The Food Chain

Latest Episodes:

Food in the metaverse Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

Imagine a world where going out for dinner virtually - from the comfort of your own sofa - becomes the norm. Whether it sounds appealing or dystopian - there are restaurants, chefs and gamers already out there experimenting with food in virtual worlds.

Tamasin Ford speaks to the developer of a ‘foodverse’ that will feature everything from virtual dining and cookbook signing experiences to food-based virtual games and we hear from a large US restaurant chain on why they are playing with their customers in the metaverse. But what does a future of virtual worlds mean for the food industry? Will it be a niche pursuit or an invaluable tool? And could it threaten the existence of restaurants in the real world?

(Picture: person wearing VR headset. Credit: Getty/BBC)

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

Contributors:

Supreet Raju: Co-Founder of OneRare Tressie Lieberman: Vice President of Digital Marketing at Chipotle Michelle Evans: Global Lead of Retail and Digital Consumer Insights at Euromonitor International.

A Ukrainian kitchen in London Mar 17, 2022

Show notes

Chef Olia Hercules invites us into her London home to reflect on her country’s rich culinary heritage and the power of food in even the darkest of times.

She opens her well-stocked kitchen cupboards and fridge to reveal the varied flavours, colours and scents of a cuisine she says is often wrongly dismissed as being ‘beige’ or boring.

Ruth Alexander joins Olia and her Russian friend and fellow food writer, Alissa Timoshkina, to discuss the close ties between their nation’s traditional dishes, and the importance of the two women’s own personal friendship.

The conversation was recorded on Tuesday 8 March; 12 days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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

(Picture: Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina. Credit: BBC)

Producer:

Sarah Stolarz

An invisible crime Mar 10, 2022

Show notes

Slipping drugs or extra alcohol into someone’s drink is a crime, but one that is under-reported and little understood.

It’s often thought to take place in bars and nightclubs, but as Ruth Alexander discovers from people who’ve been targeted, it can happen to anyone, at any time.

Campaigners explain why myths and misconceptions around drink spiking persist, and we ask what could be done to move the crime out of the shadows and into the open.

(Picture: hand holding glass of water. Credit: Getty/BBC)

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

Producer: Elisabeth Mahy

Contributors:

Clara George, Miss United Kingdom, and campaigner against drink spiking

Dr Lata Gautam, associate professor in forensic science, Anglia Ruskin University, UK

Dawn Dines, CEO and founder of Stamp Out Spiking

The recipe collectors Mar 03, 2022

Show notes

What is a recipe? A simple question... with many answers. It could be a set of instructions on how to make a dish – but also so much more. Recipes can reveal how we lived in the past, and how we are living today. They are part of our sense of identity, belonging and loss and they are portals we can use to travel to different cultures.

This week, Ruth Alexander speaks to three recipe collectors in India, Ghana and the USA to find out why they are preserving their nation’s recipes. What can you learn by documenting these culinary guides? How do you even capture a recipe that has never been written down? And what is at stake if they are lost?

(Picture: Cookbook with utensils. Credit: Getty/BBC)

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

Contributors:

Abena Offeh-Gyimah, writer and food entrepreneur, Ghana

Megan Elias, cultural historian and director of the Gastronomy programme at University of Boston, USA

Muskaan Pal, co-founder, Indian Community Cookbook Project at Flame University in Pune, India

The online food fighters Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

Social media is full of fake news about food.

Fad diets, cure-all superfoods, demonised ingredients, made-up health scares – you’re never more than a few clicks away from unreliable nutritional information.

In this episode, Ruth Alexander meets two people trying to take on those who peddle the food myths. What is it like getting into an online food fight; can an individual ever hope to change people’s minds; and why would anyone even try?

(Picture: Hand holding cream pie on man's face. Credit: Getty/BBC) Producer: Sarah Stolarz

Contributors:

Dr Joshua Wolrich, NHS doctor, nutritionist and author

Erin aka Food Science Babe, chemical engineer and food scientist

The constipation taboo Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

It’s estimated that as many as 1 in 7 adults are suffering from constipation at any one time. And yet, talking about the problem is taboo.

