The Food Programme

This is more than a story about chicken tikka masala. The UK's palette is changing with a demand for far more spice and pizzazz in our menus and larders. The UK currently imports almost double what it did in the year 2000. Much of that demand has been attributed to the UK's changing and diverse population - not only in home cooking but introducing recipes and dishes to a wider market. Travellers e...

Jane Grigson was a unique and pioneering voice in food writing; a self-taught cook whose books and journalism changed British food culture. Twenty-five years after her death, Sheila Dillon is joined by three special guests to explore her life, food and legacy. This is part one of a special two-part edition of The Food Programme, recorded in front of an audience at Bristol Food Connections festival...

Sheila Dillon reports on how 15 years of the BBC Food and Farming Awards have captured the revolution in the streetfood business, witnessed the rise of a new generation of brewers and distillers, chronicled the rise of new types of food markets and marked major changes in the supermarket supply chain. Over the last decade and a half, through receiving thousands of nominations, the judges have been...

In the UK, there are 3.2 million people who are living with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and a further 600,000 who have Type 2 but just don't know it yet. And those numbers continue to rise. In the first few months of this year, the charity Diabetes UK received over 300 calls from newly diagnosed diabetics asking what they can and can't eat. It seems there's plenty of confusion about what foods need...

Ten years on from 'Jamie's School Dinners', Sheila Dillon is joined by children's food campaigner and former dinner lady Jeanette Orrey and Co-Author of the School Food Plan, Henry Dimbleby to look at the state of school food and discuss how new international relationships could make British school food better. It's also 10 years since Sheila visited Sweden to see a free school meals system known...

Dan Saladino meets the people working to save foods and flavours at risk of extinction. A global project called the Ark of Taste is now attempting to catalogue traditional ingredients in more than 100 countries. It was started in the 1990s when a group of Italian Slow Food campaigners realised the flavour of a traditional street food snack had changed. The reason was that chefs could no longer sou...

We were once told 'Go to work on an egg' but health warnings later saw us cut the number we eat. As the US Dietary Advisory Committee drops its advice on restricting egg consumption Sheila Dillon asks if we're falling back in love with the egg. Similar limits in the UK were lifted several years ago after evidence suggested their cholesterol did not have a significant effect on our blood cholestero...

The nutritional debate over sugar doesn't seem to be putting off a new generation of sweet makers in this country. Sweets sales seem stable, and new treats are being created and exported all over the world. Sheila speaks to sweet makers Freya Sykes and Steven Bletsoe who are giving new life to a forgotten sweet and an old family recipe. She looks at the state of the confectionery market today with...

Dan Saladino hears three stories of how three very different individuals are reimagining food waste - solving problems, discovering flavours, and changing lives. Chido Govera grew up in rural Zimbabwe, and was orphaned aged seven. She suffered abuse and struggled to find enough food for herself and her younger brother. But she found a way out of her situation - through the power of mushrooms - bec...

In a special edition Sheila Dillon reveals the finalists for this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards. At the beginning of the year Radio 4 listeners were asked to nominate their favourite producers, farmers and retailers. The response was huge, and from over four thousand nominations the judges have decided on their shortlist. The categories include Best Street Food or Takeaway, You and Your's Ret...

Oysters are receiving renewed attention around the world, with new ideas for producing more, and eating more. Dan Saladino finds out what's driving this oyster enthusiasm. As Drew Smith, author of Oyster: A World History explains, "the oyster is older than us, they're older than grass, they go back into pre-history and it's quite mind boggling how we've forgotten we really survive on this planet b...

For over a decade consumers have become finely attuned to E-numbers, flavourings, colourings and additives in our food. Food manufacturers have changed the way they do things in pursuit of 'clean label' - a more natural sounding ingredients list. But do we fully understand the new processes involved, the terms used and how safe they really are? Sheila Dillon talks to Joanna Blythman, in her first...

