The Food Programme

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Eat for Victory Aug 17, 2014

Show notes

Eat for Victory - Sheila Dillon meets the people who are using the techniques of WWII rationing to improve their diet today. Clare Millar likes to dress as a land girl, and eat like one too. She isn't interested in eating Woolton Pie but she finds that the mantras from the time of rationing such as Grow Your Own Food, Don't Take More Than You Can Eat and Don't Waste Good Food are still useful today.

60 years after the end of rationing Sheila and Clare find that there is still a lot to learn from that period. They meet women in their 80s and 90s to hear the cooking techniques that they learnt during rationing.

Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Emma Weatherill in Bristol.

Growing Veg, Not Drugs Aug 10, 2014

Show notes

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.

Problems with Poultry? Aug 04, 2014

Show notes

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.

It was a serious claim as poultry production is already under scrutiny because of the presence of campylobacter in most chicken, a bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

The report triggered a call by the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt, for checks on two factories. The company involved strongly denied any problems had taken place, subsequent checks by the Food Standards Agency found no breaches and the plants were given the all clear. However the episode brought poultry production under national scrutiny.

Dan is given full access to the production line of one of the plants involved. Based in Scunthorpe it's the largest poultry slaughter house in the UK and is owned by the largest supermarket chicken supplier 2 Sisters. They explain how our chicken is produced and what kind of measures are in place to reduce levels of campylobacter.

The second story that brought poultry to renewed national attention was a recent decision by the Food Standards Agency on its plans to publish data revealing which supermarkets had the highest levels of campylobacter in their supply chains. In March it was announced that the agency was pushing ahead with "steely determination" to publish the names and levels of the bacteria. In July that decision was reversed and that data might not be available for another year. Dan asks the Food Standards Agency why consumers won't be getting this information as soon as possible.

English Wine Jul 27, 2014

Show notes

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 investment; one adage used to be that if you wanted to make a moderate amount of money the way to do it would be to have a large amount of money and then plant a vineyard. This may be part of the reason why the wine produced in England and Wales accounts for less than 1% of that consumed here.

Despite all of this, the acreage of vineyards in England has doubled in the last 7 years and there are some producers aiming to produce an unheard of million bottles a year. Perhaps more importantly, mentioning English or Welsh wine at a dinner table is no longer likely to attract sniggers of derision. In fact our wine production is now synonymous with quality. As UK wine producers big and small are growing in confidence, Sheila Dillon asks how they can assure their future in a risk laden business, where they are still one of the smallest players on the global market.

Producer: Sarah Langan.

Salad leaves Jul 20, 2014

Show notes

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 hunt for new leaves. Dan discovers how one particular type of lettuce with roots in 19th-century America changed food forever, he encounters a man who travels the globe searching for the next 'hero leaf' - and learns secrets about preparing and growing. Along the way he'll meet pioneering chefs René Redzepi and David Everitt-Matthias, US food writer Irene Sax, greengrocer Charlie Hicks, as well as gardener and writer Mark Diacono.

Food in Opera Jul 13, 2014

Show notes

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 who gave their name to Pasta Norma.

The interval is spent at Glyndebourne opera speaking with chorus members and prop makers about the travails of eating on stage.

Presented by Sheila Dillon with help from Opera on 3's Christopher Cook. Produced by Emma Weatherill in Bristol.

Food and the Curriculum Jul 06, 2014

Show notes

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.

Mexican cooking and the food adventures of Diana Kennedy Jun 30, 2014

Show notes

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 moved to Mexico.

Soon after arriving she became fascinated by Mexican food. A maid looking after the home was also a cook and the regional dishes made Diana Kennedy curious about the ingredients and recipes of other regions of Mexico.

After Paul Kennedy died in 1966 Diana found herself living in New York, with no income and an uncertain future. The Food Editor of The New York Times, Craig Claiborne encouraged her to use her knowledge of Mexican food and give cooking lessons.

To research recipes and find ingredients she'd travel to remote parts of Mexico, into villages, to markets and into kitchens with domestic cooks to learn more about traditional foods. That research has continued for five decades.

It has produced nine books, and a body of work that is now regarded as the most authoritative account of Mexico's cuisines ever created. In the programme Diana Kennedy explains her life in food.

In the programme food writer and editor of Swallow magazine, James Casey visits Diana Kennedy in her home in Michoacan to see how she's also created a garden containing varieties of fruit and vegetables from all over Mexico.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Sweeteners: The answer to our sugar cravings? Jun 22, 2014

Show notes

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.

US Southern Cooking and Chef Sean Brock Jun 15, 2014

Show notes

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 arrived in South Carolina in the 17th century a cuisine called the "Carolina rice kitchen" was formed. Using the expertise of West African slaves to develop rice plantations, a larder evolved consisting of the main crop along with beans, African vegetables and staples like oats, rye and wheat from Britain.

Chef Sean Brock believes it was one of the earliest, and "most beautiful" food cultures in America. In his mid-thirties and sporting an arm covered in tattoos of heirloom vegetables, he's attempting to "reboot" that cuisine and those ingredients which had all disappeared by the 20th century.

He's joined forces with historian David Shields and a seed hunter, Glenn Roberts, to source, grow and cook with these historic foods.

Richard joins Sean Brock at his restaurant, Husk to hear why "ridiculous flavour" is the driving force behind the mission.

Producer: Dan Saladino.

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