The Food Programme

Growing salad leaves is changing the lives of former drug addicts in Bristol. Sheila Dillon visits The Severn Project run by Steve Glover. Steve employs ex addicts and other people who find it hard to get jobs. And he's turned it into a profitable business. Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Emma Weatherill in Bristol.

Is the poultry industry fit for purpose? As our consumption of chicken increases and UK poultry production intensifies, Dan Saladino looks at the modern poultry industry. Two recent events have brought the production of chicken into sharp focus. The first is an investigation by the Guardian's Special Correspondent Felicity Lawrence into allegations of hygiene failings at major production plants. I...

English and Welsh wines are on the up and up, as Sheila Dillon investigates. Wine production is well known as a risky investment, not least because it is so dependent on the weather. Many UK growers were hit very hard by the terrible summer of 2012. One of our most well known brands, Nyetimber, completely abandoned their harvest for that year. Establishing a vineyard also requires a big capital in...

It's boom time in the world of lettuce and salad leaves. More leafy greens were sold in the UK last year than ever before, and that upward trend looks set to continue - driven in particular by bags and bowls of pre-prepared leaves. In this edition of The Food Programme, Dan Saladino goes on a journey into this fast-changing world of leaves - from how they are grown and packaged, to the ongoing hun...

Food in Opera. Sheila Dillon hears the story of food told through 400 years of music history. Gluttonous composers, cuisine centred plotlines and singers needing nourishment. Renowned opera critic and gourmet traveller, Fred Plotkin holds an event at the Royal Opera House on food in opera. We get to listen in to stories of a sugar addicted Mozart, Pavarotti's post performance meals and find out wh...

Stefan Gates talks to teachers, kids and cooks about food and the curriculum, ahead of the changes that come into force from September. Stefan asks how well prepared schools and teachers are, what students think of it all and whether the changes will finally spark a real change in the attitudes to food that will grow for generations. Producer: Sarah Langan.

Dan Saladino meets the world authority on the food of Mexico, the British born writer Diana Kennedy. Diana Kennedy's life reads like an adventure story. Born in Loughton, Essex in 1923, after serving in the land army she set off on a journey that would take her to Canada, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. She stopped off in Haiti, met the New York Times correspondent Paul Kennedy, fell in love and they mov...

Sheila Dillon asks whether sweeteners could be the way for us to cut down sugar but to keep enjoying sweet treats. Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

Richard Johnson is in South Carolina to meet Charleston chef, Sean Brock, who is on a mission to revive ingredients and flavours not experienced for hundreds of years. It's a story that involves an intricate "food tattoo", one of America's biggest private seed collections, a hog roast and "pick picking" and bowls of delicious peas, beans, rice, grits and fried chicken. Soon after British settlers...

Tim Hayward looks at the tradition of monastic food production, with stories from Sicily, New York as well as from closer to home. Ever since the 6th century rule of St Benedict said that monastic orders should be self- sufficient, monks and nuns have taken to the land and to the kitchens to produce food and drink for sale. Tim introduces us to some specific examples of how that tradition is thriv...

Sheila Dillon takes a look at that most coveted of kitchen tools; the knife. One of the most primal yet treasured implements, any chef worth their salt knows that you don't mess with another chef's knife. Sheila talks to chef Henry Harris from Racine's restaurant about his passion for knives. There's a report from a knife shop where the prices reach into the the thousands. With knife skills course...

Writer and forager Andy Hamilton leads a journey hunting for plants to make incredible drinks, and looks again at the wild world all around us.

Fields of Fish - The huge rise in farmed fish and the people trying to make it sustainable. The world is now producing more farmed fish than farmed beef. Sheila Dillon discovers how fish farming works and hears concerns about its impact on the environment and fish welfare. Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

In this second of two special editions recorded at the Bristol Food Connections Festival, Sheila Dillon talks to Ken Hom about his extraordinary life through food. Today they focus on what Ken has been doing since his early BBC career and about how his political beliefs have developed over the years. They also discuss the changes in China and his fears and hopes for the future. In yesterday's prog...

Over 2 special programmes from the Food Connections festival in Bristol, Sheila Dillon talks to Ken Hom about his extraordinary life through food. Part 1: 1 His upbringing and early career. It's hard to believe that it was nearly 30 years ago when Ken Hom first appeared on BBC television with his series that arguably revolutionised British cooking. Back in 1984, many people in the UK had hardly ta...

The first of two-part special on the prestigious BBC Food and Farming Awards - now in its 14th year on Radio 4 and being hosted in Bristol for the first time. The awards celebrate individuals, businesses and organisations across the UK who produce quality food and change lives. In this episode Valentine Warner, Chair of the judges, discovers the food, music and animation which all played their par...

Tim Hayward on the evolution of Jamaican food in the UK with chefs and cooks in Bristol.

Sheila Dillon pays tribute to the late Derek Cooper who started The Food Programme back in 1979 and changed the face of food broadcasting and journalism.

Sheila Dillon meets Northern Ireland's chefs and producers leading a food renaissance.

With a Food Standards Agency consultation underway, Sheila Dillon and guests discuss the controversial subject of raw milk. Banned in Scotland in 1983, the current system in England allows raw unpasteurised milk to be sold directly from the farmer. Raw milk producers are subject to stringent and regular laboratory tests and their products have to carry a warning on the label that the milk may cont...

Dan Saladino meets the brewers transforming the flavours and styles of the British craft beer scene. From experiments with seaweed to efforts to find lost Victorian recipes, it's a diverse and fast moving world, so where are the new ideas for beer coming from and which brewers are leading the way? The award winning beer writer Pete Brown has described 2014 as the year in which craft beer has gone...

The rise and rise of the micro-bakery. How home baked bread became a business opportunity.

Sheila Dillon investigates the government's latest plans to improve food in the NHS. The government is introducing a new incentive to encourage hospitals to invest in food. Will this succeed where other initiatives fail? Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol by Emma Weatherill.

A special edition introducing the producers, farmers and cooks who have made it through to the final stage of 2014's BBC Food & Farming Awards, featuring judges Charles Campion and Richard Corrigan. At the beginning of the year thousands of Radio 4 listeners from all parts of the UK sent in nominations, describing the work of their food heroes. Now, six weeks on, the judging team has decided w...

Sheila Dillon examines the state of the Butchery profession to find out how it has weathered the storm since the horsemeat scandal. She asks how our consumption habits have affected demand, and whether the profession of Butchery is still a promising one for young people. With contributions from young butchers Illtud Dunsford and Charlotte Harbottle, and Dario Cecchini who believes butchery is an a...