Food Matters Live Podcast

Is there a link between nutrition and the health changes associated with the menopause? It’s an area that traditionally has not received as much attention as one might hope, but things are perhaps changing. There has been a lot of recent media interest in the menopause, notably Davina McCall’s TV programmes, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s interviews, and other celebrity interventions getting lots of coverage. But while this public discussion is a welcome change, it has also helped highlight that far-from-enough is known about the health issues associated with the menopause. And the question of menopause and nutrition is an area unfortunately still swamped in myth and pseudoscience. That is where our guest, Dr Sarah Berry comes in. She is Reader in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King's College London and is Chief Scientist at the health science company ZOE. ZOE has been studying the effect of the menopause on body composition, sleep, heart disease risk, gut microbiome composition, and the impact our diets can have on these factors. Listen to the full episode to get a proper definition of what the menopause is, and how the symptoms compare to those experienced during the perimenopausal phase. We also find out how what you eat could potentially affect symptoms, and why this latest ZOE research could act a springboard for more to come. Dr Sarah Berry, Lead Nutritional Scientist, ZOE Dr Sarah Berry’s research interests relate to the influence of dietary components on markers of cardiovascular disease risk, with a particular focus on: - Precision nutrition - Postprandial metabolism - Food and fat structure Since commencing her research career at King’s College London in 2000, she has been the academic leader for more than 30 human nutrition studies in cardio-metabolic health. Sarah has made a leading contribution to the knowledge-base on the influence of interesterification of triacylglycerols on postprandial metabolism. Her research also focuses on the influence of manipulation of food structure and subsequent effects on lipid and carbohydrate bioaccessibility and changes in postprandial metabolism. Ongoing research involves human and mechanistic studies to elucidate how markers of cardiometabolic health can be modulated following acute and chronic intakes of different fatty acids and interesterified fats, as well as studies to investigate the influence of cell wall integrity on macronutrient and micronutrient release from different plant-based foods. Sarah is also the lead nutritional scientist on the PREDICT programme, assessing the genetic, metabolic, metagenomic, and meal-dependent effects on metabolic responses to food in >3,000 individuals in the UK and US. This research is at the forefront of developments in personalised nutrition and is forging a new way forward in the design and implementation of large-scale remote nutrition research studies integrating novel technologies, citizen science and AI.

"Don't be shy. Don't be ashamed. Apply for the jobs and schemes you would love to do."So says Taïeb Mestiri, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Manager at the Coca-Cola Company, in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series with Elisa Roche.As millions of students prepare to receive exam results this summer, many will be thinking about their next steps, and Taïeb's story is one which should provide some inspiration.Less than four years ago he applied for an internship at Coca-Cola in Paris and it has been the start of a great partnership.He says that when he first applied, he didn't think he stood much of a chance of being taken on. But he was proved wrong and now his advice to others is to put yourself forward, even if you have some self-doubt.Find out more about the up-coming Food Matters Live careers event seriesInitially Taïeb studied for a degree in engineering, but his love of food forced him to change course, eventually studying Food Science and Nutrition at Sorbonne University.To help him through his studies, he took on various jobs, including a stint in sales at a large bakery chain.Although a career in sales wasn't his ultimate goal, he says the job gave him valuable insights into how products were made, and he has used that to help him in his later career.So, why did he take on the internship at Coca-Cola? He says he knew he wanted to work there, from the moment he went in for his internship interview."It was very impressive. I was invited into the office and it was a discussion more than an interview," he says."The most important thing is to ensure that you have a good feeling with the people doing the interview."The connection was great and I knew I wanted to work with these people."Find out more about internships and trainee schemes at the Coca-Cola CompanyWorking at such a huge company might sound like a daunting prospect for some. But Taïeb says the firm puts people at the centre of what it does and offers lots of fantastic opportunities for progression.Listen to the full episode to find out exactly what a Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Manager does, how much you can expect to earn in a similar role, and see if Taïeb reveals the top secret Coca-Cola recipe (spoiler - he doesn't but Elisa really did try).Taïeb Mestiri, Scientific and Regulatory Affairs Manager, the Coca-Cola CompanyAfter obtaining his master’s degree in nutrition, quality, and health from Sorbonne University, Taïeb stepped into the Coca-Cola Company’s world to explore his passion for food and beverage innovations. In addition to overseeing scientific and regulatory compliance for France, he has joined the research and development team for a part time experience to express his creativity and co-create refreshing beverage innovations. His aim is to support food and beverage companies to meet the evolving consumer expectations by creating meaningful, sustainable, and tasty innovations.He is a naturally curious person who believes in safe, collision-rich spaces as fertile ground for creativity and innovation.He spends his free time reading articles, playing the guitar, and cooking comforting dishes.

There is no doubt that the UK is a nation of curry lovers, curry addicts even, with many of our best, and biggest nights out happening in Indian restaurants. They are a huge player in the UK food industry. Estimates vary, but one trade group suggests curry houses employ 100,000 people and have annual sales of £4.2 billion. And that’s not even counting supermarket sales, recipe book sales, and so on. The impact on our food culture is immense.And the UK is not alone. In so many parts of the world, there’s a big curry culture. Whether you’re sitting under palm trees in Durban, or on a night out in Glasgow, you’re part of a global curry scene.And with this global spread comes a fascinating history, bringing together centuries of trade, immigration, colonisation and culinary innovation.But how do you define a curry? Why has this amalgamation of cuisines become so popular? And what does the future hold?Listen to the full episode to find out why the British in particular have fallen in love with curry, how curry powder first emerged, and how curry has travelled around the world and influenced so many dishes.Shrabani Basu, Journalist and AuthorShrabani Basu is a journalist and Sunday Times best-selling author. Her books include the critically acclaimed The Mystery of the Parsee Lawyer: Arthur Conan Doyle, George Edalji and the Foreigner in the English Village, For King and Another Country: Indian Soldiers on the Western Front 1914-18, Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant (now a major Oscar-nominated motion picture starring Dame Judi Dench and Ali Fazal) Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan, and Curry: The Story of the Nation’s Favourite Dish. She is the founder and chair of the Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust which campaigned for a memorial for the World War II heroine in London. It was unveiled by Princess Anne in 2012. She is an ambassador for the RAF Museum in London. Shrabani is a frequent commentator on radio and television on Indian history and Empire. She has featured on BBC Saturday Kitchen and appeared on Heston Blumenthal's programme on Channel 4. Lizzie Collingham, Historian and AuthorLizzie Collingham is an independent historian who uses food as a way of linking the minutiae of daily life to the broad sweep of historical processes. She is the author of Imperial Bodies: the physical experience of the Raj c.1800–1947, Curry: a tale of cooks and conquerors, The Taste of War: World War II and the battle for food, The Hungry Empire: how Britain’s quest for food shaped the modern world and The Biscuit: the history of a very British indulgence. She is currently a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College, Cambridge.

For decades, there has been a fiery debate around Genetic Modification. It’s seen by many as a solution to some of the world’s biggest food problems, but by others as a reckless scientific gamble, endangering human health and the environment. Those of us with memories of the 1990s and 2000s will remember GM trial crops in East Anglia being trashed by protesters, with farmers defending them using tractors as battering rams.Genetically modified crops are effectively banned across Europe and the same applies to gene edited crops.And it’s gene editing we’re interested in because the UK Government is trying to pass a new law which could lead to these crops being grown commercially in England.Researchers hope gene editing might help solve global food and health problems, and be more palatable to the public than GM.So, will it be a game changer?To discuss its potential, we are joined by Professor Cathie Martin from the John Innes Centre, where she is leading a research project creating tomatoes which boost the body’s vitamin D.And former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Food Standards Agency, Professor Guy Poppy.Cathie Martin, group leader at the John Innes Centre and Professor at the University of East AngliaCathie researches the relationship between diet and health and how crops can be fortified to improve diets and address the global challenge of escalating chronic disease. This work has involved linking leading clinical and epidemiological researchers with plant breeders and metabolic engineers to develop scientific understanding of how diet can help to maintain health, promote healthy ageing and reduce the risk of chronic disease.Cathie has recently initiated collaborative research in China to research on Chinese Medicinal Plants, particularly those producing anti-cancer metabolites used for complementary therapies.Cathie was Editor-in-Chief of The Plant Cell (2008-2014) and is now an Associate Editor for Molecular Horticulture. She is a member of EMBO, AAAS, a Fellow of the Royal Society, in 2014 she was awarded an MBE for services to Plant Biotechnology, in 2019 she was elected Janniki Ammal Chair of the Indian Academy of Sciences for outstanding women in science and in 2022 she will receive the Rank Prize for outstanding contributions to research on nutrition.Professor Guy Poppy, former Chief Scientific Adviser to the Food Standards Agency,Professor Guy Poppy served as the FSA’s Chief Scientific Adviser from 2014 to 2020. His research on food systems and food security at the University of Southampton, is interdisciplinary and he has twice served as Associate Vice President for Interdisciplinary research. He was appointed Companion of the Order of Bath (CB) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021 and made a fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2022.Professor Poppy has significant research experience in food systems and food security and has advised governments around the world on these issues. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers including a number of highly cited articles on risk assessment, risk analysis and risk communication. He was a member of the Research Excellence Framework (REF2014 and REF2021) panel assessing the quality of agriculture, food and veterinary science in the UK.A graduate of Imperial College and Oxford University, Professor Poppy previously worked at Rothamsted Research, becoming Principal Scientific Officer. He left in 2001 to join the University of Southampton. As the FSA’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Poppy provided expert scientific advice to the UK government and played a critical role in helping to understand how scientific developments will shape the work of the FSA as well as the strategic implications of any possible changes. His series of CSA reports have reached a very wide audience and have had impact on issues ranging from AMR to Big data and Whole Genome Sequencing through to the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS). He has focused on connecting science to those using it and has pushed for scientists to be intelligent providers to intelligent customers of science within the FSA and beyond.After completing his term of six years at the FSA, Professor Poppy became the Programme Director for the SPF Transforming the UK Food systems programme. This £47.5 million interdisciplinary research programme is supported by UKRI’s Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF) and brings together researchers from almost 40 research organisations and over 200 private and public sector organisations including almost 20 Government Departments/Agencies.

"I literally have the best job in the world," says Hari Ghotra, Global Food and Beverage Manager at Virgin Atlantic. "I get to travel a lot, meet some amazing chefs, and eat some incredible food."It's hard to argue with that assessment. If you love food and love travel, this is up there as one of the dream jobs.Added to that, Hari is also a hugely successful cook, author and entrepreneur, founding the biggest Indian food digital platform in the UK harighotra.co.ukHer book "Indian for Everyone: 100 Easy, Healthy Dishes the Whole Family Will Love" is proving extremely popular too.Hari's job at Virgin Atlantic sees her travelling all around the world, working with caterers, and trying to find the best food to serve in the air.She manages the menus on all inbound flights to the UK and goes to painstaking lengths to make sure that what is served meets the needs of the passengers and crew.There are certain challenges to serving 300 meals at 35,000-feet, not least the way our taste pallets change at altitude.There's also limited equipment to contend with on a plane, and the pure logistics of trying to serve hundreds of meals very quickly in a small space.Hari and her team go through hours and hours of testing to get the best results. "It is personal," she says. "The chefs that I work with take it personally if something they've created doesn't come across how they want it to be or if a customer isn't happy."Listen to the full episode to find out how she launched her own business, why she believes loving what you do is the key to success, and why certain wines taste better than others when you're in the air.Hari Ghotra, Global Food and Beverage Manager, Virgin AtlanticHari Ghotra's website and social platforms feature hundreds of easy to follow recipes, videos, articles and live weekly cooking sessions that attract a global audience. Her community App is a real time location with a thriving community of food lovers who share pictures and ideas, it’s a place Hari communicates with her followers daily.She is also the global food and beverage manager for Virgin Atlantic where she manages a number of separate catering units across the world. The catering units are responsible for producing the in flight food for the airline for flights returning to the UK. The role includes managing the Virgin Atlantic food proposition for each of the cabins, the equipment the food is served on, food safety, budget as well as managing the day to day issues.Having trained as a Biologist at the University of Bath she went on to work for Unilever as a food microbiologist. Hari went on to undertake a Masters in Marketing management for food and drinks related industries at Cranfield School of Management and secured a position on the Tesco graduate training scheme. After 14 years with Tesco PLC working in a number of different disciplines, she went on to create her food business Hari Ghotra.She then trained at Michelin-starred Tamarind of Mayfair to understand the restaurant world and now contributes to many publications, creates engaging online content and works with many different brands.Raised in an environment where food played a central role in family life, Hari learned to cook amazing dishes from her mother. Hari quickly understood the difficulty people feel when preparing Indian food at home so continues her work to be the conduit between cookbooks, TV and actually cooking with you, in your home, through her digital presence.

