The Food Chain

We sit down with one of R&B’s most eccentric and compelling artists, Kelis. Over the past 20 years she has produced era-defining hits like Milkshake, Caught Out There and Trick Me, and sold millions of records. So why did she decide to step away from the mic and into the chef's whites at the Cordon Bleu academy? Kelis tells Emily Thomas all about her passion for food and her latest plans to open a farm-to-table restaurant. We hear how she has struggled to make the culinary world take her seriously, and why she thinks it’s ‘all about the sauce’.This programme was first broadcast on the 24th May 2018.(Photo: Kelis. Credit: James Watkins/BBC)

The Food Chain listens back to My Life in Five Dishes with the renowned Egyptian cookery writer Claudia Roden - originally broadcast in January 2018. Claudia has been credited with revolutionising western attitudes to Middle Eastern and Jewish food. She tells Emily Thomas about her journey from a comfortable childhood in Cairo to exile in 1950s Britain. She explains how a longing for home led her to painstakingly collect recipes from across the Middle East, and how she turned them into classic cookbooks that have inspired generations of chefs. Find out what she makes of today's culinary scene, and the best way to get honey off a spoon.(Photo: Claudia Roden. Credit: Jamie Lau)

The Food Chain listens back to My Life in Five Dishes with chef and broadcaster Gordon Ramsay, originally broadcast in January 2018. Gordon is world-famous, but as he tells Emily Thomas, people no longer want to talk about his food. The celebrity has becomes known as much for his TV programmes displaying his fiery temper and explosive outbursts, as for his culinary skills. In this interview, the focus is firmly back on the food, as Gordon describes the five most unforgettable meals he’s ever eaten, and how they have shaped him as a chef – from his mother’s macaroni and cheese on a council estate in the West Midlands, to smuggled cheese soufflés at Le Gavroche.Gordon's dishes are: Mum's Mac and Cheese with smoked bacon; soufflé Suissesse at Le Gavroche; braised pigs' trotters with cabbage at Casa Del Pescatore near Verona; rum baba at Le Louis XV; and his own chickpea curry.(Photo: Gordon Ramsay. Credit: Laura Palmer/BBC)

Antonio Carluccio describes his most memorable dishes in his last ever interview. The cook, restaurateur and writer, known as the 'Godfather of Italian cooking', died five days after this recording was made, aged 80. He tells Emily Thomas about his passion for simple, authentic Italian cuisine, and why he only began to pursue it professionally relatively late in life. He describes his horror at 1970s Britain's version of Italian food, his obsession with mushrooms, and reveals how much the late opera singer Luciano Pavarotti could devour in one sitting. Plus, hear about his struggles with fame and heartache, the tensions that came with expanding his eponymous chain of restaurants and delis, and the dish he would choose as his last. This interview was first broadcast on 16 November 2017.(Picture: Antonio Carluccio. Credit: Getty Images)

Join us for five unforgettable dishes from one extraordinary life as the food writer and actress Madhur Jaffrey reveals some rather surprising mealtimes - from a swimming lesson with a watermelon, to a dinner disaster with jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie.The food writer and award-winning actress has written more than 15 cookbooks, many of them bestsellers, and has been credited with changing the way people outside India think about the country’s food. She joins Emily Thomas to talk about the meals that have shaped her remarkable career.This episode was first broadcast on 17 October 2017. (Photo: Madhur Jaffrey. Credit: Manny Carabel/WireImage via Getty Images)

Meet the pioneering, opinionated and inscrutable Jeremiah Tower, one of the most controversial figures in modern American cuisine. Emily Thomas hears about his extraordinary childhood in grand hotels and on ocean liners with only haute cuisine for company; how he helped bring about a food revolution in Berkeley, California that would become the 'New American cuisine'; and why, after years of celebrity in San Francisco, he mysteriously disappeared from the culinary scene for over a decade.Jeremiah is widely seen as the first modern-day celebrity chef, and he doesn't hold back when explaining exactly what he thinks of the biggest names in food today.(Picture: Jeremiah Tower. Credit: Gary Gershoff/WireImage via Getty Images)

