The Food Chain

Latest Episodes:

Stadium food Dec 12, 2024

Show notes

Which food do you associate with your favourite sport?

Pie and chips at an English football match, biriyanis at the cricket in Pakistan or grilling meat in the parking lot outside an American football game – there are some tasty traditions which go hand-in-hand with sport across the world.

Ruth Alexander hears how a traditional rice dish can bring two rival nations together over a game of cricket, and how a disappointing sausage roll before a football game led one man on a country-wide quest for better food for fans.

Over a pile of warming chips on a frosty night in South Manchester, Ruth discovers how getting the food right off the pitch might help a team’s fortune improve on the pitch.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producer: Hannah Bewley

Additional reporting: Ben Derico

(Image: a box of chips with gravy and curry sauce held beside a football pitch. Credit: BBC)

Croffle, anyone? Dec 05, 2024

Show notes

Crookie, anyone? Cronut, croffle?

Ruth Alexander looks at the rise of the dessert café and the extraordinary creations it’s spawned.

She visits one such café in Manchester with roses adorning the walls, and chocolate adorning almost everything else.

And speaks to a food blogger in Dubai and a café owner in USA about the latest trends and the businesses who have been serving puddings for decades.

Find out what the latest fashions are in dessert, and how quickly a new invention can sweep the world.

Going out for pudding has become the thing to do in many places and the more extravagant your order, the better.

In fact, going out for pudding has never been so fashionable – or has it?

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producers: Rumella Dasgupta and Hannah Bewley

(Image: A selection of sweet desserts. Credit: BBC)

How did fast food become so successful? Nov 28, 2024

Show notes

From America to Mongolia, you can go into a restaurant run by a global fast-food chain, and buy the same meal. So how did fast food become so successful?

Across the world, last year we spent more than 900 billion dollars on fast food. The USA, where it all began, consumes the most, but even in France, despite its history of haute cuisine, more than half of households regularly enjoy burgers and fries.

Julia Paul learns about its origins in the USA, and hears how it spread globally, thanks to the franchise model. She speaks to a superfan who’s eaten at one chain in 25 countries.

Critics say global brands shipping food around the world is bad for the environment and for local economies. There are some places where some brands have failed, and some where they haven’t even opened yet. Julia hears how local burgers, and the worldwide recession, saw off McDonalds in Iceland, and speaks to a Nigerian female chef who’s competing to offer fast local food in Lagos.

If you would like to get in touch with the programme, email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.

Presented and produced by Julia Paul.

(Image: A large burger. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

We are 10! Nov 21, 2024

Show notes

We are celebrating 10 years of The Food Chain with some of our favourite programme moments from the past decade.

Fishing to stay alive, chopping onions in remembrance, and tasting people’s names – these stories and more tell us something about our relationship with food and how it helps us connect with one another.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

(Image: A chocolate birthday cake with number 10 candles on top. Credit: Getty Images)

Just vanilla Nov 14, 2024

Show notes

Dull? Boring? Plain?

Vanilla is a byword for something which is ordinary or standard.

In this programme Ruth Alexander finds the story of the popular spice is anything but normal.

Originating in Mexico it’s travelled the globe and taken over, and is now one of the most valuable commodities available.

It’s gone from being highly sought after and the height of luxury – even serving as an aphrodisiac for Mesoamericans and a European monarch - to ubiquitous and considered “regular”.

Despite its reputation there is still a lot to appreciate about this complex flavour, and fans in one ice cream parlour are keen to make sure it isn’t overlooked.

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producers: Nina Pullman and Hannah Bewley

(Image: A vanilla bean and flower. Credit: Getty Images)

How work changed lunch Nov 07, 2024

Show notes

How do our work habits shape what we eat?

In this programme Izzy Greenfield discovers the history of the workplace lunch and the ways in which society has reshaped it.

Historian Megan Elias of Boston University in the US explains how lunches have evolved from the factories of the 19th century Industrial Revolution to sandwiches eaten at the desk in 20th century offices.

Izzy visits an office and co-working space in Manchester, run by Department, a company that operates office spaces in the North of England. Abigail Gunning, Operations Director, explains why it makes sense for the company to open the building’s cafe and restaurant to the public as well as staff.

And how does workplace food impact our health? Olivia Beck, registered nutritionist at Food Choices at Work in Cork, Ireland, explains why it’s in employers’ interests to create a healthy food environment for all staff, whether in the office or at home.

If you’d like to contact the programme you can email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Presented by Izzy Greenfield.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

Additional reporting by James Jackson.

(Image: a man eating a burger with a glass of juice at his desk in front of a computer screen. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Living with water shortages Oct 23, 2024

Show notes

Water scarcity is an increasing problem on every continent, according to the United Nations.

Around half the world’s population experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year, according to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Global warming and population growth is expected to make the situation worse, so what is it like to run a home or a business amid water shortages?

Ruth Alexander hears from households and businesses in Karachi, Pakistan and Bogata, Colombia, and finds out lessons from Cape Town, South Africa which was said to be approaching ‘Day Zero’ when the taps would run dry in 2018. Ruth explores whether desalination – harvesting drinking water from the sea - could ever offer a sustainable solution.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Produced by Rumella Dasgupta and Beatrice Pickup.

(Image: people queuing for water in Cape Town, South Africa in 2018. Credit: Bloomberg/Getty Images/BBC)

Housemates Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

Did you share a flat, house or kitchen as a student or professional? Is it the shared meals and conversation that stay with you, or the piles of dirty dishes and missing food?

This week Ruth Alexander has a look around shared kitchens all over the world.

We hear the good, bad and dirty – and give advice on how to build cooperation in your shared kitchen. Ruth hears from a former housemate what she was really like to share with, as well as a surprise revelation about her unappetising meal of choice.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Presented by Ruth Alexander. Produced by Hannah Bewley.

(Image: five students sat on sofas in their shared living space eating a meal they have cooked together. Credit: BBC)

How much water should I drink? Oct 09, 2024

Show notes

Do you know how much you should drink?

Many global guidelines recommend approximately 2 litres a day for women and 2.5 litres a day for men, including food.

But scientists say there is actually huge variation in how much each of us need as individuals.

Ruth Alexander speaks to Professor John Speakman at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, who explains why your age, sex, weight, and other environmental factors such as air temperature, humidity and altitude all make a difference.

Dr Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, senior lecturer at the University of Stirling in Scotland, explains why our bodies need water and what happens if we drink too little, or too much.

That happened to Johanna Perry in the UK, she tells Ruth what happened when she drank too much water whilst running the London Marathon in 2018.

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

(Image: a woman holding a plastic bottle of water. Credit: Getty Images/ BBC)

Can you taste a place? Oct 02, 2024

Show notes

Is it possible to taste a place? A listener wonders whether the French concept of ‘terroir’ can apply to food and, if so, what the science behind it is.

Ruth Alexander goes in search of the answer, exploring how growing conditions and practices can develop flavours unique to a location.

She also hears about why the value you give to certain flavours might also be cultural.

Ruth speaks to a honey expert who is mapping the flavours of the sweet syrup across the world, a barley geneticist working with a high-end whisky brand and visits a vertical farm in Liverpool, UK, to see if foods grown in a closed environment still taste just as good.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producer: Hannah Bewley

(Image: A barley field under a setting sun. Credit: Getty Images)

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