The Food Programme

Sheila Dillon and special guests discover a delicious world of pumpkins and winter squash.It's Halloween time, and pumpkins are making their annual appearance in windows and on doorsteps. But these winter squash are part of a fascinating family of fruit (yes, fruit - not vegetable) with huge culinary potential that many feel uncomfortable around. This programme aims to change that. Sheila invites chef, restaurateur and squash-lover Romy Gill to her kitchen, where they're joined by Neil Munro - manager of the Heritage Seed Library at Garden Organic (formerly the Henry Doubleday Research Association). To help with the deeper history, they enlist the help of Ken Albala, Professor of Food Studies at the University of the Pacific in California.Presenter: Sheila Dillon Producer: Rich Ward.

From ancient Egyptian bread to Native American food, Dan Saladino reports from Terra Madre.

Dan Saladino reports from Slow Food's global food event Terra Madre with stories from Africa. Terra Madre (aka Mother Earth) is probably one of the world's biggest gatherings around food. Thousands of farmers, cooks and producers travel from 140 countries and five different continents to congregate in the northern Italian city of Turin. Hundreds of thousands of people simply interested in food also travel from Italy and beyond to join in the spectacle; to watch events, join discussions and (importantly) experience the most diverse range of food and drink imaginable. The biannual event is organised by the international Slow Food movement to raise awareness about issues around food and drink and to celebrate the diversity of food cultures around the world. It is also a unique opportunity to hear inspirational stories of how people produce and cook food. Dan Saladino was there to collect as many stories as he could from around the world. Over two editions of The Food Programme he tells highlights from Terra Madre. In this first programme the focus is on Africa and features the story of three people who in their home countries are trying to make a positive change through food.The first comes from a village thousands of metres up within the highlands of south-eastern Ethiopia, Rira. There, honey producers use bamboo to create bee hives. They smoke the bark of a tree to "perfume" the hive and attract the bees. These long bamboo tubes are coated in leaves, sealed with animal manure and then placed 25m high up in trees among the rainforest canopy. In recent years the honey they collect has been sold to the producers of a honey wine in Ethiopia which is both traditional and popular. However the prices paid for this hard to get honey have been low. Terra Madre is an opportunity for producers around the world to meet and exchange ideas and over the years the Rira villagers have met honey producers from Macedonia, Brazil, Japan and Indonesia. From this "knowledge exchange" the Rira were able to set up a co-operative, improve the quality of the honey and sell it in Ethiopia's biggest towns and cities. This has meant more people are now able to make a real living from honey production and remain in the village (and important opportunity when the country is seeing large numbers leave rural areas and move to the cities). The second story comes from Uganda and is told by Edward Mukiibi who oversees Slow Food projects in the country. One of the most important involves the world's (and the UK's) most popular fruit, the banana. In Uganda 50 different varieties are used on a daily basis. Some are used to brew beers or distil drinks that feature in ceremonies. The banana we know well in the UK is the Cavendish, the variety that has dominated the global trade for more than half a century. The fungal, Panama disease, has had an impact on Cavendish plantations around the world leading to reduced production in Australia and Asia. In Africa, more Cavendish plantations are being established. Edward explains in the programme why he's now on a mission to save Uganda's traditional banana varieties and protect the country's biodiversity. The final story from Sierra Leone and is that of the experience of a child soldier who was involved in the violent civil war that tore the country apart in the 1990's. Ibrahim was abducted by the RUF rebel force at the age of nine. As he explains to Dan, he was involved in atrocities and had to fight against the government's forces in armed combat. For seven years he lived and fought with this rebel army. When he finally managed to escape he was rejected by his community. It became clear his return wouldn't would easy and forgiveness hard to win. In the programme Ibrahim describes how food and farming was the key to his eventual redemption.Presented and produced by Dan Saladino. Photo: Carla Capalbo.

As apple fairs and celebrations are held all around the country, Sheila Dillon travels to an orchard in Devon for a conversation with drinks writer Pete Brown, who has just written a book about his two-year journey into all things apple: 'The Apple Orchard'.Sheila and Pete are joined at Otter Farm by its owner - food grower and writer Mark Diacono. From the Hoary Morning to the Bramley's Seedling to the Old Somerset Russet, from Kazakhstan to Paganism to the Garden of Eden - this is a celebration of a fruit with an incredible story to tell and with a unique place both in Britain, and the world.Please note: the podcast of this programme is a special extended edition.Presenter: Sheila Dillon Producer: Rich Ward.

