The Food Programme

CBD Gummies, CBD croissants, CBD coffee, CBD pesto, CBD beer... CBD is everywhere. Presenter Charlotte Smith tells the story of how this oil from cannabis that doesn’t get you high is becoming the biggest buzzword in food and drink from its beginnings in the US with the legalisation of medical cannabis through to the proliferation of products on the market today that claim to help with everything...

Dan Saladino looks at our long and tangled relationship with spaghetti. Both carbs and meat are under scrutiny and Mintel, which monitors consumer behaviour around the world, says we're eating less pasta. With that in mind Dan explore the past, present and future of a much loved British classic, Spaghetti Bolognese. Food historian Polly Russell uses the British Library's archives to help plot Brit...

You will have heard of palm oil... but do you really know why? Possibly the things that come to mind are orangutans, deforestation. Perhaps you know that most of it is grown in Malaysia and Indonesia? Maybe you were aware of the frozen food specialist Iceland's very public decision to avoid using it in it’s own brand products? In this programme Sheila Dillon delves into the complicated world of pa...

The British Asian restaurant sector says it's suffering the consequence of major staff shortages. Many high street takeaways and curry houses are facing closure. While restaurants search for a solution, some are questioning whether enough is being done to encourage women into traditionally male dominated kitchens. And whether if they could, this might be part of the solution. In this programme She...

Who are the new voices pushing for change in the food system? Sheila Dillon hears from Alice Thompson of Social Bite, a charity that distributes over 100,000 hot drinks and meals to Scotland’s most vulnerable people every year from its sandwich shops and every Monday afternoon they invite people experiencing homelessness to their restaurant Vesta for a free sit-down two-course meal. Sheila also me...

With just over 60 days before we're set to leave the EU Dan Saladino gathers thoughts along the food supply chain, from farmers and retailers to exporters and so called "preppers", on the prospects of a no deal Brexit. The likes of the British Retail Consortium, which represents the major supermarkets, and the Food and Drink Federation, which speaks on behalf of the biggest processors and producer...

Deep frying our food is a fast efficient way of cooking and it's not new. The ancient Greeks staged comedies involving frying pans. The Romans fried fish in copious amounts of oil. But these days deep frying often gets a bad press. British chip shops compete to create ever more outrageous deep fried dishes. Deep fried chocolate orange anyone? American state fairs hold extreme deep frying competiti...

Would you buy a pineapple for £15? The Falkland Islands provides much of the squid we eat in Europe. And they can produce more lamb and beef than they could possibly eat. But some food - like fruit - is not so easy to get hold of. Gerard Baker meets islanders to discover how a remote community meets the challenge of providing a varied diet. Producer: Chris Ledgard

Premium pet food has become big business. In the past year, loving dog owners in the UK spent 379 million pounds on posh nosh for their pooches. What's more, more and more of us are seeking out humanised doggie dining experiences as well... Accompanied by her faithful canine co-host Gertie - a five-year-old rescue dog who is totally Zen until the postman calls - Sheila Dillon asks whether this is...

As people cut down and cut out booze, no and low alcohol drinks are pouring onto the market. Brewer Jaega wise explores this show against strength that's shaking up alcohol sector. Jane Peyton from the School of Booze puts on a tasting session at London's first no alcohol bar Redemption and there Jaega and Jane meet Laura Willoughby and Jussi Tolvi, founders of a mindful drinking movement called C...

"I am not a chef. I am not even a trained or professional cook. My qualification is as an eater." So writes Nigella Lawson in the preface to her first book 'How To Eat', published 20 years ago. In this programme, Nigella shares the food memories, the dishes and flavours which have shaped her life. Being taught to cook by a mother with eating disorder, balancing a career in journalism with cooking...

Presenter Charlotte Smith puts down her beloved Kit Kat to discover a world of rich, bitter and often rather pricey chocolate as she explores how small producers and big manufacturers are adapting to demands for less sugar and less dairy but hopefully not less fun. She asks what this means for growers and for us when we pick up a bar for a pick me up.

Rachel Roddy and Sheila Dillon share their love of Sweet Chestnuts and find out how they're for so much more than just roasting over an open fire. Like a lot of people Rachel's first memories of Chestnuts is as stuffing for turkey, but when she moved to Rome in 2005 where there was a Chestnut seller on every corner she embraced Chestnuts as an ingredient. She and Sheila discuss the soups, cakes an...

