The Food Chain

Latest Episodes:

So, you think you can quit caffeine? Jan 06, 2022

Show notes

Caffeine is a key ingredient in some of our favourite foods and drinks, but it’s also a mind-altering drug that can be very tricky to quit.

Tamasin Ford meets three people who’ve tried to cut caffeine out of their lives by eliminating some of its main sources from their diets - coffee, tea and chocolate.

We hear about some uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms, social awkwardness, and the struggle to adapt to life without a caffeine high. How long did they stay caffeine-free?

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

Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah Stolarz

Contributors:

Petteri Rantamäki, business software professional, Helsinki, Finland; Abigail James, aesthetician and author, London, UK; John Horgan, science journalist, New York, USA.

(Picture: A young woman holding a cup of coffee. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

The Food Chain unwrapped Dec 30, 2021

Show notes

In this final episode of 2021, we're revisiting some of the most powerful food stories from the pandemic. Following widespread restaurant closures and labour shortages across the hospitality sector, we catch up with a New York chef who is forging a new path. And what about those people who thanks to Covid-19 can’t even smell or taste their food anymore? We’ll be finding out whether this leading symptom of the virus is now better understood. Plus, how is one of the world’s newest emojis – the arepa flatbread - faring, one year on?

(Picture: Drawing of sweet being unwrapped. Credit: BBC/Getty)

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

Contributors:

Amanda Cohen, Chef and owner, Dirt Candy restaurant New York

Chrissi Kelly, founder, smell and taste loss charity AbScent

Sebastian Delmont, software developer and co-creator of the arepa emoji

Why I chose to live on rations Dec 23, 2021

Show notes

World War Two rationing imposed severe restrictions on food, so why would anyone voluntarily go back to it?

Ruth Alexander meets three women who chose to adopt the diet endured in 1940s and 1950s Britain, one of them for an entire year.

We hear how such scarcity inspired creativity, a reverence for the ingenuity of wartime cooks, and an enduring change of perspective on the responsibility of the 21st century food consumer.

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

Producer: Simon Tulett

Contributors:

Karen Burns-Booth, food writer - www.lavenderandlovage.com/category/recipes/general-recipes/wartime-recipes Claud Fullwood, author of The Rations Challenge: Forty Days of Feasting in a Wartime Kitchen Carolyn Ekins, blogger - https://the1940sexperiment.com

(Picture: Basket of food rations on display at the Imperial War Museum, London, in 2011. Credit: Paul Kerley/BBC)

An alternative Christmas Dec 16, 2021

Show notes

What dish says Christmas to you - roast turkey, goat? Carp perhaps? What about fried chicken?

In Japan nothing says ‘festive family food’ more than a bucket of KFC fried chicken. And if you’re Jewish and from the US, a Christmas meal will almost certainly mean a trip to Chinatown.

Ruth Alexander unearths the origin stories of these two unlikely, but incredibly popular, - alternative Christmas food traditions, and finds out how food can help give you a sense of belonging, even if celebrating Christmas isn’t for you.

(Picture: Bucket of fried chicken and bowl of Chinese food. Credit: Getty/BBC)

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

Contributors:

Nina Li Coomes, writer based in Chicago, USA

Rabbi Joshua Plaut, author ‘A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to be Kosher’.

Producers: Sarah Stolarz and Simon Tulett

(Film) Set menu Dec 09, 2021

Show notes

Catering on film and TV sets is notorious for being one of the toughest jobs in the hospitality industry.

Imagine feeding hundreds of people in a different location every day, running your kitchen in some of the world’s most remote places, and accommodating the varied diets of the planet’s biggest stars.

Tamasin Ford speaks to three caterers to find out what it takes to succeed in Hollywood, Bollywood, and the world of reality TV, and finds out how vital food can be to the success of a shoot.

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

Producer: Simon Tulett

Contributors:

Sid Ghai, director of Ghai Caterers Ltd, London; Antonia Crowley, executive chef and event stylist at Flying Trestles, Auckland; Wayne Brown, co-founder of Red Radish, London.