For the 850 thousand families in the UK living with dementia, the simple daily practise of eating a meal can escalate into a dreaded challenge. Spurred on by a listener's personal experience, Sheila Dillon meets people living with dementia to ask how their relationship with food has changed. American food writer Paula Wolfert has written award winning books on the food of the Mediterranean. In 2012, she was diagnosed with a form of dementia and after careful research she transformed her daily diet. As Paula prepares to release what will be her final book, Sheila speaks to her about what food means now. Sheila also meets James Ashwell, a young entrepreneur whose online business venture was inspired by caring for his mother who loved to cook. Sheila hears from Professor Margaret Rayman, who heads the nutritional medicine course at the University of Surrey. Her book 'Healthy Eating to Reduce the Risk of Dementia' draws on hundreds of academic papers into nutrition and the brain. And in an area which still requires so much research, Sheila speaks to an American academic embarking on what could be the 'gold standard' study into how what we eat affects the development of dementia. Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced by Clare SalisburyPhoto credit: Alison van Diggelen.

This week, as aid convoys carrying food into Syria have been under attack, Dan Saladino revisits the conflict. A year ago, he reported on how displaced Syrians managed to eat and survive in conflict and its impact on the country's ancient food culture. In this episode he investigates how food is being used as a weapon - and target - of war. He hears from the World Food Programme about new efforts they've been making to reach over 4 million people with food aid, many of whom live in besieged and isolated areas, with staff risking their lives to do so. Bakeries have reportedly been targeted in bombing raids and traders have been profiteering by controlling the availability of food, creating a wartime economy. Yet despite the attacks and broken ceasefires, efforts are already being made to create new food businesses for when peace returns. Work to train up beekeepers and tomato growers is already taking place to sustain a post-conflict Syria. Here in the UK, Dan meets some of those whom the Government pledged to resettle from camps outside Syria. In Mansfield, Nottinghamshire he shares lunch with two families for whom Eid is a very different and emotional experience. We also hear from American-Syrian journalist Dalia Mortada who has charted the Syrian diaspora to see how this age-old food culture is being shared and celebrated around the world. Presented by Dan Saladino Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

Charles Green. Chas to his family, 'cook' to his colleagues. A young baker whose sense of adventure drew him to a career cooking on the sea. You may never have heard of Charles, but you certainly will have heard of an expedition on which he played a crucial role... Charles was cook for the crew of the 1914 Trans-Antarctic Expedition led by Sir Ernest Shackleton. A disastrous expedition which ended up lasting for more than two years. The men were forced to camp on moving ice flows, and eventually a remote Antarctic beach on Elephant Island. But against all odds, every man on Shackleton's ship The Endurance survived. In August 1916, the men were rescued. They were on the edge of starvation.During their time on the ice, Charlie Green cooked tirelessly using his creative flair to concoct meals out of exceptionally meagre means. His food kept the men alive. He went back to the Antarctic with Shackleton on the expedition which would be Shackleton's last. But then, despite living until the 1970s, he faded into obscurity. Known only for slide shows that he gave locally with the well-known images of the expedition.One hundred years on, another Antarctic chef Gerard Baker, uncovers the extraordinary life led by Charles Green and his version of two years cooking for the men of the Endurance. One of the greatest survival stories of all time.Presented by Gerard Baker and Sheila Dillon Produced by Clare Salisbury.

As the much-anticipated new series of Poldark returns to our screens, most eyes will be on Aidan Turner but behind the scenes a raft of experts has worked to ensure each setting is as accurate to the time as possible - including the food. The Food Programme was given special access on set to see the effort that goes into recreating the fantastic feasts that marked so many social functions in the Georgian era and were a marker of class and wealth. Food Stylist Genevieve Taylor is used to creating wonderful images of food for cookery books and adverts but in her first period drama she faced a new set of challenges - researching the typical foods available at the time and how they were served, how to recreate them, which 'cheats' to use all before transporting the food to set intact, dressing the scene and preventing the crew from stealing the goodies. She invites us into her kitchen and to the secret set locations for an insight into the detailed effort made - but it's not easy. From sourcing obscure fruits, to whipping up dishes under a gazebo, balancing tiered cakes on wobbly dishes to turning out jellies in front of a whole crew - can she impress Ross Poldark, the Directors and the audience? Presented by Genevieve Taylor and Sheila Dillon Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

