The Food Programme

Sheila Dillon investigates how emergency foods are made for disasters, droughts and wars. Companies developing meals for the crisis in the Horn of Africa explain their latest work. Sheila also visits one of the biggest emergency food hubs in the world, The United Nations' World Food Programme base in Brindisi in Southern Italy. From one warehouse, food for hundreds of thousands of people can be st...

Sheila Dillon investigates the issue of trans-fats in our food, and asks whether a voluntary agreement by the food industry to eliminate them by the end of the year is enough to prevent the kind of health problems associated with a diet heavy in industrial cooking fats.

Ben Weatherall farms rare Blackface sheep and Galloway cattle on his remote hill farm near Dumfries, and aims to rear his animals with as little input as possible. He's one of a number of people working to keep food traditions alive in the Scottish Borders. Following the River Nith downhill, as the animals will be doing later in the year, Sheila Dillon also meets Jim Henderson who has overseen the...

Food writer Tim Hayward investigates a new wave of food entrepreneurship started by professionals seeking a second career or life change, often due to redundancy. Can the food industry sustain this new creative bubble?

Cornish based chef Sanjay Kumar goes on a cooking mission to Italy to save the Cornish sardine. The pilchard and its young offspring the sardine used to be the basis of a thriving fishing and processing industry in Cornwall. In the late 19th century nearly 20 thousand tonnes of sardine was caught, salted, packed and sent to northern Italy where it was highly prized. By the end of the 20th century...

Since the National Trust began its campaign put food towards the top of its agenda, how far have its efforts to change the way we think about food progressed?

The burger is one of the world's most popular foods and it made meat eating affordable for millions, but it also became the food that symbolised many of the failings of the world's modern food system. Sheila Dillon looks at a new attempt to revive its reputation as a quality food. This new "burger scene" where immense care is taken with sourcing the meat and using the right cuts, reflects not only...

The Food Programme investigates whether the Great British food renaissance is over. With food prices rising and consumer confidence falling, has the UK's good food bubble burst? Sheila Dillon visits the Real Food Festival at Earls Court in London. It is a showcase for producers of fine food, and so a perfect indicator of how premium food products and sales are faring in the current economic downtu...

Sheila Dillon reveals the secrets behind some of the world's great vinegars. Traditionally, the home of balsamic vinegar is Modena in Italy. But now there is a new breed of British producers who are turning their hands to making this viscous dark brown condiment, as well as others who are producing a sumptuous array of fruit vinegars. Sheila Dillon hears from the producers, both in Italy and in th...

With coffee prices at a 30 year high Sheila Dillon traces the money we pay for a cup along the supply chain and also hears how it raises big questions for Fairtrade. Recently the price for coffee on the world market broke through the important $3.00 barrier. Just a few years ago prices were as low as 60 cents. Speculation from investors is one reason, but other factors like growing demand for coff...

Investigating every aspect of the food we eat. Presented by Sheila Dillon. Produced by Rebecca Moore.

Simon Parkes explores the connection between Royal wedding banquets and British food. From historic feasts with hundreds of lavish dishes, to present day 'austerity'. A visit to the Tudor kitchens of Hampton Court palace reveals the scale and grandeur of wedding feasts of the past. Power, wealth and their display was all-important, and food was a central part of this. Huge marzipan sculptures, mod...

Margate's Food Stories - Pie Days and Holidays. The Food Programme follows Sophie Herxheimer an artist who collects and draws food stories. For four months she has been travelling around the seaside town of Margate in the south east to bring people's food memories to life through art. Her aim is to create an exhibition and a book to celebrate the people of the town and give them an opportunity to...

Borough Market, in south east London has been, and is, a food phenomenon. It took off in the 1990s, riding in the wake of the BSE outbreak that had led to a new interest in the source of our food. As it developed it looked as though a few seedy acres on the south bank of the Thames were going to give us, for the first time in decades, a market as good as the very best in France, Spain or Italy. An...

Sheila Dillon looks at the role of food producers and farmers in combating the Sicilian mafia. The Sicilian "Cosa Nostra" emerged around the citrus groves of Palermo in the 19th century as control of farming and food production fell into the hands of estate managers and middle men. From that time the influence of the mafia over food production and distribution on the island has been extensive. In...

Sheila Dillon explores a food story behind the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. In 1861 Italians came together as one nation, but does food reveal a different story? Sheila travels to Sicily where she hears how the island's powerful food culture is seen as evidence by some of disappointment with the creation of a nation state. She meets food historian Mary Taylor Simeti who explains how m...

Natural Wine is the latest buzz in the wine world but what is it? Sheila Dillon discusses and samples this chemical and additive-free "new" wine that was in fact quaffed by the Ancient Romans. Producer: Dilly Barlow.

In France there is no shame in shopping in Picard. The specialist frozen food chain commands 18% of the french frozen market by selling quality frozen food to meet the needs of a time poor, food loving bourgeoisie. Simon Parkes explores today's frozen food market, and asks if our own frozen sector could follow their lead? Natalie Berg, Global Research Director of Planet Retail looks at current tre...

Food writer Tim Hayward goes in search of British charcuterie - the preserved meat that we tend to think of as Contintental. He finds that making it is thriving and closer to its origins in the home than he had expected. He meets a couple whose hobby smoking meats has turned into a career; a shopkeeper, a publican and a restaurateur who cure hams and salamis on the premises for customers, and a pi...

Simon Parkes reports from Japan on new ideas being developed for the future of the nation's food supplies. Producer: Dan Saladino.

Sheila Dillon investigates the role malt plays in our drinks and diet. Malt has been around for millennia and is a natural ingredient in many but many people won't realise how ubiquitous it is. As well as being the foundation of beer and whisky, its flavour and richness makes it a favourite for uses in bakery, breakfast cereals and confectionary as well as being an important export for the country...

Food and the coalition. How does the government intend to change the way Britain eats? Sheila Dillon interviews Health Secretary Andrew Lansley. Producer: Dan Saladino.

Filtered, homogenised, standardised, raw, full fat, low fat - what is milk? Sheila Dillon teases out this seemingly simple question with Professor Peter Atkins, author of Liquid Materialities: A History of Milk, Science and the Law, who charts the changing stuff that we call milk. Today's milk reflects today's interests, charted by Mintel in their most recent intelligence report on milk and cream,...

Sheila Dillon explores the past present and future of cooking and food preparation in the school curriculum. She learns how it was introduced in the 1800s to educate girls for domestic service and is now part of the design and technology syllabus. Sheila looks at two approaches to food education in a primary and a secondary school and hears from interested parties the reasons for making cooking co...

Sheila Dillon investigates some of the food stories behind Ireland's economic collapse and asks what role food will play in deciding the Republic's future?