Personalised nutrition has been making headlines for some time, but how much impact do different types of interventions have, and which work best? Science has now advanced to a point where it can look deep inside us as individuals and calculate individual nutrition and health needs. As a result, the personalised nutrition sector is rapidly expanding. But among the hundreds of apps and advisors out there, reliable research about the effectiveness of these tools isn’t easy to find. The health advice may be personal, the question is: Will it work? And will any lifestyle changes stick around long-term? This where the Preventomics Programme comes in. It has been gathering evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches to personalised nutrition, and analysing their worth. It is a huge bit of research, looking at the potential of omics sciences, especially metabolomics, and changes in habits as drivers of development. Participants were given personalised plans for nutrition and lifestyle habits to improve their health, based on the individual, such as physical and behavioural traits, lifestyle, genotype, preferences and physical condition. There were three scenarios: Personalised recommendations at the point of sale with products suggested to be added to the basket beneficial for the users. Personalised delivery food service responding to the nutritional user’s profile, preferences and physical and behavioural traits. Personalised nutritional advice by nutritionists for subjects with abdominal obesity through a software and mobile app. Listen to the full episode to find out what was learned and how it might impact the personalised nutrition sector in the future. Josep Maria del Bas, Senior researcher in the Nutrition and Health Department, Eurocat Josep Maria del Bas has degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry and holds a PhD in Nutrition and Metabolism from Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona. He has focused his professional career on the study of molecular mechanisms involved in the interaction between nutrition and health. His current duties at Eurecat include coordinating multidisciplinary teams dedicated to researching the health effects of food and pharmaceutical products.

Spain is a food superpower; the fourth largest agri-food player in Europe and the tenth biggest in the world. It is perhaps less well-known as an obvious choice for agritech and innovation.But that feeling is misplaced, and it is changing, as Spain grows as a leading light in this area.In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we meet one of the organisations fuelling that growth, Eatable Adventures.Eatable Adventures discovers and supports innovative foodtech start-ups.Spain has always been famous for its fishing, aquaculture, vegetables, and much more. Eatable Adventures is helping to raise the country’s profile in areas such as alternative proteins, biotech, AI, and innovative, climate-friendly solutions.It supports start-ups, helping them grow from good ideas, to real-world solutions to the global food system’s biggest challenges.Eatable Solutions’ main focus is on start-ups that supply industry, rather than being consumer-facing.That’s partly down to funding opportunities, but it appears to be a smart move.Less money needs to be spent on creating a brand, and there have been notable successes including: Alternative protein company - Innomy Cocuus – which prints 3D meat Indoor hop farm - Ekonoke Listen to the full episode to find out how Eatable Adventures helps companies like those listed, and why those businesses were chosen.We also ask: What is driving the agtech sector in Spain?Other countries with flourishing scenes, such as Israel, Singapore, the UAE, and the US tend to have fairly obvious push factors.They are usually places with a tradition of hi-tech industries, such as Silicon Valley. Or places where geography has forced innovation, such as being surrounded by desert.Is Spain blooming in this area because of government support? Or is something else driving the growth? José Luis Cabañero, Founder and CEO, Eatable AdventuresOver 30 years experience in the development of emerging markets in the tech sector and since 2015 in the Food and Beverages segment. Held senior management positions at European level at Oracle, Cisco, Unisys and as Open Innovation Sr Director in BBVA.BS Computer Science by University de Extremadura, General Management program SEP at Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Diplôme de Cuisine by Le Cordon Bleu, Diplome Universitaire DUGGAT by University Reims Champagne-Ardennes.

"There's no industry like the food industry," says Dai Llewellyn. "No other industry encapsulates all of your senses in the same way."Dai is Head Chef of Product Development at Co-Op UK, but it didn't always looks like he would have a successful food career.In fact, he started out studying a business degree: "I fell into a world of business by sort of doing what I thought I was meant to do, or what my parents expected me to do."Everything changed for him when he got his first job in a restaurant. He says he was instantly hooked after experiencing the comradery and fun: "There was just an amazing buzz around the place."Before taking on his role at Co-Op, Dai worked in a number of high-end restaurants, and he used to work in sandwich development at Greencore.He even won some awards, including one for, what he calls "just a chicken sandwich". We think he's being modest.Listen to full episode to find out why he finds the food industry so exciting, why he believes experience is not the be-all and end-all, and what you can expect to earn if you manage to have a career as successful as Dai's. Dai Llewellyn, Executive Chef of Product Development, Co-Op UKDai has always been fascinated with food, not only the creative, immersive nature of it but its power to share heritage and stories.His food journey started within a small local restaurant in his hometown of Mumbles, Swansea learning and soaking up the hustle and buzz the hospitality industry has to offer before he made the decision to further and test himself in fine dining and made the move to London.He was lucky enough to work in some great kitchens and gain several mentors within the industry which have immensely helped shape his career so far.It is the continuous learning element of food that drove him to make the change out of restaurants and into product development. Starting with food manufactures such as Greencore and Bakkavor and brands such as Charlie Bigham’s was a amazing journey into food retail and gave him great understanding of the processes, teams and challenges faced.He has also had experience within retailers themselves having previously held positions in Waitrose and now in his current role as Executive Chef of Product Development at Co-Op.His current role help bring together food trends and culinary knowledge to support the team's of product developers to deliver not only new and exciting products but delicious, convenient, accessible food and drink.

In the last few years there’s been a growing interest in food and drink products that claim to improve gut health.Research has been booming and, on the Food Matters Live Podcast, we have spoken to some of the world’s leading experts, exploring connections between our gut, what we eat, and our physical and mental health. In this episode we explore the many different ways the food and nutrition industry is tapping into this market. It is already a large territory to navigate, around every corner there’s a new probiotic. So which avenues are most beneficial for our individual health, and for developing a business?We take a look at some of the latest trends; fermentation, grain-based foods, and yoghurts spring to mind. But what else is out there?Which parts of the world are most interested in products that claim to promote gut health? Which demographics are fuelling the rapid rise? And how can consumers protect themselves from potentially dubious claims?Listen to the full episode for some advice on building a business in this market, how proposed new HFSS rules in the UK are already impacting the products that are available, and get a glimpse into the future of where the gut health food and drinks market might be heading. Jon Walsh, Founder and CEO, Bio & MeJon Walsh is Co-Founder and CEO of Bio&Me, the UK's fastest growing gut health start-up.He has a commercial and marketing background spanning 30 years, with successful roles working on some of the UK's best-known FMCG brands including P&G, John West, sitting on the UK Board of Nestlé and the European Board of the Thai Union Food Group as well as being a founding employee of Betfair, formerly Flutter.com. María Mascaraque, Analyst, EuromonitorMaría is a Global Industry Manager at Euromonitor International with a focus on Food and Nutrition. Based in London, she has more than nine years of experience in the industry.María drives the content and quality of Euromonitor’s global food industry research, provides global expertise and forward-thinking insights and identifies latest product developments and key market trends.María advises clients on food and nutrition trends and has a special interest in the dairy industry, plant-based eating and health and wellness trends.She holds a PhD in Nutrition from Complutense University, Spain. Rosemary Ferguson, NutritionistRosemary comes from a homeopathic/complementary medicine background and has always been interested in what food can do for you. After a successful 15 years of modelling; from being featured in campaigns for Miu Miu and Prada, walked the runway for designers from Galliano to McQueen, and features on Vogue and The Face, her inner nutrition nerd led her back to college to study at The College of Naturopathic Medicine. She qualified as a naturopath and nutritionist in 2009 and now runs a clinic on Harley Street in London. She also writes for Vogue and Beauty Papers. Rosemary is the founder of The 5 Day Plan, and co founder of healthy junk food brand Filth. She is also the author of ‘Juice’, published in April 2015, which features 100 juice recipes to help cope with modern day life!

Imagine it’s the year 2032. The summer Olympics are just kicking off in Brisbane, the Perseverance rover has arrived back on Earth carrying Martian rocks, we’ve just finished recording the 2,000th episode of this podcast, and the UK has just become the fattest nation in Europe. OK snap back to the present and there is still something we can do about that last one. A report by the World Health Organization warns that obesity has already reached “epidemic proportions” in Europe, causing 200,000 cancer cases and 1.2 million deaths a year. The UK is currently 4th in its European rankings and in ten years is predicted to top the charts. The question is: How is this possible in a country where the Government has an obesity strategy, and where at least a dozen policies or white papers have been announced on the topic since 1997? In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we are going to look at the possible solutions and ask what the food industry can do, to help solve the crisis. We will also ask: Given this situation, why has the Government decided to delay the ban on the promotion of foods high in fat salt and sugar (HFSS)? Michele Cecchini, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Michele Cecchini leads work on Public Health at the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Michele’s research interests include priority setting and programme evaluation of policies influencing population health. He is the editor and co-author of publications on the economic aspects of public health, including the OECD flagship publication on the heavy burden of obesity. Michele holds a position of adjunct professor in applied health economics at the School of Public Health of the University of Siena and served as temporary advisor to governments and intergovernmental agencies such as the World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, the European Commission and the World Bank. Michele is a medical doctor specialized in public health and holds a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a PhD from Imperial College London. Professor Paul Gately, Leeds Beckett University Paul Gately is Director of MoreLife and a Professor of Exercise and Obesity at Leeds Beckett University, he is the Co-Director of the Obesity Institute at Leeds Beckett University. Paul was the Principle Investigator on Public Health England’s Whole Systems Approach to Obesity and he is the Co-director of the Centre for Applied Obesity Research. His primary research interest is child and adult obesity treatment strategies but also the wider determinants of obesity. Paul has delivered over 600 presentations and scientific publications, as well as numerous policy documents on obesity treatment, whole systems approaches to obesity and physical activity promotion.

"When I go into a supermarket, I look at the ingredients of a product and I can tell exactly what something is going to taste like," says Angela Trofymova. "It's boring shopping with me."Angela has one of those jobs that sounds too good to be true. She is Group Testing Manager for the Good Housekeeping Institute.That means she is in charge of the institute's world-famous taste tests, which are so renowned they have a huge impact on sales and trends.In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, we find out exactly what's involved in running taste testing sessions, and what a typical day looks like for someone in a role like Angela's.Her route to the job has not been simple. She's held many roles within the food industry, and outside of it.At one point she worked for a company where things really didn't click. "That completely depleted my energy," she says."It made me feel inadequate and I felt like I didn't know what I was doing."But the truth is, things just hadn't worked out in this particular role and Angela dusted herself down, found a new job and has flourished ever since.Angela's story shows that even the most successful people working in the food industry will have ups and downs in their careers."Where there's a will, there's a way," she says.Listen to the full episode to find out how to work towards securing a job like Angela's, what qualifications you might need, what you can expect to earn, and how a meeting with Heston Blumenthal set her up for where she is today. Sign up to join a testing panelYou can sign up to be part of a taste-testing panel at the Good Housekeeping Institute.All you need to do is fill out a short questionnaire and you could be tasting next season's latest trends before they're available on the supermarket shelves. Follow this link to sign up. Angela Trofymova, Group Testing Manager, the Good Housekeeping InstituteAngela has over 13 years’ food industry experience, helping companies such as Pret, Sainsbury’s, Nando’s and Leon achieve sustainable growth through innovative product development – she’s even cooked for Heston Blumenthal! Her sensory evaluation training and finely honed taste buds mean she knows exactly what’s worth spending your money on, and leads the Hearst Institute food and drink testing team who test over 1500 products each year. Angela is WSET Wine and Spirits Level 2 certified and has been a judge five years in a row for the British Sandwich Awards and the Pizza and Pasta Awards.

The World Health Orgnization's European Regional Obesity Report makes grim reading.It says nearly two-thirds of European adults are obese, a third of children are overweight or obese, and crucially, the numbers are rising.The WHO says no European country is on track to stop obesity rising by 2025.For UK readers, the standout headline is that Britain is on course to have the worst obesity rate in Europe by 2033.But there is one line within the report that offers a glimpse of hope. It says: "Europe can reverse its obesity epidemic."In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we interview one of the authors of the report, Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Acting Head of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Non-communicable diseases.For decades obesity has been a major global health issue and as time has ticked on, despite research, government health legislation, campaigns, changes within the food industry, things continue to get worse.It’s a topic we’ve covered before on the podcast, but when we have asked where the solutions are coming from, convincing answers have often been in short supply. In order to understand how we might reverse rising obesity rates, we first need to understand how we ended up here in the first place.This WHO report is the first we've had for 15 years and some of the changes that have happened in that time, appear to be contributing to the obesity crisis.The Coronavirus pandemic is highlighted in the report as having increased our consumption of fast-food, led to more screen time, and a more sedentary lifestyle.The increased use of food delivery apps is also playing a role, says the report, and in more ways than might immediately be obvious.Listen to the full episode to get some answers to questions such as; why are all of Europe's nations failing to get a grip of the obesity crisis? Whose responsibility is it to reverse the current trend? And where can European countries look to for inspiration?And then there's that slight glimmer of hope. If Europe really can reverse its obesity epidemic, how exactly does it go about doing it? Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, Acting Head, WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable DiseasesKremlin leads the Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity Programme which is responsible for providing support to the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region on the implementation of the European Food and Nutrition Action Plan and Physical Activity. Prior to this position he worked as a Technical Officer on Noncommunicable Diseases (NCD) Risk Factors, since 2017 in the same office. Before joining WHO, he was a researcher and the co-director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Population Approaches to NCD Prevention at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom. He co-edited the text book “An Introduction to Population-level Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases” published by the Oxford University Press. He has a special interest in multisectoral responses to health promotion, quantifying the outcome of health policies and implementation research. Kremlin graduated as a medical doctor with MBBS from the University of Colombo. He holds an MSc in Global Health Science and a DPhil (PhD) in Public Health from the University of Oxford.

