Food Matters Live Podcast

In the second of our Behind the Brand series, we catch up with Food Matters Live Awards Innovative natural and organic product of the year winner, Melligel, and find out how the brand behind it, Mellifera, has created a sports nutrition supplement from organic honey.  What motivated them to head down this path, and what are the potentials for organic honey within the sports nutrition sector? Join...

What are the leading global food and agtech scenes? In this episode of Table Talk we join experts from the food and agtech investment community to shed some light on how countries are helping to support innovation and disruption and find out what is the secret to success. Joining host Stefan Gates are Christian Guba, Associate, Atlantic Foods Ivan Farneti, Co-Founder, Five Seasons Ventures and Nad...

In this new series we get personal with the people behind the brands, with the debut episode focusing on Beau’s Gelato. We join Co-Founder and CEO Joseph Eyre to find out how two partners with no previous experience in the food industry, one with a background in nursing the other in finance, came to start an award winning plant-based gelato brand. We discuss what made them take the plunge and star...

Healthy soil is full of living organisms that help to generate the nutrients crops need to grow. But many conventional farming practices inadvertently degrade soil health over time, which in turn can reduce crop yields. Regenerative Agriculture aims to capture carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, reversing current global trends of atmospheric accumulation. At the same time, it offers increased...

Intermittent fasting has been accepted for many years as a fast and effective way to lose weight, in fact Michael Moseley has published a number of best sellers on the 5:2 diet. However, a new and recently published study looks at the effects of fasting and lower energy intake in lean people. This podcast will explore the results of the study and what this means for our understanding of the succes...

The UN has described our degradation of soil being 'as important as climate change' yet soil is often overlooked when we talk about the threats to future generations. It's easy to degrade soil quickly, but not easy to repair the damage that is caused so what can be done to protect our precious resource for agriculture in the future? To find out we've assembled a panel of experts including Caroline...

The UK Government has committed to going 'net zero' by 2050. In practice this means getting rid of as many emissions as we produce. This can be achieved through removing harmful emissions as much as possible and in the instances where we still rely on fossil fuels, offsetting the emissions we produce. In the second of a series of podcasts focused on net zero, we rejoin the Food and Drink Federatio...

The traditional foods we love often have regional differences that make them unique. For example, the cheddar cheese you buy from your local supermarket may have a completely different flavour profile from the one you’d find in a sandwich in a pub in Ireland. These subtle differences can greatly impact our enjoyment of food, and flavour experts are applying this knowledge to create innovative and...

Some of the largest ingredients companies are leading the way with food and drink innovations that will feed the future. In this special edition of the Table Talk podcast we look back to conversations we've had with Cargill, Gelita, Givaudan and Ÿnsect to find out how they're developing the flavours to support consumer trends. Find out why insect protein could be the future of sports nutrition, ho...

One year ago Table Talk Podcast host Stefan Gates sat down with members of the food industry and the UK government to hear about the new strategy that was intended to tackle a growing obesity epidemic in the country. One year on, what impact have the measures had, what will be adapted for the future, and is the strategy working? Joining us to dissect the benefits of the UK obesity strategy, and to...

Do you understand what the various health claims on food packaging actually mean for your nutrition? If not, you’re not alone. Food health claims can be confusing to shoppers and manufacturers alike, with regulations muddying the waters and consumers in different countries being skeptical around the claims brands make. How can the health claims on food be simplified, in a way that is transparent a...

The global ice cream market is expected to hit $75bn by 2024 and to maintain growth brands are constantly having to innovate new recipes and flavours, while responding to changing consumer demands prompted by challenges including Covid-19 and climate change. Is changing consumer demand leading to a surge in plant-based, healthier and more sustainable ice cream? To find out we’re joined by the true...

In this day and age we’ve got apps for everything - travel, making new connections, and of course to help us improve our mental and physical health and well-being. With research showing how important gut health is to mental and physical health, will digital apps to improve your gut health be the next in your download queue? Our guest on this podcast, our second in a series focused on mHealth, cert...

The UK Government National Food Strategy, led by Henry Dimbleby the founder of restaurant chain Leon, has submitted a set of recommendations to help the nation become healthier, reduce obesity and become more sustainable. Will the strategy form the foundation of a healthier future? Or do we need to look deeper at key issues that face our dysfunctional food system? The Table Talk Podcast has spoken...

This week we once again explore the UK Environment Bill, and how it will impact food brands and manufacturers. Following last weeks look at deforestation, we now turn our attention towards packaging. With the bill placing more responsibility on producers to make changes to their packaging in order for them to be easily recyclable, we look at how food brands will need to adapt to help the environme...

The UK Environment Bill aims to ensure that UK-based companies are transparent about their supply chains and their impact on deforestation and proposes fines for those who don’t adhere.  What will this new legislation mean for food and drink brands, why is it important, and does it go far enough? Joining Table Talk this week to share their views are Sam Lawson, Founding Director, Earthsight, Alice...

With traditional farming using 77% of agricultural land, but only providing 18% of the world's calories, it's clear our food system is fairly dysfunctional. 69% of the EU's protein-rich feed, such as soya, is imported, contributing to a growing climate crisis. With 1kg of insect protein using 99.4% less land than soy, the main ingredient in animal feed, will the insect farming offer a sustainable...

Professor Robert Thomas is leading the Phyto-V study to understand the impact of gut health on COVID-19. The purpose of the study is to determine if nutritional interventions could help shorten the severity or duration of illness for those infected with the virus. In this latest Table Talk we sit down to talk to Professor Thomas to find out all about this new study. Whilst it is widely known about...

Could mobile health apps, known as mHealth, be the answer to managing food allergies for those who live with them? Millions of patients suffering from allergic diseases may benefit from mHealth innovations. The European Academy of Allergy & Clinical Immunology created a task force to assess the development and future potential of ICT in the field of allergy. Food allergy apps could play a sign...

Health and wellbeing has become central to many of our lives with health-conscious consumers demanding natural products made with pure and simple ingredients. Immune health has garnered particular attention owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and the desire for people to choose functional foods that help support their immune system. The Caribbean has historically been a tropical haven for a range of pl...

The Health Survey for England 2019 estimates that 28% of adults in England are obese, with a further 36% categorised as overweight. For children, 9.9% of 4-5 year olds are obese, growing to 21% by the time they reach 10-11. It's clear that obesity is a major problem in the country, but what are the psychological factors that influence obesity? Can an understanding of psychology help when trying to...

With a growing climate crisis, and population, food and beverage brands are facing the difficult question of how to produce more while impacting the environment less. The need to utilise our natural resources sustainably has never been greater, and on this podcast we look back at conversations we've had with three well-known brands who are putting sustainability at the heart of their organisations...

With the active lifestyle and sports nutrition markets growing exponentially, how will this group of consumers meet their dietary needs sustainably in the future? Insect cultivation uses a fraction of the land, energy and water required for traditional farming, and has a significantly lower carbon footprint. Crickets produce up to 80% less methane than cows and 8-12 times less ammonia than pigs, f...

In the next 5 years, the top 20 global consumer packaged goods companies are expected to experience slower growth than their smaller category competitors. As consumer expectations and behaviours have shifted in recent years, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, food and beverage brands need to search for growth in new ways and different places. Will innovating and disrupting the establishment be...

It sounds cliche, but COVID-19 has completely changed the way many of us think about nutrition, what we need to support our immune health, and the relationship we have with food. Combined with the one in 20 who've had COVID experiencing a prolonged loss of taste and smell due to the virus, it's clear that the impact of COVID on nutrition and our enjoyment of food has been pronounced. In this episo...