Has the #MeToo movement permeated our food chain?Emily Thomas explores the hidden problem of sexual harassment and abuse in our fisheries and fields, and hears how agriculture is all too often a dangerous occupation for the women who labour in its unseen corners. We hear from women who have seen this first hand, from the vineyards of South Africa, to shrimp farms in Bangladesh, to tomato pickers in Mexico. What will it take for agriculture to have its own #MeToo moment?(Photo: Young rural woman carries freshly cut grass for to feed her family’s livestock. Credit: Getty Images).

This is the story of a man who struggled with homelessness and addiction, before being hit by a bold vision of ending food waste and world hunger.The Real Junk Food Project uses the food thrown away by homes and businesses to feed those who can't afford to eat. It has saved 3,500 tonnes of food from landfill or animal feed in the last four years by redistributing it to the hungry through cafes, shops and warehouses. The project's success and potential for growth led to it being selected as runner-up in this year's BBC World Service Global Food Champion award. Emily Thomas meets the project's founder, Adam Smith, and hears how he experienced homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health problems before embarking on this remarkable project of environmental protection and social improvement.Plus, learn how to push the limits of lasagne, as the volunteers and customers at one of the Real Junk Food project's cafes in the northwest of England, explain how the project has changed their attitudes to food ... and bingo. (Picture: A bunch of over-ripe bananas. Credit: Getty Images)

Should we eat more horse meat? In some parts of the world it is a food taboo, while in others people think little of munching an equine burger. Would it be better for our health and that of the planet if we ate more of it? We’re at a pony auction in the English countryside where some rather hairy creatures are going for a song. Could turning them into sausages and steak be the best way to add value? From there we travel to Paris to find out why the French are losing their taste for horse meat, we find out if it could be more sustainable and healthier than beef, and examine the roots of the world's horse meat taboos.Presenter: Emily ThomasThis programme first aired in October 2017(Picture: Exmoor Pony. Credit: Getty Images)

Dan Saladino meets the mastermind behind one of biggest bread research projects ever undertaken. Nathan Myhrvold spent four years researching, baking and collaborating with leading industry professionals to write Modernist Bread - a five-volume, global exploration of this great staple. It follows another hugely ambitious food project -Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking – from 2011. Perhaps it is no surprise then that Nathan Myhrvold has spent his life trying to understand how things work, he researched quantum theory with the late Stephen Hawking and went on to work directly with Bill Gates at Microsoft. So what pearls of wisdom can the man who baked 36,000 loaves share? This is a rebroadcast of an episode of the Food Programme that first aired on BBC Radio 4 in March 2018.(Photo: Man claps hands with flour by dough, Credit: Getty Images)

We sit down with one of R&B’s most eccentric and compelling artists - singer-songwriter Kelis. Over the past 20 years she has produced era-defining hits like Milkshake, Caught Out There and Trick Me, and sold millions of records. So why did she decide to step away from the mic and into the chefs' whites at the Cordon Bleu academy? Kelis tells Emily Thomas all about her passion for food and her latest plans to open a farm-to-table restaurant. We hear how she has struggled to make the culinary world take her seriously and why she thinks it’s ‘all about the sauce’.(Photo: Kelis, Credit: BBC)

In a nod to the British royal wedding, we are super-sizing the Food Chain this week as we explore cooking on a grand scale.Emily Thomas visits a Sikh temple to see how volunteers serve up to a thousand free meals per day without even breaking a sweat. A professional caterer breaks down the economics of mass catering for us. Plus, a foodie chemist gives us his take on mass cooking on a molecular level. And we may or may not be speaking to the man in charge of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding menu.(Picture: Quirky and colourful tiered cake Credit: Getty Images)

Food is propaganda in this episode of The Food Chain.In the second part of our two week exploration into the relationship between political power and what we eat, we’re asking how food can be used by authoritarian regimes and extremist groups to influence and persuade. A food writer will take us on an officially-approved tour of North Korea. And Emily Thomas meets a man who spent ten days living - and eating with fighters from the Islamic State group.(Photo: Hand reaching out a megaphone. Credit: Getty Images).