Technion, Israel’s Institute of Technology is the oldest university in the country and one of the leading universities in the world. Its Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering is a unique department where expertise from many disciplines comes together. Israel is a global centre of food and agri-tech, producing remarkable innovations, and attracting astonishing levels of investment.But, like anywhere else in the world, there are problems; food waste, overfishing, unsustainable practices, feeding a growing population. Israel is facing all of the above and the issues are taxing its brightest minds.The Food Matters Live Podcast has looked at innovation in Israel before, but in this episode we are going to get a unique insight into one of the world’s leading research centres.The Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering is led by Professor Marcelle Machluf, a remarkable woman who was named Lady Globe Magazine’s ‘Woman of the Year’ in 2018.Her work has been included in the Israel Ministry of Science and Technology’s list of ‘Israel’s 60 Most Impactful Developments’.During this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we learn about the new Carasso FoodTech Innovation Center being built at Technion.It has an R&D centre, packaging laboratory, kitchens, tasting, and evaluation units.Professor Machluf says: "It's not enough to just sit in the classroom. Our students need the right equipment to develop their ideas and they need to be prepared for whatever the future holds."Listen to the full episode to hear her views on the importance of building relationships to drive innovation, learn more about the work being done at Technion, and how the institute is going about developing a centre for ideas that haven't yet been born. Professor Marcelle Machluf, Dean of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, TechnionProfessor Marcelle Machluf is renowned for her cutting-edge cancer and drug delivery research, and her work in tissue regeneration. She is head of the Technion’s graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Biotechnology, a member of the Affiliate Engineering Faculty of the Technion Integrated Cancer Center, and former deputy executive vice president for research for the Technion’s Pre-Clinical Research Authority. She also works closely with the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute.Professor Machluf is developing a targeted drug delivery system using modified stem cells called Nano-Ghosts to home in on tumours, unleashing its therapeutic load at the cancer site. She is also developing scaffolding for tissue engineering of the pancreas, heart, and blood vessels, and developing carriers for cell delivery with applications for treating diabetes and more. She has a laboratory at Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, where she is working on a leading tissue regenerative project.Professor Machluf has authored book chapters and more than 80 peer-reviewed journal papers in leading journals. Her work has been cited more than 2,800 times. She has six national patents and two approved international patents in the fields of drug delivery and tissue engineering. She is the recipient of many honours including the Alon Award for excellence in science, the Gutwirth Award for achievements in gene therapy, the Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Award, and the Juludan Research Prize for outstanding research.

"It came as it of a surprise," says Jessica Pinnick about landing her job as Brand Manager for the soft drinks company, Belvoir Farm. "As the best thing often do" Jessica has been in the role for around a year and describes her job as being about telling the story of the brand. Belvoir Farm has been around for more than 40 years and is perhaps best-known for its elderflower cordial. So how did Jessica end up in this fantastic marketing role? Her career began at Boots, where she joined as an apprentice and went on a development programme. She says that really helped her decide which direction to take her career in: "I was able to try lots of things until I worked out what I really wanted to do." Jessica stayed at Boots for nearly ten years, before making the move to Belvoir and says it was the level of creativity required in the role, that really attracted her. "It's about getting to understand what consumers want and what they're looking for," she tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series. "This is probably one of the most creative jobs I've ever done." She see herself as the chief storyteller for the brand and has been integral in the launch of the company's first television advert, which hit screens in July 2022. Listen to the full episode to learn the difference between product marketing and brand marketing, find out how to get a job like Jessica's, as well as what you can expect to earn, and learn the correct way to pronounce Belvoir. Jessica Pinnick, Brand Manager, Belvoir Farm Belvoir Farm is a premium soft drinks brand with sustainability at its heart. The brand is best known for its Elderflower Cordial, which is still produced on the family farm in Leicestershire, using elderflowers handpicked by the local community as it has been for the last 40 years. Jessica's role as Brand Manager is to be the guardian and chief storyteller for the brand, bringing to life its amazing brand history, provenance and product quality through creating engaging content, inspiring marketing activation and market leading innovation to ultimately delight customers. Passionate about the power of brands and captivated by the infamous “here come the girls” Boots TV ads, Jessica began her career with Boots in 2011 where she worked for ten years across its portfolio of brands including Boots own label, partner brands and Soltan sun care. She says she is most proud of working on Soltan’s ‘tattooed child’ campaign, designed to raise awareness of the long-term effects of UVA damage. Along with a complete relaunch of the brand look and feel and an award-winning ATL activation plan that resulted in double digit sales growth between 2018-2020 and overtaking key competitors to become the No1 suncare brand in the UK. Right now, Jessica is excited about the year ahead, which sees the launch of Belvoir Farm’s first brand campaign centred around its unique story and how its dedication to nurturing nature is reflected in the quality of its drinks.

What will be the impact of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU on food standards in the UK? When the Brexit referendum was held, trade was trumpeted as a great benefit. No longer would the UK be constrained by EU deals; the country could sign trade agreements with whomever it wanted. Almost immediately, concerns were raised about the effect on food standards, food quality and animal welfare. Consumers and farmers would suffer, it was said. Well, several years on, those trade deals are slowly emerging, and the warnings have returned. A recent focus has been the big trade deal signed with Australia, which eliminates tariffs on a vast range of products, including lamb, beef, sugar, and dairy. The Australia deal was the first to be built from scratch, most others have rolled over from what the UK had when it was in the EU, or in some cases deals have been slightly extended. The brand-newness of the Australia deal makes it significant. But how big a deal is it and how significant is the food and farming sector within it? Critics say the Australia deal is bad news for British agriculture and environmental standards. The UK Government says it will unlock billions in additional trade, and boost wages across the country. The policy paper from government said “imports will still have to meet the same food safety and biosecurity standards as they did before. "For the UK this means, for example, that imports of hormone-treated beef will continue to be banned.” And it's not just food standards that people are worried about. The RSPCA says the UK has higher legal animal welfare standards than Australia in virtually every area. The National Farmers Union has warned that UK producers cannot compete with Australia's vast cattle and sheep stations. So where does the truth lie? And what might the real impact of post-Brexit trade deals be on the UK food sector? Dr Marco Springmann, Senior Researcher, Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford Martin School Marco Springmann is a senior researcher in the Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention in the Nuffield Department of Population Health, and leads the Centre’s programme on environmental sustainability and public health. He is interested in the health, environmental, and economic dimensions of the global food systems. He often uses systems models to provide quantitative estimates on food-related questions. Marco joined the Centre in December 2013. Between 2013 and 2017, he has been a James Martin Fellow of the Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food to work with researchers from the Nuffield Department of Population Health, the Department of International Development, and the Environmental Change Institute, to develop an integrated model of environmental sustainability, health, and economic development. Since 2017, he is working on extending the health and environmental aspects of that model as part of the Wellcome funded project “Livestock, Environment and People” (LEAP), working closely with different departments across Oxford, as well as international collaborators, such as the International Policy Research Institute based in the US. Marco holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Oldenburg (Germany), a MSc in Sustainability from the University of Leeds (UK), and a MS in Physics from Stony Brook University (USA). He maintains international research collaborations, and has conducted regular placements, including at the International Food Policy Research Institute (USA), Deakin University (Australia), Tsinghua University (China), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA), Resources for the Future (USA), the European Investment Bank (Luxemburg), and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment (Germany). He is a Junior Research Fellow at Linacre College, and a Honorary Research Associate in the Food Systems Group of the Environmental Change Institute. Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive, Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming Kath has been Chief Executive of Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, since 2016. She is leading the alliance's response to Brexit and its profound implications for healthy and sustainable food, farming and fishing. She is also a member of the London Food Board and helped establish the Sustainable Food Cities Network. She is a vocal advocate of high standards for food, environment and animal welfare, and champions better trading practices and government support to reward food producers and workers for all the benefits they generate. Kath instigated Sustainable Fish Cities to persuade major foodservice companies to serve only sustainable fish; and the Right to Food initiative to address food poverty systematically so that everyone can eat well. She also helps run the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, and sits on Defra’s food procurement taskforce. On a voluntary basis she serves on the board of Growing Communities, an award-winning community-run sustainable food trading enter

The Mediterranean diet is the cornerstone of cultures considered to be the healthiest in the world, but do you know exactly what defines it?In many previous editions of the Food Matters Live podcast, it’s kept cropping up…When we talked about Covid and nutrition, there it was. When we talked about the gut microbiome, there it was. And when we talked about nutrition and age, you guessed it, there it was again.It’s hugely influential, but our guest in this episode, says many people are confused about what a Mediterranean diet actually is.That confusion means many people are failing to get the benefits of the diet.So if people are confused, how can they be sure that they are eating the right foods? Apparently, it's all in the colour and the taste of what we consume.And what are the benefits? Why is the Mediterranean diet so good for us? What chemistry is happening inside our bodies when we eat certain foods?Critics of adopting the diet away from the Mediterranean think it's difficut to replicate outside the region, saying many factors such as lifestyle, climate, and community play too big a role.But our guest, although acknowleding those wider factors, says there is evidence it can be beneficial to anyone, anywhere in the world.Listen to the full episode to learn more about the science supporting the adoption of the Mediterranean diet, its role in reducing inflammation, and why extra virgin olive oil is such an crucial element. Simon Poole, doctor, author and consultant Simon Poole MBBS DRCOG FBMA MIANE is a Cambridge-based medical doctor, author, communicator and consultant, and is an internationally renowned authority on the science and application of the Mediterranean Diet and lifestyle. His award winning books, "The Olive Oil Diet" and "The Real Mediterranean Diet" offer a way to access the healthiest nutrition in the world.

"Rice for breakfast is absolutely standard," says James Forsyth, Performance Chef for elite cycling team the INEOS Grenadiers.That's just one of the many, slightly odd, things he has to think about as part of his role.His job is to prepare meals for all members of the cycling team, as they compete at major events such as the Tour de France.So much thought goes into what the athletes eat and it varies depending on what role the individual cyclist has within the team.One thing is for certain, a lot of food needs to be consumed to make sure the riders are fit and ready to compete at the very top level."It's about the volume of what they eat at each mealtime," James tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series. "Each meal would probably equate to around six or seven meals."The INEOS Grenadiers, formerly known as Team Sky, are one of the most successful cycling teams of recent years.Geraint Thomas, who won the Tour de France in 2018, currently rides for them, and former team members include Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome.An INEOS Grenadiers rider has won the Tour de France in seven of the last ten years.James says he wasn't sure he had the right qualifications to become one of team's chefs and his career started in a very different setting.He started off as a chef in a country restaurant, before moving on to work in Michelin-starred restaurants in London.Listen to the full episode to find out how he managed to make the move to one of the world's leading sports teams, what it's like working on the road for so much of the year, and why you "sometimes get an evil eye across the table" when dealing with riders with different roles within the team.James also has some top tips for landing yourself a job just like his. James Forsyth, Team Chef, INEOS GrenadiersJames Forsyth has been cooking for 15 years. Starting his working career as a butchers assistant and washing dishes at the local pub. He took up a commis position at a catering events company, working side by side with the head chef, here he learnt the fundamentals of cooking.Moving on to a 1AA rosette restaurant with a small kitchen brigade, the mentoring continued from a highly experienced head chef for two years. Needing a greater challenge, he moved to London for 4 years to work at the 2* Michelin The Square and 1* Michelin Dinner by Heston Blumenthal.It was at Dinner where he won the William Heptinstall award after being nominated by his peers. This took him to Sydney to gain experience working in the 3 Hats fusion kitchen of Rockpool.After some time away from the stove exploring east Asia and Oceania he took up a role cooking for professional cyclists at Team Sky, now INEOS Grenadiers. Being in the role of senior chef for 7 years, it has come with much team success.From being a part of six grand tour wins including Chris Froomes’ three consecutive grand tour victories to multiple stage and one-day race victories.

What is it that motivates Dan Saladino; journalist, broadcaster and author, to continue to tell stories of food?He has spent years producing and presenting BBC Radio 4's prestigious and long-running show The Food Programme, has made documentaries about food all over the world, and most recently has published an award-winning book."Eating to Extinction: The World's Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them" has been picking up awards left, right, and centre since it was published, most recently picking up two prizes at the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2022.In this episodes of the Food Matters Live Podcast, Dan reveals how his passion for food, and the stories behind it, are inspired by his Sicilian roots.Not only because of the fantastic array of different foods he was exposed to at a time when UK cuisine left a little to be desired, but also because he saw first-hand just how central food was to people's lives and livelihoods.That drove him to a career telling stories about food, how it's made, who it's made by, and beyond.His book takes things a little further, exploring the foods that are disappearing from our plates and the planet, and explaining why he thinks it's vitally important that they are saved from complete extinction."We have had a success story in the last 100 or so years in producing calories," he says. But he points out that those calories are dependent on burning fossil fuels, and using large amounts of water and chemicals. "There have been unintended consequences."One of those consequences is a lack of diversity in the crops we grow. Dan uses the example of the Cavendish banana, which makes up almost the entirety of global banana exports.By relying on just one variety, the world's banana industry is at great risk as a single disease could wipe out global supply.That would be devastating for the banana industry, but we could be heading in the same direction with other crops, with even more dire consequences.Listen to the full episodes to find out what Dan thinks could save us from such an apocalyptic future, what keeps him going as a food journalist through an already glittering career, and after making hundreds of episodes of The Food Programme which one really sticks in his mind. Dan Saladino, Journalist, Broadcast, AuthorDan Saladino is a journalist and broadcaster. He makes programmes about food for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service. His work has been recognised by the Guild of Food Writers Awards, the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards, and in America by the James Beard Foundation. "Eating to Extinction" was awarded the 2019 Jane Grigson Trust Award. He lives in Cheltenham but his roots are Sicilian.

