The Food Programme

Sheila Dillon finds out how Australia, a nation founded on the bulk export of cheese and meat, became one of the world's most exciting gastronomic destinations. The food story of the early settlers is told by Michael Symons, former restaurateur, academic and author of One Continuous Picnic: A Gastronomic History of Australia. In 1788, convicts and peasants arrived to an uncultivated land and farmi...

Sheila Dillon explores a food story of decline and revival, British mustard.

Do you know how vanilla beans are hand pollinated? Do you know why harvested vanilla pods are wrapped in hot blankets? Sheila Dillon reveals all as she continues her exploration of the modern spice world by looking at vanilla. Reporter Vanessa Kimbell travels to Uganda to meet Lulu Sturdy, a British furniture designer who inherited a run down estate in Uganda, and within a decade has turned it int...

Sheila Dillon embarks on a journey through the world of spice, starting with the clove. She follows the story of the clove from a harvest in Africa to sauce making with chef Jeremy Lee. A culinary prize since the 3rd century BC, cloves have been a source of conflict and competition for centuries. They're still one of the most popular spices in our kitchen cupboards. Reporter Nick Maes travels to Z...

Can changing our dining utensils change the flavour of food? Simon Parkes investigates.

For most people, the idea of camping food is not an appetising one. You'll not find food-loving Tim Hayward under canvas unless it's in the big tent of a food festival. Tim has got wind of a man who is throwing all of his energy into changing forever how people see (and taste) camping food. Setting off on an arduous voyage to meet Josh Sutton - aka The Guyrope Gourmet - our intrepid presenter lear...

Simon Parkes hears from some of the listeners who've sent in their nominations for this year's Food and Farming Awards. Their stories cover a variety of foods, places and people, from the Glasgow curry cart, to the man so obsessed with the local jam he discovered that he finds himself making jam sandwiches at 10 o' clock at night 'grinning like a five year old.' Producer: Maggie Ayre.

Can Health Secretary Andrew Lansley change Britain's bad eating habits? Sheila Dillon hears how the debate is shaping up on the "responsibility deals" aimed at changing our diet. With over 60 per cent of the British population now overweight or obese everyone agrees that change is needed in how we eat and what we eat. One part of the government's strategy involve so called responsibility deals, ag...

What began as a writing project for school has, in two short months, become an internet phenomenon that is changing the way people are looking at the food children eat. "NeverSeconds" is the food blog of nine year old Martha Payne (AKA 'VEG'), from Lochgilpead in the West of Scotland. Inspired by a family friend who is a journalist, Martha started to photograph and rate her school dinners. A few w...

Sheila Dillon asks if food is the key to reviving the Britain' declining high streets. Food expert, Henrietta Green visits Croydon town centre which has just been awarded a grant by retail guru,Mary Portas to see if a radical food future is possible and asks what are the barriers to bringing quality food back to our high streets. Producer: Maggie Ayre.

With digital publishing evolving at a blistering pace, Sheila Dillon investigates the future of the printed cookery book. Andrew Webb is a food journalist whose work spans the online and printed worlds. He is the author of 'Food Britannia', which just scooped the Guild of Food Writers award for Food Book of the Year, and also edits a food website. To find out where things are moving in the world o...

Sheila Dillon meets Jan Matthews head of the UK's biggest catering job, organising food for the Olympics, London 2012 to ask how successful she's been with the "Olympic Food Vision" that promised to showcase the best of British food. She also meets the Chair of London Food, Rosie Boycott to hear the latest on the city's growing initiative that aims to be part of the Olympic food legacy. Producer:...

In this special programme Sheila Dillon launches the search for this year's winners of the BBC Food & Farming Awards. Sheila is joined by Michelin-starred chef Angela Hartnett to catch up with some of the recent winners and nominees. With insights from last year's winners of the Best Food Producer award - Loch Arthur Creamery - to the Best Market - Bolton - we hear why the awards make a real d...

Sheila Dillon explores the world of the modern British tomato. Great improvements have been made in variety, flavour and quality over the last decade thanks to some technological breakthroughs including computer controlled glasshouses and use of micro-environments, green energy and smart water use. Now many more varieties can be trialled, grown and marketed in the UK. But with the emphasis on qual...

Simon Parkes reports from the London International Wine fair to discover the latest trends in the wine industry. Simon meets wine producers from emerging wine producing countries such as India and Brazil to taste the wines that could soon be hitting the supermarket shelves in the UK. He also samples wines with a lower alcohol strength to discover if it is possible to produce wines that taste good...

Tim Hayward offers his reflections on the past, present and future of the British breakfast. Has the first meal of the day become a problem to solve rather than a pleasure? Joined by food writer and breakfast historian Seb Emina, Tim finds out how the great British breakfast became the envy of the world. With its origins dating back to aristocratic Edwardian country houses, the cooked breakfast sp...

For many years the symbol of stodgy service station fare, the humble pie is enjoying a renaissance as chefs and public alike discover the joys of a lovingly made pastry containing top quality ingredients. The Food Programme meets piemakers and connoisseurs at the annual British Pie Awards and hears why top chefs and food writers are extolling the virtues of the pie Producer: Maggie Ayre.

What's the future for one of the world's most successful and controversial crops, soya? It has become one of the main ingredients in feed for livestock, so crucial in meat production, and it's a major source of edible oil used in food processing and cooking, but have we become too dependent on the soya bean? This year supplies of soya have tightened and the world price is approaching a record high...

Despite a long history of use in coastal areas of the British Isles, and with a well-established role in folklore and traditional medicine - seaweed is not an ingredient currently found in many British kitchen cupboards. The raw ingredient is something of an acquired taste, and knowledge of different seaweeds and their uses is not widespread. However, as Sheila Dillon discovers in this edition of...

Sheila Dillon looks at changes to the UK's egg supply following the EU's ban on battery cages and how the food industry is dealing with shortages and escalating prices. Although there may still be enough eggs on the shelves of our supermarkets, the programme discovers that egg products used in some of our most popular dishes are in ever shorter supply and some may even be replaced with egg substit...

From barrel ageing beer to sourcing intensely bitter hops, Dan Saladino reports on the latest trends in American brewing that are starting to influence British beer styles. The US "craft beer" scene started to take shape 30 years ago. Prohibition in the 1920s and post-war industrialisation brought an end to one of the world's most diverse brewing cultures. In 1979 President Jimmy Carter made home...

Since ancient times humans have harnessed the power of microbes to preserve food and enhance its flavours. Rich and complex food cultures have developed that use this power in a process called fermentation - making pickles, breads, wines and much, much more. Sheila Dillon joins Sandor Katz - author and 'fermentation revivalist' - to find out more about the wonders of fermentation as well as our ve...

Sheila Dillon looks at the spiritual and therapeutic value many place on breadmaking. She meets a group of refugees who've experienced torture, all using baking in their recovery. Producer: Maggie Ayre.

Simon Parkes takes a look behind the scenes of Britain's favourite snack, the biscuit and as he discovers major change is underway to some of our most famous food brands. Our most popular biscuits, including the digestive and the Bourbon became firm fixtures of British life in the 19th century. The snacks were produced in their millions in places like Reading and York and exported all over the wor...

Tim Hayward is not alone in his passion for stock, but there must be few culinary adventurers who take things to the level of his highly developed home routine. Glasses still steamy from several simmering stockpots, Tim sets off on a journey into the world of stock. On his travels he'll share precious stock secrets, learn from the masters, tell tales of nineteenth-century Uruguay and peek behind t...