How do authoritarian regimes use food to control and manipulate? In the first of two episodes exploring food and power, we find out how changes to the global economy mean food policy under dictatorships could soon look quite different. Plus, how do you write about food when there isn't any? Emily Thomas talks to a Venezuelan food writer who says her country's food story speaks volumes about the political situation, and explains why she continues to blog about restaurants, despite hunger being rife. In a country where people are afraid to say what they think, we hear why food writing can mean freedom.(Picture: Red hand pointing upwards with clenched fists, Credit: Getty Images)

The fussy toddler refuses to eat her vegetables, has a tantrum and throws the food on the floor in protest. It’s a familiar scene that haunts parents the world over… or does it? And what, if anything, has economics got to do with it? This week The Food Chain takes a global look at 'fussy eating', and finds out about different cultural expectations and solutions. Emily Thomas talks to a psychologist, a sociologist and a behavioural geneticist to debate the phenomenon, and parents in Beijing, Nairobi, Kolkata and London share their tactics.(Picture: Baby making a mess eating, Credit: Getty Images)

We meet the woman who’s been credited with revolutionising western attitudes to Middle Eastern and Jewish food. Claudia Roden talks to Emily Thomas about her life through five dishes, from a comfortable childhood in Cairo to exile in 1950s Britain. She explains how a longing for home led her to painstakingly collect recipes from across the Middle East, and how she turned them into classic cookbooks that have inspired generations of chefs. Plus, we hear Claudia's unique perspective on today's culinary scene and a top tip on how to get honey off a spoon.(Photo: Claudia Roden standing in front of one of her paintings. Credit: BBC)

Trade secrets are jealously guarded by the food industry – and confidentiality is becoming ever more important. The Food Chain is on a mission to find out why. Emily Thomas explores the best way is to protect a secret recipe, and finds out just how hard that is to do when thousands, even millions of people, have tried the dish. Plus, a so-called 'food hacker' recreates one of the world’s most iconic secret recipes, and a nose around a chocolate factory reveals the secrecy behind a good truffle. This programme was first broadcast on 15 March 2018.(Picture: Security camera on building, Credit: Getty Images)

*This is a repeat of a programme that first aired on 22nd February 2018Blockchain technology has been heralded as the answer to a safer, fairer and more transparent food system. Many companies, from global food giants to start-ups, have begun to experiment with it. But can blockchain really disrupt the global food industry or is it just a gimmick? Emily Thomas meets some pioneers of this new technology, who explain why they think it will change the way we eat.(Picture: Light from broken egg, Credit: Getty Images)

Food poisoning meets economics in this episode of the Food Chain. And it's a toxic mix.We'll explore how an outbreak can bring down a company, badly damage an industry and shine a light on social and economic inequalities and our globalising food system. Emily Thomas talks to a top food poisoning lawyer in the US, who has won more than $600 million for clients in foodborne-illness cases. And a former banker explains why a dodgy sandwich inspired him to quit his day job for the cause. Plus, how do you prove where you got food poisoning from and what can you do to avoid it?(Picture: Skull and coins, Credit: Getty Images)

Food waste can have a huge impact on some wild animals, changing their diets and behaviours, and often bringing them into closer contact with humans. From sea birds to grizzly bears, we hear how this can create serious ecological imbalances, and often lead to conflict. Plus, we find out that our efforts to reduce food waste could have unintended, even devastating consequences, for both animals and people. But it’s not all bad news - we hear the remarkable story of what happens when our scraps sustain one of the fiercest predators on earth. Presenter: Simon Tulett(Photo: A brown bear. Credit: Getty Images)