"You don't have to do what everyone else does. Really, really think about what you love in life."That's the advice from Helen Pattinson, co-founder of the hugely successful Montezuma's chocolate brand, in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series.Helen started her working life as a lawyer, and enjoyed a successful career.But she says, she "didn't really know" what her passion was at the time.Whilst still working is a lawyer, she met her future husband and the pair decided to pack it all in and go travelling.It was whilst they were in Argentina that the idea of starting a chocolate brand first emerged.Helen says they were staying in a small town which had a whole host of chocolate shops."They can sustain all of these chocolate shops in this tiny little town," she says, "what have we got in the UK?"The couple drew up a business plan, returned to the UK, and opened their first shop in Brighton in the south of England.Listen to the full episode to find out about some of the setbacks they've had to overcome, how they managed to grow the business to the size it is today, and Helen reveals their biggest celebrity fan! Helen Pattinson, Co-founder, Montezuma'sAfter studying maths and business at university, Helen took another two years out to study and to train as a lawyer, starting a training contract in London in 1994. She focussed on corporate and commercial law, and became fascinated by the businesses she acted for and how they funded their growth but often felt she was on the wrong side of the table. She met her husband, Simon, working in the same law firm and very quickly they decided that they couldn’t see themselves continuing with their legal careers for much longer. They decided to leave their jobs and embarked on a life-changing trip to South America where they came up with the idea for Montezuma’s when they were trekking in Argentina in 1999 and discovers a tiny town filled with chocolate shops. Helen was hooked and determined to bring the ideas back to the UK where the chocolate offering on the UK high streets was incredibly unexciting. Almost a year to the day that they returned from South America, they opened the doors to the first Montezuma’s store in Brighton.

When elite triathlete Justus Nieschlag suffered a partial rupture of his Achilles tendon, it couldn't have come at a worse time.The Tokyo Olympics in 2021, delayed by a year because of the Coronavirus pandemic, were just around the corner and the then 29-year-old was in pain."Knowing I couldn't perform as I would like and I couldn't train and race 100 per cent meant it was a really tough time for me," he tells Stefan Gates in this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, made in partnership with GELITA."You prepare for four years then it's like this. It was super hard and it was not a good time for me."Justus did compete at the Games, representing Germany in the Triathlon. Despite carrying the Achilles injury, he helped the team to an impressive sixth-placed finish in the team relay.But after the Games came the prospect of a long period of rehabilitation. Profile: Justus Nieschlag Age: 30 Nationality: German Discipline: Triathlon Honours: Germany’s middle-distance IRONMAN 70.3 Kraichgau record holder Five Arena Games podium finishes Represented Germany at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games, Tokyo Justus was told he had to stop running for three months. For context, he would usually have a two-week break at the end of the season, before returning to the track. The prospect of a complete break from running for at least 12 weeks was not a welcome one.Up until he suffered the partial rupture of his Achilles tendon, Justus admits that nutrition was "never a big part" of his thinking. That changed when his management team recommended he start working with GELITA and, in particular, their bioactive collagen peptide supplement. TENDOFORTE is designed to increase the health and quality of ligaments and tendons, which are made of collagen, decreasing the risk of injury and improving flexibility.Pre-clinical and clinical trials have shown the positive effects of TENDOFORTE. Bioactive Collagen Peptides at a Glance Bioactive collagen peptides are protein fragments with health-promoting properties GELITA Bioactive Collagen Peptides are optimized for specific physiological benefits They maximize stimulation of the human cell types involved in collagen biosynthesis GELITA applies a proprietary, carefully controlled process to obtain the beneficial peptides About 30 per cent of our total body protein is collagen. It is the primary structural protein of connective tissues. Collagen is crucial for mobile joints, stable bones, healthy muscles, strong tendons and ligaments.Suzane Leser, Nutritionist and Director of Nutrition Communication at GELITA, says strong tendons and ligaments contribute to the foundation of high physical performance and fast return-to-training in athletes. But it's not only elite sports people who need to be thinking about protecting their bodies in this way."We lose collagen at a rate of one or two per cent per year from around the age of 25," says Suzane. “We can slow down our collagen decline with this bioactive effect."Listen to the full episode to find out how quickly Justus recovered whilst using TENDOFORTE, how he thinks it helped in his rehabilitation, and learn more about the science behind the supplement. Download GELITA’s White Tissue Guide Justus Nieschlag, Professional triathlete, member of the German National TeamJustus is the current champion and new record holder of Germany’s middle-distance IRONMAN 70.3 Kraichgau.He is also set to become the most successful triathlete of all time in the Arena Games, having achieved five podium finishes since the inaugural event in Rotterdam 2020. This year, the Arena Games was the first eSport World Championship, with Justus finishing in second place.Alongside his ever-growing triathlon career, Justus is a licensed triathlon coach, with a BA in Sports Science, currently working hard also towards a Masters in Sports Science. Suzane Leser, Nutritionist and Director of Nutrition Communication at GELITASuzane is a sports nutritionist who built a career in the food industry dedicated to turning nutrition research into products that can make a real difference to the performance of athletes.At GELITA, Suzane promotes the fast-advancing science behind the use of specific bioactive collagen peptides and their potential to improve people’s quality of life, optimal health, and sports performance. GELITAGELITA is the world's leading supplier of collagen proteins for the food, health and nutrition, and pharmaceutical industries, and for numerous technical applications. ReferencesJerger et al. (2022) Effects of specific collagen peptide supplementation combined with resistance training on Achilles tendon properties. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 32:1131-1141. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14164Praet et al. (2019) Oral Supplementation of Specific Collagen Peptides Combined with Calf-Strengthening Exercises Enhances Function and Reduces Pain in Achilles Tendinopathy Patients. Nutrients 11:76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11010076Alcock et al.

The US is, of course, a huge player in the food industry and its influences are felt far and wide.From agricultural production, to processing, to fast food chains and advertising. And it’s home to some of the biggest food companies in the world.But is there such a thing as a defined American cuisine?Is it new world ingredients like corn, squash and beans, fast-food foods such as hamburgers, hotdogs and fries? Of course it is more than that, but how do you define it? Can it be defined?In such a vast country, both in terms of area and population, is there one dish that everyone identifies with?Paul Freedman is an expert on the subject and tells the Food Matters Live Podcast there are three elements to US food; Regional, Modern Industrial Food, and Variety.Listen to the full episode to hear about the different dishes that play a major role in the eating habits of Americans, why how and where you eat can be just as important as what you eat, and the important role of race and gender in defining US cuisine.Professor Freedman specialises in medieval social history, the history of Catalonia, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and the history of cuisine. His latest book is Ten Restaurants That Changed America (Liveright/Norton, 2016).His other boooks include The Diocese of Vic: Tradition and Regeneration in Medieval Catalonia (1983); Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia (1991); Images of the Medieval Peasant (1999); and two collections of essays: Church, Law and Society in Catalonia, 900-1500 and Assaigs d’historia de la pagesia catalana ( “Essays on the History of the Catalan Peasantry,” translated into Catalan); Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination. A Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, Freedman is also a corresponding fellow of the Real Academia de Buenas Letras de Barcelona and of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His honors include a 2008 cookbook award (reference and technical) from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (for Food: The History of Taste) and three awards for Images of the Medieval Peasant: the Haskins Medal of the Medieval Academy (2002), the 2001 Otto Gründler prize given by the Medieval Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, and the Eugene Kayden Award in the Humanities given by the University of Colorado. He won the American Historical Association’s Premio del Rey Prize in 1992 (for The Origins of Peasant Servitude in Medieval Catalonia) and shared the Medieval Academy’s Van Courtlandt Elliott prize for the best first article on a medieval topic in 1981.

How much do consumers want to know about the environmental impact of the food products they buy? There's no doubt that environmental issues are increasingly on the minds of shoppers, but it can be difficult to know if what you're buying is "good" or "bad" for the planet. With that in mind, Foundation Earth is trying to establish a simple front-of-pack grading system that offers answers at a glance, whilst also providing the opportunity for further reading through a QR code. The United Nations estimates that the food system accounts for more than one-third of global greenhouse gas emission, a sobering thought. But the environmental impact of a food product goes well beyond just how much carbon is pumped into the atmosphere. Foundation Earth says we need to be looking much more broadly at things like land use, water pollution, and biodiversity. And it's no use just looking at how production impacts the environment without considering transport, how the product is cooked, and how waste packaging is disposed of. In short, it is very difficult to calculate the environmental impact of a food product. But, it is not impossible. Listen to this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast to hear how Foundation Earth is working with industry to try to get data that is as accurate as possible, is trying to find the right balance between providing too much information and not enough, and why the vegan option might not always be the best option for the planet. Cliona Howie, Chief Executive Director, Foundation Earth Cliona has broad background in the environmental sector and has worked as an environmental specialist for over 23 years. She has chaired the European Commission’s Enterprise Europe Network Environment Sector Group, driving the uptake of resource efficiency and circular economy solutions for SMEs across Europe, and has collaborated as an expert with the European Commission on advancing the circular economy, climate policy and innovation agenda. She has worked across Europe with national and regional public authorities to design, develop and deliver large scale, multi-sectorial plans for decarbonisation and transition to a low-carbon, circular economy for industrial value chains.

"It was a very humbling experience, with many learnings that I still treasure."That's how Alberto Lo Bue, Managing Director at the food waste app, OLIO, describes an attempt earlier in his career to launch his own start-up."It's not enough to do something just because you want to do it," he tells Elisa Roche in the latest episode of the Career Conversations podcast series. "You can do a much better job if you care deeply about the mission and the cause."Alberto's career has seen him work for some of the biggest players in the tech sector.He started life in southern Italy, but moved to the north of the country and eventually the UK to complete his studies.After doing a degree in management and economics, his first job was working with a start-up incubator in Berlin. He describes his role as helping new companies solve their biggest issues.Next up was Foodpanda, an online food and grocery delivery programme which is massive in Asia and many other parts of the world. "That was my 'in' into the food tech world," he says.After launching his own start-up, an app that found products in local independent stores, he landed a job at Deliveroo, helping to launch its B2B function, 'Deliveroo for Work'.Alberto says of his experience at Deliveroo: "I was very very lucky and privileged to see it grow to hundreds-of-millions in revenue, and thousands of clients."But the move to OLIO was where he found his true home.The app connects neighbours with each other and businesses with volunteers so that surplus food is given away instead of thrown away.His says his role as Managing Director is massively varied, taking in sales, business development, account management, marketing and all sorts.Listen to the full episode to find out what makes an ideal OLIO employee (they're recruiting!), why he loves working for the company, and why he thinks the food industry in general is a fantastic place to have a career. Alberto Lo Bue, Managing Director, OLIOAlberto is the Managing Director of the food waste hero programme at OLIO, a free app tackling the problem of food waste by connecting neighbours with each other, and volunteers with local businesses, so that surplus food can be given away, not thrown away. OLIO has grown to five million users in just over five years, and its impact has been widely recognised, most notably by the United Nations which highlighted OLIO as a "beacon” for the world, and by Vivatech who awarded OLIO "Next European Unicorn". Prior to OLIO, Alberto led Deliveroo for Work, the B2B arm of Deliveroo, and founded Papem, an online marketplace to find products in stock in local stores. He also spent time at Foodpanda in its early days and Rocket Internet throughout its IPO. He is from Sicily and loves local, seasonal food! He is on the advisory board of Slow Food in the UK.

Sustainability is at the top of the agenda for many consumers and businesses in the food sector, but how do you make your hospitality business more sustainable without breaking the bank? There's no doubt that consumers are more aware than ever of climate change, and in some cases are willing to pay more for the planet-friendly choice. But sustainability works on many levels, it's not just about your carbon footprint, and highlighting your environmental credentials can be tricky. And it must not be forgotten that for many, a more expensive choice simply isn't an option. In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we look at how hospitality businesses can be more sustainable and how doing so could even help to bring their costs down. Join our Masterclass: How to integrate sustainability into your foodservice business The Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) is helping businesses in this area and says, when it comes to sustainability, a 360-degree approach is needed. Companies need to think about the impact on the environment of sourcing the food they serve, the energy and water they use, and the waste they produce. But the SRA also says they should be thinking about their social impact as well, sustainability means treating people well, paying them well and having a diverse workforce. Listen to the full episode to learn about the huge impact the hospitality sector has on the environment, how simple changes can reduce a restaurant's carbon footprint as well as bringing down costs, and why cutting back on the volume of some products can benefit both the environment and the quality of what ends up on the plate. Juliane Caillouette Noble, Managing Director, the Sustainable Restaurant Association Juliane Caillouette Noble joined the Sustainable Restaurant Association as Development Director in 2016 after five years of running Jamie Oliver’s programmes for improving school food and food education across the UK. The SRA is committed to accelerating change toward an environmentally restorative and socially progressive hospitality sector around the world. As Development Director, Juliane’s role included designing and developing strategic partnerships and campaigns, ensuring that the impact and influence of the SRA grows along with the size of our network. Juliane became the Managing Director of the SRA in January 2021 and is focused on growing the impact of the SRA around the world.