Sheila Dillon is joined by cook and food-writer Chetna Makan, Tom Tivnan from The Bookseller’—the book industry’s bible, and Kate Young who won the Guild of Food Writers Blogger of the Year award in 2017 discuss the cookbooks of 2018. The list includes books by Diana Henry, Caroline Eden, Thom Eagle, Bosh!, Yasmin Khan and Snoop Doggy Dogg. They also discuss the inspiration for writing a book, how...

Food as part of a prescription for health and wellbeing. What has gone wrong with our diets in the UK and how are doctors and experts trying to redress the balance to get us well again. Sheila Dillon and a group of food, diet and medical experts continue the discussion with contributions from Dr Rangan Chatterjee, BBC's Doctor In The House, Professor Tim Spector author of the Diet Myth, Henry Dimb...

The Food Programme invites a panel of four to discuss the merits of a low versus high carbohydrate diet. Following up on the issues raised in discussing the government's dietary advice in the Eatwell Guide a panel including Duane Mellor of the University of Coventry, Fiona Godlee of the British Medical Journal, Dr Trudi Deakin and Anthony Warner aka the Angry Chef try to answer some of the questio...

Food writer, chef and presenter Genevieve Taylor tells the story of how Cambodia’s cooking history was almost lost in the genocide that saw millions die in the mid-1970s. While food from its neighbours Thailand and Vietnam was spreading all over the world, Cambodia’s finest dishes were side-lined or lost. In the UK, there are just three restaurants focussing on Cambodian cuisine. Now, slowly but s...

How Instagram changed food - with journalist George Reynolds and Anissa Helou, the author of Feast. Plus @pleesecakes reveals the secrets to 147k followers in just 18 months; @felicityspector on whether she's an influencer or not; top chefs at Aquavit on why Instagram is a window onto the world; and @wildfoodcafe on just keeping it real. The photo above was taken by Matt Inwood who runs masterclas...

Following the recent high-profile cases involving food allergy deaths, Bee Wilson investigates whether labelling needs to go further to protect allergy sufferers. Bee asks if the growing number of people suffering from food allergies could be due to our diet and finds out how food production and labelling might change following the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse who had a severe allergic reactio...

After the summer heatwave, Master of Wine Susie Barrie meets winemakers bringing in what could be a watershed harvest for homegrown wine. On a tour of the south of England she visits Peter Hall who's been making wine for 40 years in his isolated Breaky Bottom vineyard in East Sussex. Just down the road we visit sparkling wine makers Nyetimber and Ridgeview, we get a lesson in winemaking from Sarah...

Foxwhelp, cat's head, sheep's nose, hen's turd, yellow willy .... did you know there are over 200 varieties of cider apple? Jaega Wise of Wild Card brewery knows her beer and hops, but not so much her apple types. With cider production in full autumnal flow, Jaega visits three very different cider makers - Gospel Green, Westons and Pulpt - to discover that there is no such thing as the typical cid...

It’s fresher’s week, and all over the country students are settling in to their new digs, frantically buying kettles, figuring out the microwave settings and stocking up on beans. Or are they? We all know the stereotypes about what university students eat – it’s all burnt toast and ready-meals, late night take-aways and instant ramen, right? Well, perhaps not. When chef and food writer Lope Ariyo...

Meat-free meat is having a moment. As more and more people move to a plant-based diet the range of steaks, burgers, hams - almost any meat product you can think of is available without the meat. Usually when we think of vegan and vegetarian dishes we expect them to be relatively healthy. Are these foods healthy? Are they trying to be? Vegan cook and YouTube star Rachel Ama tries to find out as she...

Stories of harvest from around the UK to celebrate the autumn equinox and the passing of the summer. Presented by Andi Oliver Produced by Siobhan Maguire and Clare Salisbury

Rowley Leigh, to many the "godfather" of modern British cooking tells his story to Dan Saladino. Along the way he cooks the perfect omelette and shares the secrets of great pasta. After dropping out of university at the end of the 1960s, Rowley Leigh says he was a young and lost soul. Desperate for cash he applied for a job cooking burgers and immediately fell in love with restaurants and kitchens...