Why are humans so vulnerable to big promises about food? Emily Thomas meets some people who became convinced salvation lay in what they ate, and a neurologist who explains why food can make us lose our powers of critical thinking. Plus, the story of a woman who fooled hundreds of thousands of people - as well as vast corporations - into believing she’d cured brain cancer with her diet. *This is not a programme about a food that will save your life.(Picture: Black pot. Credit: Getty Images)

Three women who fled the countries they were born in because of war or conflict tell us how food helped them rebuild their lives, explore family secrets, and reconnect with their cultures. Their experiences are very different, but they all share a yearning to regain what they have lost through food. Emily Thomas talks to Razan Alsous, a Syrian refugee who has built a successful cheese business in the north of England; Cambodian-American Nite Yun who has used her cooking business to understand the family history that her parents never spoke of; and Mandana Moghaddam who runs Persian cooking lessons in London, having fled Iran with her family after the revolution. (Photo: Barbed wire heart. Credit: Getty Images)

The world’s first genetically engineered animal for human consumption landed on Canadian dinner tables last year. Its arrival did not go by without controversy. Emily Thomas meets the company who created the fast-growing salmon and asks why it took the best part of thirty years for it to make its slow swim from laboratory to plate. Plus, we gauge reaction from consumers and scientists and get to the heart of an emotive and controversial debate that has been raging for decades: Is genetic engineering a distraction from addressing the real issues of animal welfare and economic inequality in the food system? What are the risks, and is the public ready for it?(Picture: Cow on the horizon, Credit: Getty Images)

A deadly and highly contagious disease is spreading across Europe's pig farms. African Swine Fever Virus doesn't harm humans, but once it infects domestic and wild pigs almost all of them die through internal bleeding within days.More than a million pigs are thought to have died as a result of the latest outbreak, devastating hundreds of farms and damaging exports. It's the first time the virus has ever hit Europe's pig farming heartland. With a vaccine still years off, and amid fears the disease could reach as far as China, we ask if the virus can be stopped, and how. Emily Thomas meets people who think the answer lies in building fences between countries, genetically engineering pigs, and even calling in the army to hunt down disease-spreading wild boar.(Picture: A pig in a sty. Credit: Getty Images)

Can you think of a food you would travel across continents for? Emily Thomas meets people who have gone to extreme lengths for one special meal or ingredient. From a writer searching for a fruit in West Africa to better understand his ancestors, to a curry-lover who chartered a plane to deliver his favourite Indian takeaway. What is the difference between a food pilgrim and a food tourist, and what dangers might culinary travel bring? Plus, what happens when an entire country decides no distance is too great for its favourite fish?(Photo: Man with backpack looking into distance. Credit: Getty Images)

If you could not taste your food, what would you eat? Would you even want to? Taste disorders are rare, but they can have devastating impacts on people's lives. They can also tell us a lot about our food.Emily Thomas meets a cookery writer who says she wanted to die after a car accident robbed her of taste. But as the sense slowly returned she became a more experimental cook.And a man who has not been able to taste anything for five years, explains how it has changed his social life, and how he has found innovative ways to enjoy his food.Plus, we hear calls for more research to develop treatments for these disorders, and how taste could be key in the early diagnosis of dementia.(Photo: A hand holding a black apple. Credit: Getty Images)

Chef Gordon Ramsay is world-famous but, he tells us, people no longer want to talk about his food. The celebrity has become known as much for his cookery programmes, his fiery temper and explosive outbursts, as for his culinary skills. This week, the focus is back on the food, as Gordon speaks to Emily Thomas about the five most memorable meals he has ever had and how they have shaped him as a chef - from his mother’s macaroni and cheese on a council estate in the West Midlands, to smuggled cheese soufflés at Le Gavroche. Gordon's dishes are: Mum's Mac and Cheese with smoked bacon; soufflé Suissesse at Le Gavroche; braised pigs' trotters with cabbage at Casa Del Pescatore near Verona; rum baba at Le Louis XV; and his own chickpea curry.(Photo: Gordon Ramsay. Credit: BBC/Getty Images)