Ruth Alexander is joined by two experts who want us to be more open about the condition. They say our reluctance to talk about constipation is having an impact on our well-being and creating a costly burden on health services.

Find out why a balanced and varied diet will help many people avoid the problem, but not all; and why prunes – a famous remedy – can actually make it worse.

Plus, a historian traces how we came to be so reticent about our toilet habits; and how constipation may have had a decisive role at numerous turning points in history.

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

(Picture: Closed airplane toilet door. Credit: Getty/BBC)

Contributors:

Anton Emmanuel, University College Hospital London and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery

Louise Foxcroft, medical historian and author

Miguel Toribio-Mateas, School of Applied Sciences at London South Bank University.

The sisters who can 'taste' words Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

Imagine being able to ‘taste’ every word that comes out of your mouth. Everything you or someone else says provoking something in your brain to kick your taste buds into action. It sounds incredulous, but for a tiny proportion of the world’s population, that is their reality. It’s a neurological phenomenon called synaesthesia, where two or more senses merge.

Tamasin Ford meets two sisters from Glasgow, Scotland, who have had the condition for as long as they can remember. They share what it’s like to live with this explosion of taste at every waking moment.

But how and why does it happen? We try to unpick the science behind it and take a look at what synaesthesia could tell us about how we experience taste and flavour.

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

(Picture: Keyboard letters in a soup bowl. Credit:Getty/BBC)

Contributors:

Julie McDowall and Jennifer McCready Guy Leschziner, author and Professor of neurology and sleep medicine at King's College London.

Cancer, food and me Jan 27, 2022

Show notes

Can you imagine suddenly finding that it hurts to eat? Or that when you take a bite of your favourite meal you feel nothing?

In this episode, we’re talking about something that isn’t much talked about: what happens to your relationship with food when you’ve got cancer.

Ruth Alexander is joined by three women who want you to know about a side effect of treatment that they weren’t fully prepared for - the loss of their sense of taste.

They share how what is a relatively minor detail, given a devastating diagnosis, nevertheless had a huge effect on their everyday routine, their interactions with family and friends, their sense of self.

Hear how they learned to cope and how, out of the depths of this distressing experience, came a new appreciation of the everyday.

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

(Picture: Grapefruit with pills coming out of it. Credit: Getty/BBC)

Producer:

Sarah Stolarz

Contributors:

Heather McCollum

Semira Oguntoyinbo

Angharad Underwood

How not to feed a dog Jan 20, 2022

Show notes

How do you feed a dog? The answer may be more fraught than you had imagined.

Should you give them ‘dog food’? Is it a step too far to feed them at the table? And can man’s best friend thrive on a vegetarian diet?

we bring together three dog-loving experts from the UK, India and the USA to analyse what dog feeding reveals about our relationship with animals and even our own relationship with food.

Be prepared to hear some surprises, some empowering advice and maybe some uncomfortable home truths. And even if you don’t have a dog, you may get some ideas that you can apply to your own life.

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

(Picture: dogs licks lips. Credit: Getty/BBC)

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producer: Sarah Stolarz

Contributors:

Shirin Merchant, dog trainer and behaviourist in Mumbai, India

Louise Glazebrook, dog trainer and behaviourist in London, UK

Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado Boulder, USA

Sleep, eat, repeat? Jan 13, 2022

Show notes

A lack of sleep might leave us tired, but it can also have a major impact on what we eat, and our health.

Ruth Alexander explores the surprising relationship between diet and a poor night’s rest, and learns that it’s not just what we’re eating, but when: we hear about the perils of consuming calories late into the evening or, even worse, overnight.

But it’s not all bad news: there’s growing research into the idea that we might be able to improve our sleep quality by tweaking our diets.

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

Producer: Simon Tulett

Contributors:

Tania Whalen, fire brigade despatcher, Melbourne, Australia; Matthew Walker, University of California, Berkeley, USA; Maxine Bonham, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; Marie-Pierre St-Onge, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, USA.

(Picture: A young girl asleep on a plate of spaghetti. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)