There's no doubt that the personalised nutrition market is growing, and fast. Forecasts suggest the sector could be worth anything between $15bn and $25bn within the next five years. And it seems to be everywhere you look, with a wealth of apps, advisors, and new companies entering the market. But it’s an area that’s pushing the boundaries of science and medicine. In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we take stock and ask: Where are we at with personalised nutrition? What does the science say? Just how optimistic, or cautious, should we be about how effective this approach is? And what’s driving the growth in the sector? Technology is certainly helping the sector to grow, but does the future of personalised nutrition lay online or face-to-face consultations? Is there much difference, both in quality of advice and outcomes, between visiting a trained professional and using a data-driven app? Personalisation could be as simple as following a vegan diet, but it can be as complex as reversing diabetes, or lowering your cholesterol. And the future potential appears to be almost endless. But with so many apps fighting for your attention, how do you determine which are offering evidence-based advice, and those looking to make a quick buck? Listen to the full episode as we look at what the future might for personalised nutrition. Could it be a game-changer in the developing world? Could it solve the obesity crisis? Dr Suzan Wopereis, Principal Scientist, TNO Dr Wopereis, principal scientist, joined TNO in 2006 and works with a systems biology research group active on the theme ‘quantification of health and effects of lifestyle on health’, acting as principal investigator in several public private partnerships, as well as on international research programmes focusing on systems health applying genomics technology, bioinformatics, and standardized infrastructures focusing on systems health. Moreover, she is responsible for scientific contents in the TNO programme on personalised health, focusing on inflammatory resilience. In her 16 years of research at TNO, her main focus has been on phenotypic flexibility as a measure of health, where she uses standardised challenge tests to study the response of a multitude of biological processes to quantify resilience in health optimization and chronic lifestyle related diseases such as Diabetes Mellitus type II. Mariette Abrahams, CEO & Founder, QINA Mariëtte Abrahams is the CEO and founder of Qina, a platform that helps companies connect and innovate in personalised nutrition. Qina bridges the gap between science and solutions to make nutritious food accessible to all by providing market intelligence, research and innovation services via a global network of domain experts.

"I never knew that my job existed," says April Dear, Senior Product and Packaging Development Manager for Asda. "That's why I'm really passionate about letting younger people know about all the different paths that are out there."In this episode of the Career Conversations series, we learn all about April's role at one of the UK's biggest supermarkets.Her job means she is responsible for a large team of product development managers, covering meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, and frozen foods.That means coming up with ideas for new products from scratch, doing market research, then taking them from the drawing board to the supermarket shelves.It's no mean feat and can take many months, and thousands of man-hours before a product is ready to be sold.April says her career began in the kitchen, where she was a successful chef: "I started working in kitchens when I was 13, just doing pots. And I worked in kitchens the whole time I was a teen."Then I had my daughter when I was 19, and I continued to work in kitchens, but obviously as a single mum with a baby, it didn't really work out."April decided she needed a 9-5 job and so she decided to go to the University of Brighton and study Food and Culinary Arts.She says, it opened her eyes to the world of a career in food: "There are also so many roles where you can test it out and figure out which part you do like. "You could love food but the bit that really sets you on fire is how you make it safe. Or you could love food but the bit that really sets you on fire is how to make tonnes and tonnes of it."Listen to the full episode to find out why April was named Meat Business Women's One to Watch, how working in kitchens set her up for spending some of her time in her current role on the factory floor, and the important role a foot-long pig in blanket has played in her career. April Dear, Senior Product and Packaging Development Manager, AsdaPrior to beginning her role at Asda, April built on her love for food from a young age training as a professional chef working in an array of kitchens from Michelin star restaurant’s to running festival kitchens at Glastonbury. Ten years later to accommodate a more family-friendly work-life balance after having her daughter, April gained her degree in Food and Culinary arts before starting her journey in the meat industry. Kicking off as a commercial graduate, April’s flair for creating products progressed into an New Product Development (NPD) role at pace across product area’s including sausages, beef and ready-to-cook developing products as part of ABP for Asda and the discounters predominantly. From there April joined Cranswick in the cooked meats convenience division leading the NPD team with first-to-market innovation for M&S and Sainsburys, it is here April won the Meat Business Women award and has been fully supported by her Cranswick family in launching, ‘Feed Your Future’ a school enterprise programme in partnership with MBW. The project’s aim is to demonstrate the breadth of opportunity available to young people in the food industry through a mentored product development programme resulting in the opportunity to launch into a retailer.

Dr Saliha Mahmood-Ahmed's career has taken her in all sorts of different directions. She is a junior doctor working in the NHS, an author, and of course she won MasterChef in 2017. But her passion for good food doesn't stop there, Saliha co-founded the No Hungry NHS Staff campaign. It's about making sure NHS staff have access to hot, affordable, nutritious food - whatever time of the day or night they are working. In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, Saliha says she sees the impact bad diet has on people's health every day in her NHS work. That's mainly in patients (she specialises in digestive disorders), but also the short-term impact of staff going hungry or being forced to eat poorly. She's also keen that, when it comes to diet-related health outcomes, prevention should be given more prominence. Saliha believes as much attention should be paid to what people eat in the years before they become ill, as the medicine they are given once a problem emerges. Listen to the full episode to hear her views on nutrition as medicine, why she's celebrating what she calls a "new age of curry", and how winning MasterCher in 2017 changed her life - it involves pyjamas and slippers! Dr Saliha Mahmood Ahmed, chef, author, campaigner Saliha is a junior doctor working in the NHS. She graduated from Kings College London in 2012. Starting her career at St Mary’s Hospital, she has subsequently worked in Hillingdon Hospital and Watford General Hospital. She is training to specialise in Gastroenterology, focussing her energies on the treatment of Digestive disorders. She is a member of the Royal College of Physicians, having completed her postgraduate exams. Saliha won MasterChef in 2017, facing off competition from 63 other determined contestants, through seven gruelling weeks of culinary challenges and an exhilarating final cook-off. Saliha has published two books. Khazana: An Indo-Persian cookbook with recipes inspired by the Mughals and Foodology: A food-lover's guide to digestive health and happiness.

What’s the link between the food we eat and brain function?We’ve spoken on the Food Matters Live Podcast recently about nutrition and healthy ageing, but the link with cognitive function warrants an episode all of its own.There’s a lot of current research into whether diet can slow down cognitive ageing and even reduce your risk of dementia.The notion of ‘brain food’ is nothing new, but how much of what we’re told stands up to scrutiny? What does the research tell us? And what should we be eating to keep our brains healthy?The brain makes up just two per cent of our bodyweight, but uses 20 per cent of our oxygen intake, 20 per cent of the glucose we consume, and needs more than 1,000 litres of blood every day.It would seem to follow that the nutrients we consume through the food we eat will have a big impact on our brain function.But we're interested in looking at the facts, the science, and the research that either supports or contradicts that assumption.In recent years it’s been suggested there are particular foods which protect cognitive health, does Omega-3 have as big an impact as some would have us believe? And does it matter how it's consumed?What role do the food and supplements industries have to play in ensuring we're all getting the right nutrients to maintain cognitive function?We also look at the impact nutrition can have on Dementia, how what we eat can affect short-term cognitive function, and ask how you go about getting people to change their diets. Anne-Marie Minihane, Professor of Nutrigenetics and Head of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine in the Norwich Medical School, University of East AngliaAnne-Marie and her team’s research programme investigates the impact of dietary components (marine omega-3- fatty acids and a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern) and APOE genotype on cardiovascular and cognitive health. A particular focus is the molecular and physiological basis for the interactive impact of menopause and an APOE4 genotype (25% of the UK population) on neuropathology and overall brain health, and examining the ability of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA to mitigate the accelerated brain ageing in APOE4 females. Norwich Institute of Healthy Ageing (NIHA) is focussed on providing agency, and the capability, opportunity and motivation to us as individuals and communities, to adopt heathier behaviours (eating, physical activity, socialisation, sleep etc.) aligned with recommendationsIn addition, at UEA, Anne Marie contributes to the teaching of the Medical and Bioscience students, in the area of nutrition and disease prevention and therapeutics. She is academic advisor to ILSI Europe (a tripartite consortium of Industry, Academia and Policy organisations) and Deputy Editor of Frontiers in Nutrition.

What's the secret to having a successful career as a flavourist? Marie Wright, Chief Global Flavourist at food processing corporation ADM, says it's all about passion.In this episode of the Career Conversations series, she reveals all to Elisa Roche about how she rose through the ranks to become one of the best flavourists in the world.And, although she says there are many elements to forging a successful career, passion, grit, and a desire to keep learning will get you a long way: "It's important that you don't ever get to a position where you say I'm there now, I don't need to learn anymore."Marie's job involves helping brands to create new flavours from scratch, or recreating complicated flavours that excite the senses. But how do you go about doing that? She says a good analogy for her job is a perfumer, creating tastes and flavours for food.She grew up in the UK, now lives in America, and was influenced by her Turkish father and Italian mother's cooking. All of which stood her in good stead for the career she chose."I didn't grow up in a traditional way from a food perspective," she says. "I feel very lucky."And being a flavourist isn't the sort of thing you can pick up overnight. In fact, you can't really study to become a flavourist in the conventional way, you need to go through years of training on the job.ADM runs a mentoring programme and it takes seven years to complete. Luckily for us, Marie founded the programme and gives us some top tips on what she looks for in potential candidates.Listen to the full episode to find out what Marie thinks makes a good leader, why you don't need to choose between the arts and sciences, and why a good sense of humour is a must for anyone starting out. Marie Wright, President, Creation, Design & Development and Chief Global Flavourist, ADMMarie manages a team of over 500 people, including 400 scientists, 70 flavourists and 12 chefs. As a transformational leader with extensive technical marketing and global technical management experience, Marie drives creative ingenuity with her team to deliver ground-breaking flavour solutions that satisfy tastes all over the world.Among the industry’s most prolific flavour creators, Marie has developed well over 2,500 flavours for the world’s leading CPG, private label and quick serve food companies for products ranging from plant-based burgers, to candy, snack bars, hard seltzers and more. Whereas most flavourists specialize in one of sweet or savoury, Marie is a cross-category flavourist capable of making any type of flavour – sweet, fruit or savoury – across all market segments in foods and beverages alike. She also formulates flavours for the nutraceutical space, creating taste-pleasing products with functional health and wellness benefits.Marie studied Food Science and Chemistry at King’s College London, graduating with Honours First Class. Her commitment to sharing knowledge is highlighted in the chapter ‘Creating elegant flavors’ of John Wright’s world-renowned book, Flavor Creation.

How can the food industry innovate to meet the demands and challenges it's facing, and do so in an efficient way? The answer, according to Tetra Pak: Partnerships, partnerships, and more partnerships.There are all kinds of issues that need to be tackled, not least the question of sustainability.In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we shine a light on a small company that says it's found a solution to a big problem, and how it's working with a big company to get that solution out into the world. EnginZyme takes waste materials from food processing and uses enzymes to transform that material into useful, sustainable, and natural added-value products.The company says its method requires less energy and leads to far less waste than conventional methods. Join our complimentary webinar: Climate optimism – shifting the narrative on climate change Featuring Anne Therese Gennari in partnership with Tetra PakBut it is expensive work and EnginZyme isn't primarily a food company.That's where Tetra Pak comes in. It too is concerned with increasing sustainability and reducing waste in food processing.By working together and combining EnginZyme's biomanufacturing innovation together with Tetra Pak's food expertise, could we be on the cusp of a transformation in the way food is processed?Listen to the full episode to find out more about the science behind EnginZyme's work, the challenges smaller companies face when trying to up-scale their big ideas, and how working with external partners is helping.We also delve into Tetra Pak's partnership programme, how it chooses which projects to support, and the innovations it thinks are going to take off in the years to come. Dr Karim Engelmark Cassimjee, CEO, EnginZymeDr Karim Engelmark Cassimjee co-founded EnginZyme in 2014 to make the chemical industry green by unlocking the potential in enzymes. Dr Engelmark Cassimjee has a PhD in biotechnology from KTH and conducted postdoctoral studies at Stockholm University. In 2021, Karim was selected as the KTH Alumnus of the Year, and EnginZyme as a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. Lidia GarciaPou, Head of Project Management and External Innovation, Tetra PakLidia has worked at Tetra Pak for 12 years and she believes that innovation is a powerful tool to drive the transformative changes needed by today’s society in the food system.Responsible for the external partnerships at Tetra Pak Processing, she is committed to deliver and contribute to the field of sustainable food processing by creating and fostering innovative thinking, engaging internal resources in open innovation, and advocating for new disruptive technologies.She has 20 years of international business experience within business development, product management, project management, sales and R&D in different large organisations around Europe. Lidia likes getting people excited about the things she is passionate about which is creating strategic partnerships with startups and small companies whose technologies and skills will help Tetra Pak in expanding its own capabilities.

Studies have shown that around 20-30 per cent of how we age is down to our genetics, so how big a factor is what we eat in the remaining 70 per cent?In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we explore the relationship between our diets and our health in later life.Life expectancy has fallen in the UK very recently, largely down to the Coronavirus pandemic, but it had been rising consistently since the end of the Second World War.And an ageing population can throw up a number of problems… The UK Government’s Foresight report into the future of an ageing population points out that without significant improvements, ill-health, chronic conditions, and cognitive impairments will become more common.The question for us is: can our diet help prevent these things? And what can we learn from the food culture in places where people live the longest, healthiest lives?As we grow older, our nutritional requirements change, so should our eating habits change too?At what age do we need to start making changes? And when we're thinking about the foods we eat, should we be considering our healthspan as well as our lifespan?Listen to the full episode to find out more about the nine hallmarks of ageing on a molecular level, how healthy ageing is defined, and the simple changes we could all be making to give us a chance of living a longer, healthier life.We also ask if the food industry could be doing more to help an ageing population, and do it whilst still making a profit. Rosie Martin, Registered Dietician and Founder of Rosemary Nutrition and DieteticsRosie is a UK registered dietitian working as Employee Health & Wellness Dietitian for her local NHS trust and as a plant-based specialist through her business Rosemary Nutrition & Dietetics.She has worked with a wide variety of patients within NHS acute and community settings and has specialised in both gastroenterology and oncology. With a diagnosis of coeliac disease in her first year of life, Rosie has lived experience of the dramatic impact of food choices on health and wellbeing.Having studied and experienced the benefits of plant-based nutrition, Rosie now works to support patients and clients to embrace a plant-based diet for disease management and prevention. Rosie is an advisory board member for Plant Based Health Professionals UK, and provides nutrition support for a range of clients, and businesses through her dietetic clinic, talks, workshops and article writing.