Wine has been getting more and more alcoholic in recent decades, driven by consumer tastes and climate change. This has big implications not only for public health, but also the quality of the bottle. But making a lower alcohol wine that is still full of flavour is extremely complicated, especially when growing grapes in rising temperatures – some have called it the profession’s Holy Grail. Emily Thomas meets those trying to solve the puzzle: a Chilean vineyard owner; a climate change and grape variety academic; and an Australian scientist whose raspberry-flavoured Chardonnay could hold the key.(Picture: Wine cellar. Credit: Getty Images)

Does food ever make you laugh out loud? We try to stand up the theory that food is getting funnier because modern diets make it a richer sauce of comedy.Comedy about food seems to have moved a long way from oddly shaped vegetables and Charlie Chaplin slipping on a banana skin, to something more nuanced. Now we seem to be laughing at the way we eat - with ever more comedy acts, TV programmes and YouTube videos poking fun at diet trends, restaurant customs and cookery shows. Has the way we eat become so obsessive and complicated - that food has quite literally become a laughing stock? Emily Thomas meets comedians JP Sears, Tats Nkonzo and Alex Thomopoulos, and comedy expert Delia Chiaro to explore the comedy potential of food. You know, just for laughs.(Photo: A king feasting alone in a banquet hall. Credit: Getty Images)

Technology giants are gobbling up the online grocery market - and over the past year we’ve seen Amazon and Alibaba getting their teeth into bricks and mortar too. But do they want to transform the supermarket experience, or is this about harvesting even more consumer data? And what will all of this mean for farmers, your pocket, and the quality and sustainability of your food? Emily Thomas discusses with Brittain Ladd, a strategy, supply chain and logistics expert who formerly worked for Amazon leading worldwide expansion for Amazon Fresh, Pantry and Groceries; Scott Marlow, senior policy specialist for Rural Advancement Foundation International, a non-profit organization based in North Carolina supporting family farms; and Amanda Long, Director General of Consumers International, which works to empower and champion the rights of consumers.Plus, we visit Farmdrop, a London-based startup which aims to give customers a more ethical online shopping experience.(Photo: a picture of the hand of a young man holding an ice lolly against a pink background. Credit: Getty Images)

Have you ever wondered what to do with a watermelon outside the kitchen? Or how many hot dogs a person can eat in 10 minutes? It's time to find out with The Food Chain Quiz 2017. Get ready for some strange but wonderful food stories and play along with our two teams: chef Cyrus Todiwala and La Fromagerie founder Patricia Michelson versus food historian Marc Meltonville and Ghanaian food writer and TV cook Fafa Gilbert.Emily Thomas hosts this challenging and at times bizarre battle for the coveted wooden spoon.Rounds include: What Happens Next? What’s this Sound? And back by popular demand …. The Lucky Dip.(Photo credit: Getty Images)

Fancy a career change? If you're not doing it already, what would it take to make you a farmer? Would smart technology, matchmaking websites or reality TV do it? In our second episode to explore the problem of the world’s ageing agricultural workers Emily Thomas hears about some innovative and surprising attempts to re-brand farming. Is education or technology the answer, does farming need a re-brand, OR is it just too hard for most farmers to make a living - and does the global food system itself need to change? It matters - if the farmers die out, where will you get your food in the future?(Picture: Young farm girl. Credit: Getty Images)

