Food Matters Live Podcast

Over the past few years there has been increasing public discussion of mental health.   The food industry is a big part of this trend, with foods, supplements and nutraceuticals promising to boost energy, aid concentration, and banish lethargy. The relationship between nutrition and mood is complex.   So increasing our understanding of this area seems really important, not just for consumers hopin...

Whichever way you look at it, Freya Cox is a trailblazer. In 2021 she was the first vegan baker to appear on the popular TV cooking show The Great British Bake Off. She took part in the gruelling filming schedule whilst studying for a degree in psychology and since the show, she has built a huge online profile. Freya is no shrinking violet. A quick look at her Instagram account shows her penchant...

Ever since wine production began 8,000 years ago, people have suggested it can do remarkable things. Whether it increases courage, passion, happiness, is good for your heart, bad for your heart, good for your mental health, bad for your mental health, claims and counter claims are still made to this day. But in this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we are looking at the evidence, not the...

For many, 2022 has felt like a very long year. Even after the turmoil of 2020 and 2021, the last 12 months have been particularly difficult, and last Christmas seems like a very long time ago. On the positive side, there has been possibly more innovation, ideas and forward thinking in the food sector than ever before. Stacked up against that have been an incredible number of challenges. Drought ,...

Jamie Keeble is the man behind one of the most recognisable sausage brands in the UK. HECK products are seen on supermarket shelves up and down the country and, for Jamie, it is a lifelong passion. By his own admission, he struggled at school, and went to work in the family business making sausages. In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, recorded in front of a live audience as...

How well crops take up and use nutrients from the soil is of vital importance, in terms of crop yield, soil health, and the wider environment. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, made in partnership with Anglo American , we investigate why nutrient use efficiency is taking on evermore importance in the world of farming. The increased global demand for food and the depletion of many n...

In this episodes of the Food Matters Live podcast, Stefan meets Grace Dent. Grace is a restaurant critic, broadcaster, author and podcaster. She is well known to audiences in the UK in particular, having written for the Guardian and Evening Standard newspapers, making regular appearances on MasterChef, and presenting The Untold, a series on BBC Radio 4. She has also written a number of novels and...

"You wouldn't have wanted to have been my friend when I was at school," says Club Soda Founder, Laura Willoughby. " I'd have had you doing all sorts of things." Laura describes herself as a doer: "When I see a problem, I want to fix it." That level of drive has seen her career move in a number of different directions, but always with politics and social change playing some role. In this episode of...

In 2015 a book was published that, for millions, was their first introduction to the gut microbiome. “ The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat ” looks at the relationship between microbes, genetics, and diet. A few years later, along came “ Spoon-Fed ” – a book which claimed to expose the bad science behind many government diet recommendations. The author of both is, of course, Tim Spec...

Eating food is one of the most multisensory, emotional experiences we can have.    It is not something we are always that conscious of, but the smell of food cooking in the lead up to mealtime can take you back to your childhood , and the taste of a certain meal can transport you halfway around the world to a holiday that lives somewhere in the depths of your memory. Even on a day-to-day basis, ta...

2023 looks set to be another challenging year, and rising to those challenges is going to require innovation and new thinking about how the global food industry feeds a growing population. This episode Food Matters Live podcast is part of a short series shining a light on some of the start-ups who are shaping the future of the food industry. They are the big thinkers, with big ideas about how to s...

Sophie Medlin is quite clear about why she loves her job as a dietitian so much. For her, it is all about making a difference to people's lives, something she describes as giving her "the best job satisfaction". Sophie has her own practice, City Dietitians , and is the London Chair of the British Dietetic Association. In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, recorded in front of...

2023 looks set to be another challenging year, and rising to those challenges is going to require innovation and new thinking about how the global food industry feeds a growing population. This episode Food Matters Live podcast is part of a short series shining a light on some of the start-ups who are shaping the future of the food industry. They are the big thinkers, with big ideas about how to s...

We could be heading for a shortage of carbon dioxide.  Yes, you read that right, despite carbon emissions hitting record levels in 2022, CO2 for use in the food and drink industry is in short supply. CO2 is used all across the sector, soft drink production of course, but also meat processing, brewing, baking, and many many others But with the soaring price of natural gas, dwindling supply, and the...

Good nutrition is vital during pregnancy, but how do you separate the myth from the science-based fact? During the time between conception and birth, there are significant changes in the body’s nutritional requirements. But of course there is no one-size-fits-all approach.   Changes during pregnancy are far-reaching and every woman requires different nutrition based on their body, their lifestyle,...

Shiada Drysdale is a high-flyer, and not just because she works for Virgin Atlantic . As the company's Beverage Lead for Inflight Services, she selects the drinks that appear on all of Virgin's flights. There is so much thought and research that goes into the selection of drinks you get on a flight, and it is Shiada's job to make sure what's on offer is the perfect fit. That manifests itself in a...

What is the state of the relationship between consumers and the food industry? What do consumers think about the food they eat? How safe do they consider the food they buy to be? And what can the food industry learn from tracking consumer behaviour? In the UK, many of those questions can be answered by looking at the results of the Food Standards Agency's flagship Food and You 2 Survey . We all ha...

The hormones which charge around in our bloodstream are incredibly influential, but what role can nutrition play in regulating them? We are probably most familiar with oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone, the female and male sex hormones But they are just part of a vast endocrine system, affecting our bodies in countless ways. Things like appetite, metabolism, sleep, reproduction, body temper...

Sometimes the best ideas are born out of necessity, and that is exactly what happened for Jessica Harris, Founder of Little Bandits . Her journey into the food industry began when her son was diagnosed with a severe allergy to cow's milk. She had never worked with food before but was driven to create her own products after being disappointed with the free-from range that was on offer for children...

How concerned are consumers with what is included on food and drink labels? To some, it might sound like something regulators are more concerned about than shoppers. But a European survey shows more than 80% of consumers believe product information is of major importance. So, it is crucial that food and drink producers get them right. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, which is part...

The United Nations Climate Change Conference is underway in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we are taking stock to ask the food industry about its hopes for COP27. We have spoken to key figures from the sector to ask them: - What they want to see achieved - How hopeful they are that meaningful change can come about - Whether or not the food industry gets...

To mark National School Meals Week in the UK, the Food Matters Live podcast is making a series of episodes looking at the challenges around providing nutritious food for our children in the school canteen . In recent episodes, we have heard from the school caterer’s trade body, LACA , about the challenges they are facing , and from School Food Matters , a charity fighting to improve school meals....

To mark National School Meals Week in the UK, the Food Matters Live podcast is making a series of episodes looking at the challenges around providing nutritious food for our children in the school canteen . In the last episode, we heard from the school caterer’s trade body LACA , about the challenges they are facing from rising costs and supply chain issues. There is no denying the difficulties be...

To mark National School Meals Week in the UK, the Food Matters Live podcast is making a series of episodes looking at the challenges around providing nutritious food for our children in the school canteen . School meals are under pressure. Rising costs and supply chain issues are leading to some providers saying they will have to change their menus. So what does that mean for the food that is prov...

What is it like to work for one of the most well-known and growing brands in the food industry? That's exactly the position Dr David Lloyd, Senior Research and Development Manager at Huel , finds himself in. In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, the first to be recorded in front of a live studio audience as part of our Inspiring Careers in Food Series of events, he reveals al...