The UK Government is planning to introduce a raft of restrictions on the promotion of foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) - but will they actually make any difference?The idea behind the proposals is to improve public health. But will we actually develop new, healthy shopping habits once the regulations come in?In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we look at the evidence to see how shopping and eating habits might change.What does the research show? How will impulse purchasing be affected? In short, what happens when our favourite foods are no longer quite so visible?The Government recently announced that it was delaying some of the restrictions.That has caused lots of controversy and no doubt we will revisit the topic in the weeks ahead.But here's how things stand as of June 2022: A ban on buy-one-get-one free deals on food and drink that is high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as free refills for soft drinks, has been postponed by 12 months and won’t be introduced before October 2023.Plans to restrict TV advertising of HFSS products before the nine o’clock watershed have also been delayed by a year, until January 2024.But restrictions on where HFSS products can be placed in shops will still go ahead in October 2022. Malcolm Clark, Senior Prevent Policy Manager, Cancer Research UKMalcolm oversees Cancer Research UK’s policy work on tobacco, obesity and other cancer prevention risk factors. He has been at the forefront of obesity policy and advocacy for the past decade – first with Children’s Food Campaign (part of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming) and since 2018 at Cancer Research UK. He sat on Public Health England’s review of the Nutrient Profile Model, and was part of the team which implemented the HFSS ad ban across Transport for London sites. Malcolm sits on the steering groups of the Obesity Health Alliance and the Alcohol Health Alliance. Hannah Skeggs, Health and Sustainable Diets Manager, IGDHannah is a nutritionist (ANutr), passionate about aligning commercial interest with health and sustainability. Working in industry for Danone and Unilever, she successfully led reformulation projects to reduce sugar, fat, energy and salt whilst maintaining taste and ensuring product growth. Now as Health and Sustainable Diets Manager at IGD, she works collaboratively with industry to understand how store environments and product formulation can help consumers to eat healthier and more sustainably in the future.

Practice, practice, practice. It's good advice whatever food career you're hoping to embark on, and according to Dominique Woolf it is particularly good advice if you want to get into writing cookery books.In this edition of the Career Conversations podcast series, Dominique tells Elisa Roche there simply is no substitute for getting as much experience as possible.She recently won the TV show "The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver" and is releasing her first cookbook "Dominique's Kitchen" this month.But, she says, success didn't come overnight. In fact she says she spent years going to events to learn about cookbooks, meeting her favourite writers and reading as much as she could."It was something that had been bubbling away for years and years and years," says Dominique. "Winning the show was the ultimate validation."Her advice to anyone hoping to one day become a cookery book writer is to get work experience, read as much as you can, and keep practising: "Writing is essential."Dominique started life as a singer-songwriter, but gave up that dream to start and family.Then she re-discovered her other passion; food. She went to Leith's Cookery School in London, where she says she learned all the basics, emersed herself in the industry, and gained lots of new skills.As well as all her success as a writer, she also runs a successful business called The Woolf's Kitchen. Dominique Woolf, cookbook writer and entrepreneurDominique Woolf is a half-Thai mum of three, entrepreneur and keen home cook. Having been a singer-songwriter and recruitment consultant in a previous life, Dominique decided to change careers and focus on her first love - food - after realizing just how much she enjoyed getting creative in the kitchen. She trained at Leith’s School of Food and Wine to immerse herself in the industry and hone her skills, then became a food writer, before starting her own business, The Woolf 's Kitchen, in the middle of lockdown 2020. Initially selling a range of sauces inspired by those her Thai auntie used to make, she has now expanded into chilli oils, pastes and nuts, too. She won a cookbook deal after appearing on The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver and her first book Dominique’s Kitchen publishes on 9th June.

What can be done to solve the growing problem of labour shortages in the UK food sector?The Government's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee says chronic shortages could lead to further price rises and the UK becoming more dependent on food imports.In fact, it says if nothing is done to address the issue, labour shortages will shrink the sector permanently.It is a stark warning and we are already seeing the effects.In recent months we have seen crops left to rot in the fields, tens-of-thousands of pigs incinerated or rendered due to a lack of workers at meat processing plants, and disruption to the food supply chain.In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we delve into the causes of the crisis, as well as looking at what some of the solutions may be.How big a role are Brexit and Covid playing? Will higher salaries help to alleviate the problems? Is the Government doing enough to help the industry?And what does the current situation mean for workers? There are more job opportunities available and more bargaining power when it comes to negotiating pay, but other questions remain.If more people within the industry are moving on to better-paid jobs, who is filling the roles they leave behind? What is to be done about staff wellbeing as they work more hours to cover gaps in the rota? One trade body quoted is quoted in the committee's report as saying: "I have never known morale in the industry so low."Listen to the full episode for some views on what can be done to relieve some of the pressure in the short, medium, and long term.Meet the guests David Camp, Chief Executive, the Association of Labour ProvidersThe Association of Labour Providers is a not-for-profit trade association promoting responsible recruitment and good practice for organisations that supply the workforce to the consumer goods supply chain across the food processing, horticultural and wider manufacturing, industrial, warehousing and distribution sectors. The ALP’s 375 labour provider members supply approximately 70% of the temporary contingent workforce into the food growing and manufacturing supply chain. Jonathan Kittow, Director, Simply Supply ChainJonathan is a consumer-focused management consultant and collaborator with over 25 years’ experience in Consumer Goods and Retail sectors – Director of Simply Supply Chain and Chairman of the FMCG focused supply chain networking groups: Customer Supply Group and Drop and Drive Supply Group.Jonathan’s expertise lies in managing the relationships between sales, marketing and supply chain within blue chip manufacturing and retail clients to improve on-shelf availability and eliminate waste to reduce the end-to-end cost.

There's no doubt that plant-based dairy alternatives are booming. In 2021, a Bloomberg Intelligence report estimated that the global market for dairy-alternative milk could grow to more than $60bn by 2030. But this isn’t just about milk, there is dairy-free cheese, ice cream, just about everything, and the market is constantly evolving. Where plant-based dairy was once the preserve of people who identified as vegan, we've long-since moved on to flexitarians. Now sustainability is one of the key factors affecting the products people buy, meaning ever more innovative ways of making alternative dairy products. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, made in partnership with Edlong, we look at where the market is heading, the challenges of making new products that taste and feel like dairy, and the crucial role consumer messaging has to play in the sector's future. With new innovations in cultured, fermented and hybrid products helping meet the demand for sustainable alternatives, how do you develop new products? How do you ensure the flavour and texture are just right? And how do you market these products on a mass scale? Listen to the full episode to learn about some of the challenges Edlong helps its customers overcome, why price-point is becoming increasingly important for the alternative dairy sector, and how supply chain issues are being successfully navigated. Edlong Flavors Edlong was founded over 100 years ago. Now it is a global leader in dairy and dairy-free flavours, committed to helping food and beverage manufacturers innovate faster, for authentic-tasting, consumer-pleasing products. With an industry-leading library of hundreds of plant-based dairy-free flavours applied in thousands of combinations, coupled with over four decades of dairy-free and plant-based formulation success, Edlong brings an unmatched depth of experience and expertise to deliver authentic dairy taste and texture to dairy-free applications. Jessa Friedrich, Digital Marketing Manager Jessa Friedrich is the Digital Marketing Manager at Edlong, with over 10 years of experience in developing and implementing integrated strategic marketing plans in the dynamic world of digital marketing. Jessa has a degree in Marketing and Business Administration and an MBA in Marketing from Lewis University. Julie Drainville, Sensory Manager Julie Drainville leads all sensory functions for Edlong globally, maintaining a trained employee panel for sensory testing, and also collaborating with applications scientists and customers to run testing to meet project needs. Julie has an extensive background in food science including over 14 years in the sensory field, a degree from Purdue University in Foods, Nutrition and Business/Dietetics, a Master of Science in Nutrition Education from Rosalind Franklin University, and completion of the UC Davis Applied Sensory and Consumer Science Certificate Program. Ashley Sabo, R&D Senior Food Scientist Ashley Sabo is an R&D Senior Food Scientist at Edlong, working in the applications lab on customer projects ranging from plant-based products to categories from bakery to snacks. Ashley has a degree in Agriculture Economics from the University of Kentucky, a degree in Culinary Arts and Baking and Pastry from the College of DuPage and is currently working toward a Master’s in Food Science from Washington State University. While attending the College of DuPage, Ashely was part of the culinary team that won the American Culinary Federation IL State Competition for two consecutive years. She is also a member of the RCA.

Liz Littlewood says she struggled at first to convince her parents and her teachers that a career in food was a good choice: "I had to fight quite hard to continue doing it at school and then university."But she did persevere and now, as Co-op's Lead Technical Manager for Ambient Foods, Non-Food, Beers, Wines and Spirits, she says she's so pleased she stuck with it."I'm really glad I got a job that I really enjoy and I've had a varied career," she tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series.Liz's journey so far has seen her get a degree in Food Technology at Manchester Met University, work for M&S, Morrisons, and now the Co-op.Her current role comes with a fair bit of power, she and her team have the ability to stop a product going into stores at pretty much any stage of the development process.It also requires a bit of knowledge about a lot of things, from the manufacturing process, to packaging, transport and distribution, and legal and legislative requirements."You end up maybe not being an expert on everything, but having a wide range of knowledge across lots of things," she says. "And you certainly know the right person to ask!"Listen to the full episode to find out exactly what a Lead Technical Manager does, the parts Liz enjoys most about her job, and the product she has worked on that has apparently caught the eye of Kate Moss. Liz Littlewood, Lead Technical Manager for Ambient Foods, Non-Food, Beers, Wines and Spirits, Co-opLiz joined the Co-op in 2016 as Head of NPD across Fresh and Chilled. In 2019, Liz moved back to Technical, to become Lead Technical Manager of the Dairy & Protein team. In October 2021, Liz moved to lead the Ambient Foods, BWS & Non-Food Technical team.Prior to Co-op, Liz held various NPD positions within Morrisons and Northern Foods covering a vast range of categories during this time. Liz began her career with Marks & Spencer in Food Technical having undertaken an undergraduate placement within the business. Liz enjoys all things food and has a passion for collaborative working and solving challenges.Get to know Liz - 5 quick questions What’s your career highlight so far?"For me it's all about people. When I see somebody developing in their role, or when somebody who's come as a undergraduate placement, and comes back to the business as a graduate, that makes me really proud." What would you like to see the industry at large doing more of?"Informing customers more about what we do within the food industry. We work really, really hard and often we get a bad press. I also think the industry should promote careers more. There are lots of reasons why it's a great career." What’s the most useful mistake you’ve made in your career?"A long time ago I was on a train to London to go and have an interview for an undergraduate placement with M&S. I'd mis-read a letter and thought that the other interview I should have been at was the day after, and it wasn't. So by default I'd chosen one of the interviews over another. I got the M&S job, but it could have gone a very different way, as my lecturer reminded me the next day." What do you wish you could tell your younger self?"Worry less about your career. It will evolve, it will take twists and turns but that's ok. It's ok not to know everything right at the beginning because it will happen." What’s your favourite meal?"I'm going to slightly cheat. I'm going to say it's a type of meze or platter because I can't pick one thing. When I think about the experiences I've had where I've really enjoyed the food, it's where there's been lots of different variety. Give me a table full of lots of different things and let me go and pick amongst it and I'm really, really happy."

2022 marks 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne, making Her Majesty the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. Royal celebrations have often been associated with food, banquets and street parties, with this year following the script. In May 2022, Jemma Melvin created a lemon and Swiss roll amaretti trifle which beat around 5,000 other entries to be named the official pudding for the Jubilee. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we're looking at the traditions and recipes of British Royal celebrations of the past. We ask why some dishes capture the public's imagination, while others don't. We look at the parallels between the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and those that took place at the Queen's coronation in 1953. Today, like then, the celebrations are taking place at a time of hardship for many. Food prices are rising today as the cost of living crisis deepens. In 1953, we were still a year away from the end of rationing after the Second World War. And in today’s society, where you’re more likely to get your cooking inspiration from Heston Blumenthal than Her Majesty, we ask: Just how central is food to a modern day Royal celebration? Listen to the full episode to learn the true story of Coronation Chicken, why the Victoria Sponge is so reflective of the time it was created, and find out what treats our guests would rustle up if they were tasked with designing a new Royal dish. Meet the guests Mary Gwynn, Food writer Mary Gwynn was the founding editor of BBC Vegetarian Good Food and subsequently editor of M&S magazine. She has worked as a consultant editor and trainer for Waitrose for 12 years, and has written three vegetarian cookbooks. She has appeared on the sofa with Richard and Judy, cooked at the NEC with chefs such as Rick Stein, Brian Turner and Gary Rhodes, and is the perfect face for the working mum's model. Dr Sue Bailey, Food Historian and Author Writing and researching about food has always been Sue's passion. She is the monthly food columnist for The Lady magazine, and writes culinary history and local food features for Cambridge Edition magazine. She is an experienced panel member, presenter and chair for lectures, workshops and webinars. In the past, she has led national and European research programmes in workplace learning, consumer health education and food skills. Sue's hidden secret is that she has a quirky alter ego. She appears as the first famous female celebrity chef Fabulous Fanny Cradock. She recreates signature dishes from her 1950s, 1960s and 1970s books and TV shows at food fairs and history festivals.