The average age of farmers globally is thought to be around 60, and rising. So where have all the young farmers gone and who is going to farm our food in the future? It’s an issue that could affect every single one us and the food we eat. Emily Thomas meets families in Kenya, the UK and the Netherlands to find out how farmer’s sons and daughters really feel about taking over the family business. How much of a role do economics, regulations, lifestyle and public perceptions play in driving them from agriculture? This is the first of two episodes to explore why so many young people across the globe are turning away from farming, and what can be done to tempt them back.(Photo: Young woman standing in an empty ploughed field. Credit: Getty Images)

Why have so few African cuisines made it onto the world’s culinary stage? Whether it's Michelin stars, popular restaurant chains, or even takeaways and street food, the continent’s gastronomy isn’t anywhere near as prominent as Chinese, Italian or Indian in many parts of the globe.Emily Thomas talks to chefs from Nigeria, Senegal and Eritrea to hear what they think is holding their food back from achieving global prominence - is it economics, culture or taste? And what can be done about it?(Photo: Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam displays his food in New York City. Credit: Getty Images)

We're in Bologna, Italy as FICO Eataly World opens its doors to a curious public. Its mission is to educate people about Italian food, and attract 6 million tourists a year. But is a shopping mall really the best way for the Italians to reclaim the authenticity of their food?Italian food is known and loved across the world, but much of what is consumed doesn't actually come from Italy. Could what some are calling 'the Disneyland of food', be the answer to increasing understanding and boosting exports? Emily Thomas takes a trip around the park, speaks to the people behind the project, and visits local producers in Bologna.(Photo: Chef with pasta. Credit: Getty Images)

Chewing gum seems to be on a mission to reinvent itself. There’s little we’re told it can’t do these days - prevent tooth decay, cure hangovers, even improve our vision. As sales of gum flat line, we explore it's ability to take on new guises, and meet people who even believe it can be used to detect cancer and help end malnutrition. Could chewing gum save your life?An expert on food regulation explains why the majority of gums with health claims are rejected, and presenter Emily Thomas meets a man who tried to solve one of gum’s stickiest and costliest problems.Plus we'll ask whether we should we stop working so hard to find a purpose for this food we can't swallow, and find other, more environmentally-friendly solutions?(Photo: Girl with chewing gum. Credit: Getty Images)

Does your favourite drink taste better from a bottle, cup or can? Are foods enhanced by particular plates, or packaging? Or is it all in your head? Emily Thomas is joined by materials specialist Ellie Doney and food psychologist Charles Spence to find out exactly how the containers we eat and drink from can change the way food tastes. From British fish and chips wrapped in yesterday’s news to clay tea cups in Kolkata and a pot unwashed for decades, we explore some traditional serving methods and find out why we may be discarding more than we think when we throw them away. (Photo: Woman in large cup of coffee. Credit: Getty Images)

What happens to your body when you eat 70 hot dogs in 10 minutes, and why would thousands of people watch you do it? We’re exploring the curious appeal of competitive eating, and its impact on our stomachs, minds and society around us. What does the popularity of eating competitions tell us about our changing relationship with food? And why do humans appear to have such an appetite for watching other people regurgitate it? In the second episode to explore the curious appeal of competitive eating, presenter Emily Thomas gives it a go, and speaks to a doctor about the potential risks. We find out what goes on inside the body of a speed eater and just how big their stomachs get. Is it nature or nurture that allows people to consume such vast quantities of food?We also hear from a man who says competitive eating helped him get over anorexia nervosa, and find out what a psychiatrist thinks.Competitive eating can be dangerous, especially outside of a controlled environment, so please do not try this at home.