Dan Saladino journeys into coffee's past, present and future. He discovers a world of new flavours, far from his formative espresso experiences in Sicily - and finds that things are more precarious than they may seem. Are we living in a golden age of coffee?Behind every cup of coffee is a story - or rather many stories. A whole chain, from people to processes, all of which make a difference to the taste and experience.Featured in the programme are Stephen Leighton - roaster and founder of Hasbean, James Hoffman - author of 'The World Atlas of Coffee: From Beans to Brewing', Barista Claire Wallace - Winner of the 2015 Scottish Aeropress Championships, Professor Robert W Thurston - coffee shop owner and Senior Editor of 'Coffee - A Comprehensive Guide', Alejandro Martinez - Coffee Grower in El Salvador and Sarada Krishnan - Director of Horticulture at the Denver Botanic Gardens and coffee scientist..... and Joe of Brew in Bristol who makes Dan's espressos when he takes a break from The Food Programme office.The podcast of this programme features extra material, including coffee businessman Kenfe Bellay on the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony and a new coffee story from the Ark of Taste.Producer: Rich Ward.

With 20 million casks lying in storage maturing, Scotch whisky looks set to hold its strong place in the world market for decades to come. It's the third biggest industry in Scotland, contributing £3.3 billion to the economy per year. But the landscape is changing - both within Scotland and across the UK. Recent years have seen dozens of new distilleries opening in Scotland and also in Wales, Northern Ireland and England. Sheila Dillon celebrates 'Whisky Britannia' to discover who exactly is choosing to start distilling whisky, how you perfect your craft and flavour and become distinctive in such a busy marketplace. Do these new brands have anything to offer which the established companies haven't tried? Reporter and whisky lover Rachel McCormack also uncovers the secrets of perfecting a blend, and trying to please a foreign market who may also mix it with coconut or green tea. Whisky writer and expert Dave Broom shares some of the extraordinary things he's seen but warns many markets from Iceland to Japan are keen to get a taste of the action too. Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

In French, 'l'aperitif', in Italian, 'l'aperitivo'. We don't of course have a translation in English, but the aperitif, the drinks and snacks which proceed a meal have long captured our imaginations. The sounds and smells of Mediterranean holidays, the tastes of a summer day... and those glamorous and just a bit tacky TV adverts from the 70s. ('Dubonnet vous?') Food writer Diana Henry fell for those adverts, and then experienced l'aperitif as a teenager on a French exchange. Now, with the rise and rise of low alcohol, sprtizy cocktails in our pubs and bars, Diana wants you to embrace the aperitif, in its many forms and flavours. She explores the history of the aperitivo in Italy, from its Roman origins to its significance for the Futurist movement. In France, she reflects on the cultural and social significance of aperitif, and hears how once deemed old fashioned, brands like Suze, and Dubonnet are making a comeback. And in Britain, she discovers chefs making their own infusions with ingredients from a Suffolk garden and the Somerset countryside.In the first of The Food Programme's summer drinks series 'The Drinks Menu', Diana wants you to take a moment, a cold glass, some ice and a bottle and appreciate an aperitif. Presented by Diana Henry Produced by Clare Salisbury.

From being tucked under the pub bar stool as a baby to getting into Fleet Street pubs underage, Roger Protz's passion for beer began early. He's spent 40 years on a mission to celebrate and protect brewing traditions - writing about brewing and beers including over 20 editions of the Good Beer Guide. Arguably what he was writing about then is what many hold important today - in both food and drink. His passion and excitement about innovation and new flavours hasn't waned. He took Sheila to one of his favourite local pubs to try some new local ales before sharing more about his life and career. His writing saw him forge a path to parts of the world where few were travelling - including hunting out beers and brewers in Czechoslovakia before the fall of the Iron Curtain, his eyes were opened to Belgian beers and tastings through France, and across to the USA, all of which he shared with his readers. Roger has also worked for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) since the 70s helping bring real ale back from the brink of extinction as a threatened minority drink to a thriving British craft industry. His work has also seen him fighting to help save pubs - to put it simply, 'no pub, no ale'. But his opinions haven't been without controversy and while he celebrates the rise of the microbrewers, CAMRA is now asking its members on whether it should remodel itself and embrace all beers and beer drinkers. Presented by Sheila Dillon. Produced in Bristol by Anne-Marie Bullock.