“Monbiot has that most aggravating of gifts, the ability lucidly to point out things that people desperately do not want to be true."That's a quote from Henry Dimbleby, the man who proposed the UK's new national food strategy. He is, of course, talking about journalist, author and activist George Monbiot.In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, George joins Stefan Gates to discuss the future of food production both in the UK and around the world."We are looking at the possibility of systemic environmental collapse," George says. "We tell ourselves we put our survival above everything else. I see no evidence of that at all."He raises many concerns about the current food system in his new book “Regenesis: feeding the world without devouring the planet”.But the most pressing concerns centre around soil and the use of land for agriculture.He says the book came about through his newfound "obsession with soil", something he describes as being "the most complex ecosystem on Earth.Soil, he says, is home to as diverse and abundant an ecosystem as a coral reef or rainforest. But it is being destroyed.He says farming is "by far the greatest cause of the destruction" of ecosystems, habitats, climate breakdown, pollution of rivers and seas, loss of wildlife and extinction: "We are eating the planet."So, what is the solution? George Monbiot believes a number of things need to change, and he believes they can change.Listen to the full episode to hear his views on why agricultural subsidies are getting in the way of progress, why he thinks we should move the production of protein and fat away from the farm and into the factory, and how bacteria could help to solve many of the issues he raises. George Monbiot, journalist, author, activistGeorge Monbiot is an author, Guardian columnist and environmental activist. His best-selling books include Feral: Rewilding the land, sea and human life, Heat: how to stop the planet burning, and Out of the Wreckage: a new politics for an age of crisis. George cowrote the concept album Breaking the Spell of Loneliness with musician Ewan McLennan, and has made a number of viral videos. One of them, adapted from his 2013 TED Talk, How Wolves Change Rivers, has been viewed on YouTube over 40m times. Another, on Natural Climate Solutions, that he co-presented with Greta Thunberg, has been watched over 60m times. George’s latest book, Regenesis: Feeding the World without Devouring the Planet, is out now.

The images of suffering in Ukraine as Russia's invasion continues are some of the most horrifying seen in Europe for decades. The war has already led to the deaths of thousands, caused to the destruction of homes, and completely destroyed many people's way of life. Among the terrible scenes in Ukraine, we see a country which is a linchpin of the global food system, undergoing catastrophic change. The ripples will be felt across the world. The World Bank has warned it will cause the "largest commodity shock" since the 1970s and, of course, the impact will be felt acutely in Ukraine for decades to come. The global response has been to impose punishing sanctions on Russia, that too will have consequences for the food sector. So how is the global food system adjusting? And just what will be the effect on global food insecurity? In this edition of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates is joined by Professor Tony Heron and PhD researcher Paulina Flores Martinez, from the University of York, to discuss the impacts of the war on the food system, how the rest of the world might respond, and the repercussions of that response. Around a quarter of all adults in Ukraine are employed in the agricultural sector and the country is often referred to as the breadbasket of Europe. But the destruction caused by the war, as well as the redeployment of resources and land for the war effort, mean supplies of wheat, sunflower and barley are badly affected. Countries which rely heavily on these commodities from Ukraine are already facing shortages and globally prices are rising fast. Within Ukraine, people who rely on the land to make a living are suffering not only from the devastation of the war, but also from a lack of income. The West has levied punishing sanctions on Russia, which has responded by banning the trade of some commodities. That too is pushing prices up. So how will nations react to shortages and price rises in a globalised system? How will people react to the rising cost of living? And what will the global food system look like in years to come? Tony Heron, Professor of International Political Economy, the University of York Tony Heron is currently serving as a Parliamentary Academic Fellow to the House of Commons International Trade Committee. He is the author of three books and numerous articles and book chapters with many of the world’s leading academic journals and publishers. Tony’s current work is centred on interdisciplinary global food systems research, sustainability governance in global value chains, the political economy of the UK’s independent trade policy and the politics of agricultural reform in the context of Brexit. Tony is co-editor of the journal New Political Economy. Paulina Flores Martinez, PhD student, University of York Prior to re-joining academia, Paulina worked as policy analyst and consultant in the agricultural and environmental ministries in Mexico. Her PhD project explores the environmental governance of key agri-food commodities in Latin America. Paulina’s research interests around food systems include the politics of private and non-state governance of broader environmental issues, and the intersection between international food trade and environment global change.

Stu Henshall has cooking in his bones, but it didn't always look as though he would end up being Executive Chef at two of the world's biggest meat-free brands.His early years were spent helping out his mum and dad, who owned a farm and a restaurant.He tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, that he learned a lot in those early days, as much about front-of-house and pot washing as anything else.Alongside his love of food, he also had a passion for music and launched a successful career, working with The Prodigy, touring Europe, and gaining a gold disc for making a number one album.But he says he started to find that whilst on tour, he was more excited about the restaurants they were visiting than the gigs they were playing: "I realised something wasn't quite right."Then came a new moment in the limelight, and the start of the journey which has led to him becoming Executive Chef at Quorn and Cauldron - he appeared on the Great British Bake Off in 2015."It's not a natural way to start a culinary career," he says. "There are a lot more eyes on what you're doing as opposed to starting as a 'pot wash' and working your way up from there."His appearance on GBBO, and his plant-based bakes, raised a few eyebrows at the time. But now he has proved the doubters wrong.Listen to the full episode to find out how Stu made the transition from TV show contestant to respected executive chef, what his job involves on a day-to-day basis, and how he sees his job as making a positive difference to the world. Stu Henshall, Executive Chef, Quorn and CauldronStu worked for 15 years as an international gold disc-awarded touring musician, producer and songwriter for acts such as The Prodigy. That all changed when he beat tens of thousands of applicants to feature on the UK’s most watched program of 2015, The Great British Bake Off. While Stu’s plant-forward approach may not have floated Mary Berry’s boat, Stu set off on a career devoted to pushing the power of plants and studying how delicious we can make food that is good for the people and the planet. His food consultancy was responsible for writing and food styling for a variety of publications, providing catering solutions from festival to silver service, teaching at culinary schools up and down the country, training corporate catering teams, filming his own series and consulting on numerous successful restaurant start-ups.Stu is now the Executive Chef for the Culinary Team for Quorn, the number one meat-free company in the world. Whether it’s developing new products to enriching food culture within and externally to the business, Stu’s varied culinary background serves as an example that passion and determination are key to success in the food and beverage industry.

The history of English wine has been a bumpy one, and it starts much further back than many people would believe.There is evidence that the Romans grew grapes for wine in English soil some 2,000 years ago.For many hundreds of years after that there have been numerous attempts to make English wine the preferred choice amongst drinkers, with varying degrees of success.In fact, its fair to say that until relatively recently, English wine had a bad reputation both at home and elsewhere in the world.But today, the white and sparkling wines produced in England are often rated among the best.So how did we get here? In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates is joined by wine writer, Liz Sagues, to find out exactly that.It's easy to dismiss early attempts at making English wine as being blighted by cold weather and too much rain, but there's more to it than that.Easy access to European wines, a lack of expertise, and a love of beer have also played their part.But if it was so difficult to get wine-growing to take off in this country, why did so many people persevere?Liz introduces us to some of the trailblazers. She talks about the Honourable Charles Hamilton, who planted a vineyard at Painshill Park in Surry, and accidentally made early English sparkling wine. The Carr Taylor vineyard, near Hastings, which made the first commercial quantities of wine in 1986.Sandy and Stewart Moss who made sparkling wine at Nyetimber in Sussex and won a blind tasting in Paris in 1992.The owners of Ridgeview are cited as having played an important role in the story of English wine by sharing expertise with other growers.As well as looking to the past, Liz looks at the present and the future.The expertise is now there, thanks to agricultural colleges such as Plumpton, and excellent wines are being made by the Bolney Estate, and Camel Valley in Cornwall, to name a couple.Listen to the full episode to find out what Liz believes makes an English wine special, how climate change could mean we'll see more bottles of it in future, and why the rest of the UK could have a booming wine industry in the years to come. Liz Sagues, Wine Writer and AuthorAuthor of two books on English wine, wine columnist for the Ham&High Series of weekly newspapers circulating in north and north west London. Member (and committee member), Circle of Wine Writers.Liz came to wine writing via general journalism, where before going freelance she was assistant editor of the Ham & High, a respected London weekly newspaper with many readers who are well-informed wine consumers. She continues to write a monthly wine page for the Ham & High and its sister papers, and she has twice won one of the 'Oscars' of wine writing, the Louis Roederer Regional Wine Writer of the Year award (2005 and 2011).Her first wine book, A Celebration of English Wine (Robert Hale, 2018), ended a 10-year gap in publication of books for consumers on English wine -– a decade in which so much had changed! It covers the development of wine in England through 2,000 years, with much emphasis on how and why the present product is so good, how to enjoy it and what the future might hold. She wanted to continue telling this fascinating story, hence a second book, Sussex by the Glass (Tanwood Press, 2021), the first regional book on English wine. It takes an innovative approach in weaving past and present through the stories of two pioneering family estates, Bolney and Ridgeview, now headed by the daughters of their founders.Wine subjects apart, she has also had feature articles published in The Independent, Sunday Times and Country Life and in 2013 her first book Chichester Harbour: England’s Coastal Gem was published by Robert Hale.Her wine columns can be seen at www.hamhigh.co.uk as well as in the printed editions of the Ham & High Series. She also hosts wine events and run tastings for consumers.

Blair Bowman thinks there is something magic about whisky, and when you look into its history, it's hard to argue with him."A single cask, single malt whisky, is totally unique," he tells Stefan Gates in this episode of the Table Talk podcast."The fact that a cask is organic, means every cask is different. If you try one that you like and there's only going to be 200 bottles from that cask, once they're drunk it's extinct. "You can't recreat that. That's the magic of whisky."There's no doubting that Blair knows his stuff. He is the founder of World Whisky Day, author of the bestselling "Pocket Guide to Whisky: featuring the WhiskyTubeMap", and he holds the world record for the most distilleries visited in one day.Whisky is booming at the moment, with production surging into new territories including Japan, India, and even the Arctic Circle!But how did we get to this point? What were the key events that shaped the drink we have today? And where might the whisky market be heading?Blair takes us on an historical tour from the very earliest distilleries on record (and those before proper records began), through illicit trade, and changes in technology.We also ask if the Scottish whisky industry is helped or hindered by the strict regulations that it's governed by.Listen to the full episode to find out why whiskies made with the same ingredients and the same process can taste so wildly different, how problems in France led to whisky taking off as a globally popular drink, and how the escapades of two Scottish brothers brought the industry to its knees it the 19th Century.We also get some tips on how to get the most out of tasting different whiskies. And Stefan gets a treat, taking part in a taste test. Blair Bowman, Founder, World Whisky DayBlair loves introducing whisky to the world. He’s the founder of World Whisky Day and has hosted hundreds of private and public events and tastings around the world (complete with his own innovative twists). He shares his expertise and passion as a whisky industry commentator for TV and radio, on screen in documentary films and TEDx talks, and in print, with a monthly column in Scottish Field Magazine and as the author of the bestselling Pocket Guide to Whisky: featuring the WhiskyTubeMap.Blair is also a whisky consultant and broker - and a Scotland Food and Drink, Food Tourism Ambassador.He is a proud Scotsman living in Edinburgh. He has visited countless distilleries and holds the world record for the most visited in one day (a whopping sixty!), served drams to thousands of people all over the world, including Ambassadors and Royals, and sourced rare casks for private clients, high net worth individuals, family estates, and even Academy Award winners. Wherever he goes, he loves to show people that there’s more to whisky than they might think!

"I really love to see a client that's satisfied," says Tessa Anderson. "That they're in a much better position than when I first met them."Tessa is a qualified food technologist and is Managing Director of Pack Copy Sent Consultancy.She knows just about everything there is to know about food regulations and labelling, and helps companies get their consumable products safely approved for sale.Tessa says relationships are critical to the work she does, and says networking is a big part of her job."I love helping people and I love meeting people," she tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series.Reading up on the latest legislation also takes up a lot of her time.It's crucial that she stays on top of any new rules around food packaging, wherever in the world they might be introduced.But it's not all "reaching out" and reading up, Tessa says there's no such thing as a typical day for her.Her journey began at Manchester Metropolitan University, where she studied Food Technology, a course she says set her up "really well" for work, so well that she still refers back to her lecture notes.She says she has always been interested in the forensic side of food "possibly linked to watching CSI: Miami and Poirot" growing up.After years of working in-house, she decided to make the jump to consultancy work, something she describes as a "steep learning curve", but one she doesn't regret.The first decade saw her working with companies such as Morrisons, Greencore, and Kerry.Now she has an even bigger mix and does just as much work with small businesses as larger ones.Listen to the full episode to get some top tips for where to find food technologist jobs, how she keeps on top of all the latest law changes, and why she places so much store in being an ethical businesswoman. Tessa Anderson, Managing Director, Pack Copy SentTessa is a qualified Food Technologist, co- founder and Managing Director of Pack Copy Sent Consultancy.Over the past 20 years, Tessa has worked with Food Manufacturers, Retailers and Technical Service Providers helping businesses manage their food product information in the form of data migration projects, training, specification management and artwork checks.Tessa also provides training for individuals and teams.Tessa loves making and eating vegan and plant-based food, the outdoors, walking in nature, meeting new people and exploring new cultures.