We speak to some of the world's most successful competitive eaters and find out how, and why, they do it.In the first of two episodes on the so-called sport, four ‘gurgitators’ tell us what it takes to eat the most hot dogs, corncobs or burgers in the shortest possible time. This is not something you should try at home.Emily Thomas speaks to one of the industry's biggest names, Takeru Kobayashi, a man credited with revolutionising competitive eating and turning it into a sport. We hear from New Yorker Yasir Salem, who combines speed-eating with triathlons and marathons, and Londoner Kate Ovens tells us how she is making a career from posting videos of eating challenges online, attracting thousands of fans in the process.(Photo: Hand holding burger. Credit: Getty Images)

Join us for five unforgettable dishes from one extraordinary life as the food writer and actress Madhur Jaffrey reveals some rather surprising mealtimes - from a swimming lesson with a watermelon, to a dinner disaster with jazz legend, Dizzy Gillespie.The food writer and award-winning actress has written more than 15 cookbooks, many of them bestsellers, and has been credited with changing the way people outside India think about the country’s food. She joins the BBC's Emily Thomas to talk about the meals that have shaped her remarkable career.(Photo: Madhur Jaffrey. Credit: Penguin Books)

We're in South Africa again to find out whether fly larvae could help humans eat more meat and fish.As the global population expands, traditional feed sources such as fishmeal, soya and grains, could put increasing pressure on the environment, depleting oceans and reducing biodiversity. Alternative protein sources based on insects are being developed by a number of companies across the world. In this episode we explore whether they are as effective as traditional feeds, and how big the industry is likely to get.Plus, might maggots be able to ease the world’s landfill problems too?Presenter: Emily Thomas(Photo: Black soldier fly. Credit: Getty images).

This week we’re in South Africa, picking up great big squirming handfuls of maggots. Could these unpalatable little creatures hold the answer to some big questions – what to do about the huge amount of waste going into landfill, and how to meet the world’s growing demand for a sustainable supply of farmed fish, pigs and poultry? A company called Agriprotein thinks its fly farm is the solution. They've just won The Food Chain’s first Global Champion Award - which recognises innovative ideas that could have a longstanding impact on the way we produce or consume food. The Food Chain's Emily Thomas gets up close to their armada of over 9 billion flies in the first of two episodes to explore the potential of using insects as a protein source for animal and fish feed.

Why do farmers feed their cows sweets? What are the implications for the animals’ health, the environment and the taste of our meat?From the mystery of a rural US highway covered in Skittles, to chocolate-flavoured steak selling for hundreds of dollars, we explore the impact of feeding cows the byproducts of human food production.Plus, we take our own bag of treats onto the farm and discover cows have rather expensive tastes.Presenter: Emily Thomas(Picture: A cow eating a chocolate bar.)

Meet the people determined to revolutionise what and how we eat as we launch our first ever international award. We hear about the four shortlisted projects hoping to be named The Food Chain Global Champion, including an insect-based cooking oil, a beekeeper empowering women in northern India, a maggot-based animal feed, and a global movement seeking to transform food and agriculture. We’ll also hear form our international panel of judges on their reasons for shortlisting the final four, and a slam poet’s verdict in verse. The Food Chain Global Food Champion Award recognises a person or project whose work in the economics, science, or culture of food has (or has the potential to have), a global impact on how we produce, process, consume or think about food and drink. The winner will be revealed later this month.Presenter: Emily Thomas(Photo: Sahida Begum inspects her bees in the Araku valley, in the in the northern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Credit: Sahida Begum.)

For 20 years Sandor Katz has been fascinated by fermentation - the breaking down of food and drink by microbes. Through his books and workshops he has helped thousands of people begin to experiment with flavours, fruits, vegetables, spices... and microorganisms. Dan Saladino travels to Sandor's forest home in rural Tennessee to meet Sandor, hear his story, and discover for himself the transformative potential of this culinary process.Producer: Rich Ward

What does your choice of loaf say about you? Is your sourdough a source of pride? Have you ever felt ashamed of your sliced white? Flour, water, and salt - over thousands of years the basic recipe for bread has changed very little. But often there's been a dollop of judgement thrown in too. From Plato to modern-day Cairo, in this episode we’re talking about the ever-changing relationship between bread and social class. How have certain types of loaf come to have different moral and social meanings? And, can bread divide a society? Presenter: Emily Thomas(Photo: Loaf of bread. Credit: Getty Images)

