Food Matters Live Podcast

Stu Henshall has cooking in his bones, but it didn't always look as though he would end up being Executive Chef at two of the world's biggest meat-free brands. His early years were spent helping out his mum and dad, who owned a farm and a restaurant. He tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, that he learned a lot in those early days, as much about front-of-ho...

The history of English wine has been a bumpy one, and it starts much further back than many people would believe. There is evidence that the Romans grew grapes for wine in English soil some 2,000 years ago. For many hundreds of years after that there have been numerous attempts to make English wine the preferred choice amongst drinkers, with varying degrees of success. In fact, its fair to say tha...

Blair Bowman thinks there is something magic about whisky, and when you look into its history, it's hard to argue with him. "A single cask, single malt whisky, is totally unique," he tells Stefan Gates in this episode of the Table Talk podcast. "The fact that a cask is organic, means every cask is different. If you try one that you like and there's only going to be 200 bottles from that cask, once...

"I really love to see a client that's satisfied," says Tessa Anderson . "That they're in a much better position than when I first met them." Tessa is a qualified food technologist and is Managing Director of Pack Copy Sent Consultancy . She knows just about everything there is to know about food regulations and labelling , and helps companies get their consumable products safely approved for sale....

For years, the Netherlands has had a particularly important role to play in the global food system - but how is that role changing as sustainability becomes an ever more pressing issue ? The Dutch food production system has historically been the envy of the world, a small country but a big exporter. That has usually meant some pretty intensive farming practices , but now the Netherlands is becomin...

Whenever there's a conversation taking place about the cutting edge of the food industry, the name of one country keeps cropping up - Israel . Whether it's discussing plant-based innovations , start-ups and investment, or lab-grown meat, we’re always drawn back to Israel. For a long time, home to a sparkling array of hi-tech industry, and now a global centre of food and agri-tech.     But why is I...

"I feel privileged to be occupying a role... where you get to be emersed in all the brand love," says Micah Douglas, Content and Community Manager at Tony's Chocolonely . Micah has only be in the role for two-and-a-half years but he can't speak highly enough of the place. In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, he reveals all about how he ended up working for at the chocolate c...

After two years of a pandemic, and the massive behaviour change it forced on all of us, how do companies in the food industry look to the future and identify opportunities for positive innovation? In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, made in partnership with Accenture , we talk to the people behind the influential Fjord Trends report to find out. Fjord Trends 2022 might be the most fascinati...

The right to food is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but in 2019 in the UK 5m people were living in food poverty . Many of those affected are children, and in this episode of the Table Talk podcast, we meet two extraordinary teenagers who are campaigning to make the food system fairer for everyone. Yumna Hussen and Saffron Stedall are both Young Food Ambassadors for the Fo...

Max Tobias is co-founder of The Dusty Knuckle , a social enterprise bakery in London. "It's not for the feint-heart," he tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series. Max says the jobs is "very demanding" and really is a 24/7 endeavour: "People need their daily bread." It's fair to say Max has been slogging his guts out along with his two best friends to set up a co...

There are fewer challenges bigger than trying to transform the global food system to make people and the planet healthier, but for Dr Gunhild Stordalen it's a challenge worth taking on. In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates meets the founder of non-profit organisation EAT to discuss what motivates her, and how she stays driven to achieve her goals in the face of stiff opposition...

When Ben Christopherson was travelling, shortly after going to catering college, he knew he wanted to work in pastry - but nobody would let him have a go. "On the continent they just would not let you in the pastry kitchen if you didn't have experience or a qualification. I didn't have either of those," he tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, made in associ...

Millions of Muslims around the world have been marking the holy month of Ramadan, with celebrations reaching a crescendo with Eid al-Fitr . Food is central to Ramadan, and in this episode of the Table Talk podcast, we look at some of the history and tradition, but also the vital role of nutrition. We also pose some questions: Is the food industry in the UK doing enough to cater for people observin...

Just how important is the history of beer when it comes to looking at the history of human civilisation? It might seem like a flippant question, but there's evidence that beer-making has played a crucial role in our species' past. The art of beer making is thought to go back as much as 12,000 years, with different cultures and societies all around the world brewing their own varieties. In this epi...

What's it like to be Head of Sustainability at a huge company like Nestlé UK and Ireland ? To mark Earth Day 2022 , we've been speaking to the woman who holds that role, Dr Emma Keller. Emma started out doing a biology degree at Imperial College London but, by her own admission, "was useless in a laboratory". She says that's when she realised she was "much more interested in the bigger picture, th...

Could adopting a climatarian diet be the biggest single change each of us could make to reduce global warming ? It's a big question, and possibly a big change for many of us, but James Hand, Co-Founder of Giki Zero , thinks it could have the biggest impact. In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, James sets out why and attempts to bust some myths around climatarian diets. He says that the avera...

The destruction of tropical rainforests to make way for palm oil plantations is a growing environmental crisis. It's forecast that by 2050, worldwide production of palm oil will triple, leading to the continued large-scale loss of habitat and rising CO2 emissions . So if it is so damaging to the environment, why is it so widely used and isn't the answer simply to ban it? In this episodes of the Ta...

The history of sugar is inextricably linked to the horrors of the slave trade. In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates is joined by evolutionary biologist and food historian, Neil Buttery, to reflect on that history. Sugarcane originated as a crop in New Guinea around 8,000 BC, but quickly spread through Asia. It played a role in the economy of the Persian Empire and was eventually...

"The food industry is a fantastic place to work. It can be challenging, but it can be so much fun. You will always be learning." So says Rachel Auty, New Product Development Controller at Greencore . Greencore make all sorts of food products that end up being sold in supermarkets, from soups, to sushi, and salads to sauces. Rachel works in the prepared meals sector and in this episode of the Caree...

Quick Commerce, online services that deliver products to your door in minutes, appear to be booming at the moment. Boosted by a huge shift in consumer habits during the pandemic, new companies have been sprouting up all over the place. In some parts of the UK, it's possible to get groceries delivered to your home in just 10 minutes . But is a model where pickers, drivers and processing staff have...

Easter is an important time of year for the food industry, and is one of the pillars of the calendar for any company working in the sector. But the role of food goes way beyond planning stock or staffing restaurants, it has always played a key role in how Easter is celebrated. Easter symbolism is laced with food at almost every turn, from Shrove Tuesday, to Lent, Easter Eggs and the Holy Communion...

The history of gin has seen the drink rise and fall in popularity, and rise and fall in social status. Initially developed in the Netherlands as a medicine, it was drunk by soldiers there, giving birth to the phrase "Dutch courage". It quickly became popular in the UK, and a quirk of the tax system meant it was soon a hugely popular, very alcoholic, extremely cheap drink. At one point it would cos...

"When I knew I was dyslexic.. and I read about it, everything made sense. Every condition that we have makes us unique and special." Rocio Egio, food illustrator and artist, has an infectious energy and attitude to life. She signs off all her emails "delightfully dyslexic" and tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations series: "All the capacity that I have now is because I have...

The Coronavirus pandemic caused a shock to the grocery retail sector like none we've seen before. But with great challenges, often come great innovations. Technology now plays a bigger role in the average consumer's shopping experience than ever before and the changes we were all forced to make have opened the doors to even more innovation in the future. In this episode of the Table Talk podcast,...

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, AKA, The Black Farmer, is a force to be reckoned with. A child of the Windrush generation, he left Jamaica and moved to Birmingham where he lived with 10 family members in a two-up two-down. Nobody would have believed then that he would go on to become a wildly successful farmer and entrepreneur – nobody except him, perhaps. Key to his success has been his attitude, “you ha...