For years, the Netherlands has had a particularly important role to play in the global food system - but how is that role changing as sustainability becomes an ever more pressing issue? The Dutch food production system has historically been the envy of the world, a small country but a big exporter. That has usually meant some pretty intensive farming practices, but now the Netherlands is becoming a global exporter of sustainable ideas. It's in no small part down to some of the work being done at Foodvalley, an independent international organisation, working to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system. In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates is joined by Foodvalley Managing Director, Marjolein Brasz. She explains what the organisation does, why it exists, and some of the challenges it hopes to overcome. The crux of it, is that Foodvalley identifies problems in the food system that can only be solved by bringing people together from across different sectors. The organisation focusses on innovation around sustainability and supports start-ups, corporates, and investors - anyone who falls under its umbrella term "game changers". But it's not just about the health of the planet, Foodvalley also wants to transform our diets to be healthier too. Listen to the full episode to find out more about the projects Foodvalley is supporting, why the Netherlands was the perfect environment for the organisation to flourish in, and how it is trying to overcome what Marjolein says is one the biggest blocks to change - vested interests. Marjolein Brasz, Managing Director at Foodvalley Marjolein Brasz has been active in the field of ecosystem innovation since 2015. The transition from a linear to a circular economy was central when she was involved with the Economic Board Amsterdam from 2015 to 2019. Since 2020, she has been directing Foodvalley. Breakthrough innovations are essential for the food system transition. But the current system often fails to offer the right conditions and incentives necessary to cultivate and scale necessary innovations. Therefore the challenges facing the food system are too complex to be tackled alone. Foodvalley helps partners in and beyond the food chain to break the barriers and accelerate the transition together. Foodvalley is the independent party that steers organisations on direction, process, content and speed. “Shaping the future of food, together.

Whenever there's a conversation taking place about the cutting edge of the food industry, the name of one country keeps cropping up - Israel.Whether it's discussing plant-based innovations, start-ups and investment, or lab-grown meat, we’re always drawn back to Israel.For a long time, home to a sparkling array of hi-tech industry, and now a global centre of food and agri-tech. But why is Israel so central in helping to shape the future of our global food system, and how did it obtain this position?In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, we try to answer that question with the help of the Israel Innovation Authority.The Israel Innovation Authority is a government agency designed to foster the development of industrial R&D.Listen to the full episode to find out how they go about it, why it has been so successful to date, and what others countries might be able to learn.And take a peak at what's on the horizon, the projects that are getting people really excited about the future. Dr Ami Appelbaum, Chief Scientist and Chairman of the Board of Israel Innovation AuthorityDr Appelbaum has more than 36 years experience in research, development and senior level management in the field of the Semiconductor. Prior to the current job as Chief Scientist, Dr Appelbaum served for 22 years at numerous executive positions at KLA Tencor, $15.6B Market Cap and world leader in the business of capital equipment for the semiconductor industry based in the Silicon Valley, CA. His most recent job was Corporate Senior Vice President and president of KLA Tencor Israel.Dr Appelbaum holds a Doctorate and Master degrees from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and an Engineering degree from Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheba, all in the field of materials engineering. Dr Appelbaum is the author and co-author of more than 50 scientific and technical publications, and holds seven patents in the field of semiconductor equipment and processing.

"I feel privileged to be occupying a role... where you get to be emersed in all the brand love," says Micah Douglas, Content and Community Manager at Tony's Chocolonely.Micah has only be in the role for two-and-a-half years but he can't speak highly enough of the place.In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, he reveals all about how he ended up working for at the chocolate company.He says he didn't initially see himself working in the food industry: "It's been a pretty winding path, food never seemed like the obvious choice to me." Tony's Chocolonely is going on tour - find out where and whenIn fact, Micah initially got into events marketing, something he studied at Bournemouth University.But after doing a work placement at Mr Lee's Pure Foods, he realised it was the sector for him.He was eventually drawn to the lights of London and, despite still being relatively inexperienced, he took a huge gamble. He quit his jobs, "probably a bit too prematurely," he says, and he didn't even have another one lined up.Eventually, a recruiter pointed him in the direction of Tony's Chocolonely and the rest is history. Listen to the full episode to find out how he makes sure everything he posts about is accurate and fair, the specific skills you need for a Content and Community Manager role, and get some advice on how to make your CV stand out. Micah Douglas, Content and Community Manager, Tony's ChocolonelyMicah Douglas ‘The Choctopus’ is the UK Content & Community Manager for Tony’s Chocolonely, the chocolate makers on a mission to end slavery in the chocolate industry.Previously at Mr Lee’s Pure Foods, Micah uses his role diversity to share Tony’s social impact, whilst representing a need for POC and disability representation in food marketing.Get to know Micah - 5 quick questions What’s your career highlight so far?"That first day when I joined Tony's. Being flown out to Amsterdam having been part of a team of maybe 10 people, to suddenly being with 120 people, raising our arms in the air with some chocolate bars. It very much felt like all of that hard work building up to this new job had paid off." What would you like to see the industry at large doing more of?"Definitely more social impact. To deliver more impactful things to the world. Being less about just the product and maximising profits, and being more about delivering something really meaningful back to the world." What’s the most useful mistake you’ve made in your career?"Becoming a bit impatient and being a bit too big for my boots when I handed in my notice a bit too early at my first company. I think that was the biggest mistake I've ever made in terms of it being an incredibly useful thing in terms of driving me to my next role. I definitely wouldn't encourage anyone to do it!" What do you wish you could tell your younger self?"Feel less pressure, be more confident about your ability, your natural strengths. Ask lots of questions, don't ever assume and be less judgemental." What’s your favourite meal?"I'm making lots of jerk-spiced lentils, and combinations of rice or something that's mashed with jerk lentils, coriander, all spice. I'm just loving that flavour profile at the moment."

After two years of a pandemic, and the massive behaviour change it forced on all of us, how do companies in the food industry look to the future and identify opportunities for positive innovation?In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, made in partnership with Accenture, we talk to the people behind the influential Fjord Trends report to find out. Fjord Trends 2022 might be the most fascinating to date, coming at a moment when huge sections of society are emerging from a period when we were forced to pause, reflect, and re-evaluate many of our relationships.That has affected the way we think about all sorts of things, self-care and the environment among them. It has also affected the way many of us think about the brands we engage with.So much has changed for so many people, but this episode isn't just about spotting the latest trends, it also looks closely at how the information compiled in Fjord Trends 2022 can be used by companies to make real-world decisions.This year's report has five main headlines, all sitting under the banner "The New Fabric of Life". Come As You Are - Most people don't want to be pigeon-holed into a category - so how do companies cater for different consumer needs? The End of Abundance Thinking - Less waste, more environmental concerns - but what does that mean for new product development and innovation? The Next Frontier - The blurring between digital and physical is going to become more significant - but what are the implications and opportunities for the food industry? This Much Is True - How do you earn and maintain consumer trust in an era of misinformation? Handle With Care - We're more focussed than ever on self-care and caring for others - but how can companies align themselves with that? Tatiana Penaloza, Managing Director, AccentureTatiana has over 15 years consulting experience working at large client organisations, driving value through business transformation programmes for CPG and Retail companies.Bridging business and technology teams to support clients to drive their strategic agendas and maximise enterprise value. Alex Jones, Managing Director in Consumer Goods, Accenture SongExperienced leader of large design, human-centred strategy and innovation teams. Alex leads Fjord London - a specialist service and experience design practice part of Accenture Song.Alex works with ambitious organisations to imagine new customer strategies and experiences, creatively driving business growth and transforming operations and cultures as a result.

The right to food is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but in 2019 in the UK 5m people were living in food poverty.Many of those affected are children, and in this episode of the Table Talk podcast, we meet two extraordinary teenagers who are campaigning to make the food system fairer for everyone.Yumna Hussen and Saffron Stedall are both Young Food Ambassadors for the Food Foundation, campaigning for Children’s Right2Food.They believe that young people are not being heard when it comes to food poverty, and are working to implement real change.Their campaigning has taken them to COP26 and Downing Street. They have also met and worked alongside Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, Henry Dimbleby, and England footballer Marcus Rashford.As part of their work, they have produced The Children's Right2Food Charter, which sets out a roadmap for tackling food poverty.A big part of the charter is a call for the expansion of free school meals, which Yumna and Saffron point out could be the only meal some children are getting each day.Listen to the full episode to find out what motivated both teenagers to get involved with the Food Foundation, what they believe a more equal food system would actually look like, and the role they believe better education could play in making the system fairer.They also call for healthy food options to be made cheaper, and discuss the links between food poverty and obesity. The Food FoundationThe Food Foundation mission is to change food policy and business practice and to ensure everyone across the UK can afford and have access to a healthy and sustainable diet.They aim to use surprising and inventive ideas to catalyse and deliver fundamental change in the food system, synthesising strong evidence, shaping power coalitions, harnessing citizen’s voices and driving progress with impactful communications. They identify new opportunities for action and trial new levers for change. The Children’s Right2Food and Young Food AmbassadorsChildren’s Right2Food is a nationwide initiative to ensure every child in the UK can access and afford good food. Led by a team of Young Food Ambassadors across the UK, the campaign calls for government action to tackle children’s food insecurity and childhood obesity caused by inequalities.It all began when the Young Food Ambassadors came together to launch their own Right2Food Charter, calling on Government to listen to their stories and those of millions of other young people across the UK who were living with increased levels of hunger and food poverty. They undertook a range of impactful activities including panels, media interviews, school assemblies, speaking at the Food Insecurity Summit, meeting MPs, taking part in youth boards as well as short films and podcasts.Listen to the Children's Right2Food podcast

Max Tobias is co-founder of The Dusty Knuckle, a social enterprise bakery in London."It's not for the feint-heart," he tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series.Max says the jobs is "very demanding" and really is a 24/7 endeavour: "People need their daily bread."It's fair to say Max has been slogging his guts out along with his two best friends to set up a community bakery that helps young people with difficult backgrounds to get back their confidence and learn new skills.Max now has a cookbook on sale, but he's very clear about how hard it has been to reach the stage he has.So, with all that hard work, is he a millionaire? "I haven't made any millions yet, and neither have my business partners." Listen to the full episode to find out how the bakery came into being, and why they decided to call it The Dusty Knuckle. Max Tobias, Managing Director, The Dusty Knuckle BakeryMax Tobias is the Managing Director of The Dusty Knuckle Bakery. Prior to co-founding TDK, Max worked for ten years in the field of youth intervention, covering fields such as conflict mediation, youth violence, gang prevention and challenging behaviour management. He holds an MSc in Child Development. The Dusty Knuckle: Seriously Good Bread, Knockout Sandwiches and Everything In Between is his first book, published by Quadrille in April 2022.Dusty Knuckle founders – ran a bakery from a shipping container that they won in a competition(!) through to stocking the likes of Fortnums and Ottolenghi with their bread. Their whole ethos came from wanting to help young people navigating dangerous lifestyles, and the bakery was their solution - The Dusty Knuckle helps young people to find meaningful employment.

There are fewer challenges bigger than trying to transform the global food system to make people and the planet healthier, but for Dr Gunhild Stordalen it's a challenge worth taking on.In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates meets the founder of non-profit organisation EAT to discuss what motivates her, and how she stays driven to achieve her goals in the face of stiff opposition and vested interests.Gunhild started her career with a PhD in pathology/orthopaedic surgery - so what took her from being a doctor to taking such a keen interest in making the global food system sustainable?She says that whilst she was on the board of one of Scandinavia's biggest hotel companies, she tried to change the menu to be good for people and good for the planet.But her research turned up very little in the way of research and, crucially, no forum where all key stakeholders could meet.That led to her forming EAT, the non-profit platform for food system transformation.It held its first forum in 2014, with Bill Clinton taking to the stage, and has continued to grow since.But there have been, and continue to be, great challenges. Not least the war in Ukraine, which Dr Stordalen says has shifted national food policies to self-sufficiency over sustainability - to the detriment of climate change targets.Listen to the full episode to find out the actions Dr Stordalen would like to see governments taking, her ambitions for COP27, and learn more about EAT's Planetary Health Diet. Dr Gunhild Stordalen, Founder and Executive Chair, EATDr Gunhild A Stordalen, a physician who holds a PhD in pathology/orthopaedic surgery, and is the Founder and Executive Chair of EAT, a global, non-profit platform for food system transformation. She sits on several boards and advises on councils including the United Nations Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement Lead Group, the World Economic Forum (WEF) Stewardship Board on Food Systems, and the UNICEF Advisory Group. In addition, Gunhild is an ambassador for Friends of Ocean Action, a member of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy (HLP) for the Blue Economy, and part of the International Leadership Committee for a Net Zero NHS. In 2019 she was the recipient of the UN Foundations’ Global Leadership Award, and was the Chair of the 2021 UN Food System Summit’s Action Track 2: Shifting to Healthy and Sustainable Consumption Patterns.