Are you the kind of person who can’t help taking a picture of your food before you eat it? Do you search out Facebook foods, Twitter tips and Instagram ideas for new restaurants and recipes? Or maybe the very thought of all this puts you off your lunch.This week we meet foodies, writers and experts to discuss where education ends and obsession begins. The BBC’s Manuela Saragosa talks to: Adaobi Okonkwo, who blogs about food under the name Dobby in Lagos; and Anna Barnett, who is a blogger, contributor to Vogue and Grazia, and author of cookery book “Eat The Week”. She also speaks to Ursula Philpot, registered dietitian and senior lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University; and Eve Turow Paul, a millennial food expert and writer.(Photo: Woman takes picture of food on phone. Credit: Getty Images).

We’re on the hunt for the world’s biggest stashes of food. Can the food system handle a big shock, or is it time to stock up on your supplies? In last week’s episode we met people doing just that - stockpiling food in anticipation of anything from a major natural disaster, to the apocalypse. They had little faith that their governments would be able to keep the food supply under control in extreme circumstances. This week we set out to test their assumptions. From forgotten World War Two food sheds to Switzerland’s stockpiling sirens, which companies and governments are storing food in bulk? Where are they keeping it? Who can access it? And, if disaster strikes, will any get to you?Presenter: Emily Thomas Contributors: Tony Lister, Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, Professor Tim Benton, University of Leeds, Tracey Allen, J.P. Morgan, Corinne Fleisher, World Food Programme.(Photo: abandoned warehouse. Credit: Getty Images)

How long would your food supply last if you were unable to buy any food? Are you prepared for the worst is a hurricane hits, the floodwaters rise or the stock markets crash? Maybe your cupboards are full - but what if you had no electricity or gas to cook? Or if the water supply was turned off? And, if there was total breakdown of social order - could you defend the food you have? This week we meet the people who are stockpiling food in anticipation of anything from an earthquake to the apocalypse. They call themselves 'preppers'.Do they know something you don’t? When society is falling apart, do taste or texture matter? And when does stockpiling food become hoarding?The BBC’s Emily Thomas goes in search of some secret stockpiles to find the best post-apocalyptic food plans.With contributors: Pete Stanford, Lincoln Miles, owner, Preppers Shop, Henry Hargreaves, Photographer, Lisa Bedford, The Survival Mom, and Kate Daigle, psychologist.

It’s a food problem that can prove fatal - and we might be about to crack it. The first licensed medicines to treat peanut allergy are close to being approved by regulators. But we ask – why has it taken so long?For over a century we’ve known that an allergy can be treated by controlled exposure to the allergen. Simply put, the treatment of a peanut allergy is a very small dose of peanut. So when the prevalence of allergies began to soar in the 1990s you could have been forgiven for thinking a solution might not be far off. But as yet, there are no licensed medicines for widespread use. Some clinicians already use the technique – known as immunotherapy – but it is unregulated and the cost is prohibitive for many.This could all be about to change. Two treatments are expected to be approved by regulators in the next couple of years. It couldn't have happened without the involvement of charitable donors, venture capitalists, and pharmaceutical companies. The food industry has also invested millions. In this episode we explore the relationship between profit and progress when it comes to solving a serious food health problem. Why has it taken until now to get to this point? And, when the worst possible outcome is the death of a child, isn’t total avoidance of peanuts the safest option?Contributors: Dr Louisa James, Queen Mary University of London, Lisa and Clara Goff, Dr Andrew Clark, Cambridge Peanut Allergy Clinic and Chief Scientific Officer, Camallergy, Dr Pierre-Henri Benhamou, DBV technologies, Stephen Dilly, Aimmune Therapeutics, and Dr Robert Wood, John Hopkins Children’s Centre.Presenter: Emily Thomas