Sheila goes behind bars to visit the most popular restaurant in Cardiff, The Clink, which is run by prisoners. Ten years ago Al Crisci was a winner at the BBC Food and Farming Awards for his work at High Down prison. At the ceremony he announced that he was going to open a restaurant in the prison which would be run by inmates and would serve high end food to the paying public. Now there are curre...

With one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe, many parents in the UK feed their babies formula milk. But what's actually in it? Sheila Dillon discovers why it's an industry steeped in science and secrecy as well as controversy. Journalist Ella McSweeney reports from a lab to explain how its made and why formula is at the heart of Ireland's ambition to become a powerful global food player....

From a hearty warming bowl of chunky soup on a frosty Winter's day to the smooth comfort of home-made chicken soup when you're ill, the British, it seems, love soup. We spend £762million a year and the market's growing with trendy exotic flavours spicing up the choice on offer new gadgets to help make the dish and slimmers replacing juicing with 'souping', it's gaining pace. Tim Hayward is passion...

In a recent survey, the microwave was voted the kitchen gadget that people couldn't live without. 83% of all households in the UK have a microwave, yet many say they only use this hi tech device for re heating food. Sheila Dillon discovers how influences the way we eat, live and cook. The editor of BBC Good Food magazine Gillian Carter believes that there is an emerging sector who are using it to...

As we prepare to tuck into our festive family meal, Sheila Dillon uncovers the food stories of those who won't be home for Christmas with the help of food writer Joe Warwick.

Wheat has, since the dawn of agriculture, been especially treasured amongst all of the food crops, and is now the most widely cultivated food plant on the planet. However, the relationship between humans and wheat has changed a great deal in recent times. With a high-profile documentary film, 'The Grain Divide', about to go on global release, Dan Saladino discovers a worldwide movement of farmers,...

Food markets have been the heart of our towns and cities for thousands of years. Now, with financial pressure on local authorities, and growing competition from a supermarkets price war, Sheila Dillon and guests discuss what a market needs to survive in 2015. Sheila is joined by award winning markets organiser Malcolm Veigas, Carolyn Steel architect and author of 'Hungry City' and market trader an...

Sheila Dillon unveils a new team of judges for the 2015 BBC Food and Farming Awards, including Giorgio Locatelli, Diana Henry and Cyrus Todiwala. Sheila catches up with previous nominees and winners, looks ahead to the big food stories of the coming year, and explains how you can send in your nominations. Producer: Rich Ward.

Sheila Dillon is joined by Harold McGee to answer your food science questions. Harold McGee is fascinated by what we are actually doing to our food when we prepare and cook it. His research and writing have inspired many chefs, including Heston Blumenthal. Today he answers questions from listeners, food writers and chefs about the chemistry of food and cooking. Producer: Sarah Langan.

Redemption through food. Sheila Dillon brings you her selection of inspirational stories from The Food Programme in 2014. Ken Hom tells Sheila how food changed his life and his fortunes. Claudia Roden explains how food brought the Egyptian diaspora together. And we hear from a former drug addict who found a new life growing salad. Presented by Sheila Dillon produced by Emma Weatherill in Bristol.

Feeding Britain - The story of one shop in South Yorkshire which is changing the way we think about food waste and food poverty. A year ago the Community Shop opened in Goldthorpe. It takes food which would otherwise have gone to landfill and sells it at a heavily discounted price. Now the model is expanding. This Monday, 15th December, a new community shop is opening in Lambeth, South London. The...

A review of cookbooks and food writing of 2014. Sheila Dillon is joined to discuss the year in books by Allan Jenkins, editor of Observer Food Monthly, investigative journalist Joanna Blythman and blogger Alex Ryder aka Gingey Bites. Sheila also hears from publisher Sarah Lavelle about this year's sales. And cookery writer Diana Henry talks about her addiction to cookbooks. Presented by Sheila Dil...

New York's south Bronx is still one of the city's most deprived areas; low incomes, unemployment and health problems abound. In the 1970's it captured headlines for a "burn for hate" policy that appeared to have taken hold; abandoned (and sometimes occupied) buildings were set on fire and raised to the ground. Entire blocks were destroyed giving the borough, in some eyes, the look of a war zone. I...