The Food Chain

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 di...

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...

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 h...

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 salt...

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 bir...

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...

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 S...

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...

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 ch...

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...

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...

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 lie...

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...

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 N...

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 programm...

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 far...

Dark kitchens are the multi-block commercial units allowing virtual brands and events companies to prepare and deliver food. They’ve got a mysterious reputation, sometimes also called ghost kitchens, so The Food Chain wanted to see how they have expanded since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this episode, presenter Rick Kelsey speaks to chefs who buy a place in them, and to the owners who b...

Long days, unsociable hours, a hectic and pressurised workload – the working environment for health care staff is full of challenges. Maintaining a healthy diet in those conditions is tough. Two shift workers talk honestly about what they eat on the job, and get advice from a dietician. Ruth Alexander speaks to Scott Christmas, who’s on his eighth year of overnight shifts, to Tom Gibbons, a parame...

Anyone who has taken a photo of their plate in a restaurant knows how hard it is to make food look good on camera. An industry is dedicated to advertising food products on TV, online and in print. What does it take to make a burger look delicious, desirable and realistic? And, most importantly, is any of the food in adverts real? In this programme, Ruth Alexander meets a food stylist, a food photo...

Facing the trauma of having to abandon your home because of war or climate change, how do you find solace in food that is no longer your own? There are 10 million registered refugees in the world – probably many more - who are living this reality. In this episode, Ruth Alexander speaks to two families – one Afghan, one Ukrainian - who know what it’s like to lose their food; and to Allison Oman Law...

Humans have been accidentally feeding wild birds for millennia; any leftover food scraps to be scooped up by opportunistic, feathered friends. The deliberate feeding of birds, however - placing seeds out on a feeder in the garden, taking crumbs to a nearby park or lake – is a more recent, cultural phenomenon. In some countries, it has deep significance and one of the most popular ways humans inter...

How do you make Michelin Star-level food, for hundreds of people, in a kitchen you just built in someone’s garden, and with no access to cooking gas? That’s just a typical scenario facing chefs in the world of high end mass catering. In this episode, we hear from John Downey, the Catering Manager at the Web Summit tech conference, on the pressures of feeding high profile figures, and VIPs who've s...

Food banks have operated for decades in North America and Europe. They are generally operated as non profits, connecting food businesses that have waste with individuals, families and charities that need food. In 2006 there was just one African food bank in Egypt. A second opened in South Africa in 2009. Today there are around twenty five across the continent. In this programme we look at how Afri...

Spaghetti, penne, farfalle, gnocchi, lasagna – just a few of the 300-plus shapes of pasta in existence. And there are some very strong opinions about them. This Italian staple is one of the world’s most popular foods and one of the most versatile. In this programme, Ruth Alexander delves into the history, culture and passions of pasta-making to ask a controversial question – what is the best pasta...

Noma – considered by some to be the ‘world’s best restaurant’ - has announced it will close in 2024. The news has prompted headlines around the world and a renewed discussion about the culture of fine dining, and whether it is sustainable as a business model. In this programme, Ruth Alexander asks ‘what’s the big deal about fine dining?’. Is it an industry that exists only for the very wealthy, or...