become such a successful format? In this programme we go behind the scenes with competitors and judges. Ruth Alexander speaks to chef Simon Wood, who won the BBC’s 'Masterchef' in 2015 and today runs two restaurants of his own in the United Kingdom; New York based chef Marcus Samuelsson, who has both competed in and appeared as a judge in multiple different shows including 'Top

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30:51

Let’s take a lunch break!

The Food Chain ·

2023/05/31

A lunch break can tell you quite a lot about a country’s work culture; ranging from two-hour, luxuriant pauses in some parts of the world, to a couple of minutes, snack-in-hand at a desk, in others. For decades, people have built up camaraderie by meeting informally and in person, but technology and the pandemic have changed that. In this programme, Ruth Alexander goes in search of the meaning and purpose of the lunch break; from power lunches in the heady world of international finance, to a

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27:33

Teaching tomorrow's chefs

The Food Chain ·

2023/05/24

Why go to culinary school when you could learn on the job? Three trained chefs-turned teachers make the case for learning the basics and getting a qualification that could open doors in a competitive world. In this programme Ruth Alexander hears what it takes to be a great culinary teacher. She speaks to Gary Maclean, Executive Chef at City of Glasgow College in the UK, he’s Scotland’s national chef and won the BBC’s Masterchef the Professionals in 2016; Suzanne Storms, Assistant Professor at the

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29:20

Is the food you’re eating what you think it is?

The Food Chain ·

2023/05/17

How can you be sure you’re eating what you think you’re eating? In most cases, food fraud won’t make you ill, but you won’t be getting quite what you’re paying for. In this programme, Ruth Alexander hears why high food prices and the war in Ukraine mean food fraud is more likely to happen. She visits a laboratory in Belfast in Northern Ireland, where food products are analysed to sort what’s real and what’s fake, and she speaks to a food fraud investigator who tells us just how difficult it is to

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30:43

Should we farm octopus?

The Food Chain ·

2023/05/10

The world’s first octopus farm is being planned by a Spanish seafood multinational. The intelligent creatures are difficult to rear in captivity, but numerous companies around the world have been trying and Nueva Pescanova has announced it’s close to making an octopus farm a reality. Scientists and animal welfare groups have objected to the plans. Nueva Pescanova says the company’s priority is to guarantee animal welfare by applying to the cultivation process the conditions of the species in the

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30:52

A dish fit for the King

The Food Chain ·

2023/05/03

The crowning of a British monarch calls for an official dish. In 1953, for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, it was a curry and mayonnaise chicken dish. This time around, King Charles III has selected a quiche - the principle of the shareable tart being to inspire the public to join in a celebratory lunch. It may sound fairly simple, but as Ruth Alexander discovers in this programme, a lot lies behind the commemorative dish. Ruth asks why the new King wants his crowning moment to be marked with

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31:48

The growth of GM food

The Food Chain ·

2023/04/26

Genetically-modified food has long been a subject of debate. It was first introduced to market in the United States in the mid 90s. Since then, some governments have approved the cultivation and sale of GM food, whilst others have had bans in place. In this programme, we look at attempts by India and Kenya to approve genetically-modified food crops, and ask if lessons can be learnt from the United States where GM foods have been consumed for decades. Today there are lots of different

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31:48

How AI could design our diets

The Food Chain ·

2023/04/21

Every day, humans make multiple choices about what to eat. Some of those decisions will be better for our health than others - but what if we allowed a machine to decide for us? In this programme, Adam Shaw explores what would happen if we let artificial intelligence (AI) design our diets and whether that might improve our health. Adam visits a laboratory in the UK to meet AI researcher Dr James Neil, from the Centre for Nutrition Education & Lifestyle Management, whose company is developing

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35:16

Is this the end of the British caff?

The Food Chain ·

2023/04/12

The British "caff" - slang for café, and home of the breakfast fry up, or "full english" - is under threat. Many have closed, struggling to compete with changing tastes and the success of chains. Many of Britain’s historic caffs opened in the 1940s and 50s, run by Italian migrants. Some of these original caffs are still trading, run by second and third generation Italian families. In this programme Ruth Alexander hears stories of the famous caffs that have closed for good, and goes in search of

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30:19

Can small farms feed the world?

The Food Chain ·

2023/04/05

What’s the best way to produce affordable food, that’s good for the planet, and can feed us all? Is it even possible to have all three? In this programme, Grace Livingstone visits small and large farms in England and Argentina. She hears the case made for organic farming, and asks if it’s feasible for organic farms to produce enough food to feed a country. At a larger farm, she hears about why farmers rely on fertilisers and herbicides to produce large volumes of affordable food. Is it possible to

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