(Picture: A stack of pizza boxes next to a film director's chair. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

How rationing changed me Dec 02, 2021

Show notes

Rationing looms large in the memories of a generation who lived through World War Two. Basic groceries were limited and getting enough food on the table became a daily challenge that went on long after the last bombs fell. Ruth Alexander brings together a German and an English woman, who grew up on opposite sides of the world’s deadliest ever conflict, to share their recollections of wartime eating. What was it like struggling to find food, how did they adapt, and how has it changed their approach to food forever?

(Picture: Ingeborg Schreib-Wywiorski and Beryl Kingston, Credit: BBC)

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

Contributors: Ingeborg Schreib-Wywiorski and Beryl Kingston.

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producer: Sarah Stolarz

Gabriella D'Cruz: Global Youth Champion Nov 25, 2021

Show notes

Gabriella D’Cruz, from Goa, wants to improve diets, transform livelihoods, and protect the planet using an often-overlooked marine vegetable - seaweed.

Ruth Alexander speaks to the 29-year-old about her big plans for the underwater crop, and her hope that it could bring lasting economic and environmental change to India’s coastal communities.

Gabriella’s passion and her project’s potential saw her chosen by a panel of international judges as the winner of The Food Chain Global Youth Champion Award 2021.

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

Producer: Simon Tulett

Contributors:

Gabriella D'Cruz, founder of The Good Ocean; Ismahane Elouafi, chief scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

(Picture: Gabriella D'Cruz in the sea holding a basket of seaweed. Credit: Gabriella D'Cruz/BBC)

How a new cuisine is born Nov 18, 2021

Show notes

How is a new cuisine created? Ruth Alexander explores two unique cuisines in South Africa and the USA: ‘Cape-Malay’- a 300-year old tradition born out of colonialism and slavery that unites Indonesian and Dutch tastes; and ‘Viet-Cajun’ - a more recent phenomenon that has seen the Vietnamese diaspora experimenting with Cajun flavours in Texas. We explore how history’s darkest episodes can lead to some of the most captivating flavour combinations and ask why some people will cringe at the term ‘fusion food’.

(Picture: Pot lid being opened. Credit: Getty/BBC)

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

Contributors:

Cass Abrahams: Chef and Author, Cape Town, South Africa Mai Pham: Food writer, Houston, USA

How to cope with cooking burnout Nov 11, 2021

Show notes

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic some people discovered a solace and comfort in cooking, but for many others the opposite was true - the joy they had once felt in the kitchen evaporated.

Tamasin Ford speaks to three formerly passionate cooks to find out what it’s like to lose the love of the thing you enjoy doing the most.

What’s really behind their ‘cooking burnout’, how have they tried to reignite that spark, and has this experience changed their relationship with food for good?

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

Producer: Simon Tulett

Contributors: Helen Rosner, food correspondent for The New Yorker, New York, USA; Yamini Pustake Bhalerao, author and ideas editor at shethepeople.tv, Pune, India; Wayne Barnard, chef and ambassador for The Burnt Chef Project, Cardiff, Wales.

(Picture: A woman making cookies. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

One small change Nov 04, 2021

Show notes

The pressure to tackle climate change by altering what we eat is huge, and it can be a daunting prospect. But you don’t have to go vegan, shop 100 per cent local, or start your own allotment to make a difference.

This week, as world leaders gather for a key climate conference in Glasgow, we’re asking you what small changes you’ve made to your everyday food habits to make them a little bit greener. Plus, Tamasin Ford hears from a chef in Nigeria about the special role he thinks the professionals have to play, and we ask for one life-changing piece of advice from an expert and writer on food waste.

(Picture: Hand reaches for apple, Credit: Getty/BBC)

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

Contributors:

Michael Elégbèdé: chef, ÌTÀN Restaurant and Test Kitchen in Ikoyi, Nigeria Tamar Adler: author ‘An Everlasting Meal’, New York, USA

And Food Chain listeners:

Annabell Randles: London, UK Mike Hoey: Berkely, California Simone Osman: Maputo, Mozambique Yael Straver Laris: Geneva, Switzerland Kate Minogue: Lewes, UK Karine Young: Cape Town, South Africa Jeremy Okware, Uganda Rebecca Neo: Singapore

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