2016's strawberry solstice fell as the UK's strawberry pickers embarked on a bigger crop than ever before. Strawberries have become a supermarket staple - no longer a seasonal treat. But as our appetite for the berries has increased, production it seems, is becoming more complicated. Californian strawberry farmers, who produce one of the biggest crops in the world, are facing some of the most challenging times in recent history. Back in post-Brexit Britain, fruit farmers are looking for assurance that they'll still attract pickers from the continent.Yet the strawberry is interwoven into our culture like no other fruit, and when good, can be the flavour, scent and colour of summer. Chef Jeremy Lee, author Jane McMorland Hunter, farmer Marion Regan, professor Julie Guthman and winemakers Ron and Judith Gillies help Sheila Dillon unravel the surprising story of the strawberry.Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced by Clare Salisbury.

Pulses are little marvels - protein packed lentils, peas and beans are cheap, good for health and help the soil. They're central to many food cultures including Italy and France but as a nation we eat very few other than baked beans. Now the Food and Agriculture Organisation has announced the 'Year of the Pulse' to encourage us to eat more but they may be met with reluctance from some quarters.Sheila Dillon's panel will kick off any tarnished reputation of wind and worthiness with tips on how to prepare pulses with ease and how to choose them. Chef Sanjay Kumar and cookery expert and author Jenny Chandler get cooking in the studio with a breakfast sambhar from Goa and 'black badgers and bacon' - a traditional Black Country dish better known as grey peas and bacon which tastes far better than the name would suggest.Farmers across the UK grow fava beans to help enrich the soil yet most of them are exported or fed to animals. Nick Saltmarsh was so shocked when he learnt this that he set up a company to market British beans to consumers and he's now asking farmers to grow other varieties especially. In addition to dried and tinned pulses he's selling them as snacks and flours and looking into pastas and other uses for them. Sheila's also discovered a beer made from British fava beans and now chocolate covered pulses are hitting the shelves. It's a hard job but someone's got to try them for you.Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

The range of fats and oils available to us is growing but the advice has changed dramatically. Sheila Dillon looks to cut through the latest thinking to help gain clarity of which we should be using when. She's joined in the studio by Dr Michael Mosley whose recent investigation looked into how the composition of saturated and polyunsaturated fats changed when heated with food and resulted in the production of dangerous aldehydes. Sheila finds out what response there has been since the programme and how he's changed his own cooking and buying habits but what questions should we be asking when we eat out? Over the past decades animal fats have lost out in popularity and newer products like coconut oil have risen in prominence. Yet a butcher from Clonmel in Tipperary has seen his dripping crowned 'supreme champion' in the Great Taste awards - could this signify a change of thinking on what was once classed 'unhealthy fats'. Meanwhile in parts of Italy a new disease is threatening olive trees. N.B. In this programme, mustard oil is used. Due to the high levels of the allergen erucic acid present in mustard oil, EU regulations state that the oil must be marked for 'external use only'. However, it continues to be widely used in Indian cooking and is often recommended by chefs to create authentic dishes.

Why is cheese essential when the German Chancellor comes for dinner? Dan Saladino explains why a plate of food shouldn't be taken at face value in this special episode of the Food Programme, made in collaboration with the Food Chain on The World Service. This week we enter an arena usually hidden from public view; the kitchens behind the most powerful people on the planet, where politics, policy and diplomacy are the main ingredients.For millennia, international relations have been massaged by the chefs working inside palaces and state kitchens and their food might have influenced some of the biggest decisions in history. Dan meets Gilles Bragard, the founder of the world's most exclusive culinary club, Le Club des Chefs Des Chefs, which brings together 20 people who cook for Heads of State. Gilles shares some food secrets, including President Putin's food security protocols. We visit the kitchens of Hampton Court Palace, where in 16th century England, wine fountains and roasted meats were cooked to help Henry VIII impress and intimidate foreign dignitaries. The White House kitchen, is perhaps the most influential in the modern era and Sam Kass, former chef and close friend to the Obamas, explains how policies were cooked up in State kitchens. Professor Stephen Chan of London's School of Oriental and African Studies tells the story behind Robert Mugabe's lavish feasts. David Geisser, a former Vatican Swiss Guard, provides insights into the culinary preferences of Pope Francis and finally, we hear from a journalist in Brussels who has witnessed some recent and dramatic EU meals, including the former British Prime Minister David Cameron's last supper with European leaders.Producer: Emily Thomas.

Dan Saladino travels on a new road in Albania that leads to an undiscovered cheese world.

In 2013, The School Food Plan was published aiming to revolutionise food in schools across England, and to show countries around the world what providing good food in schools could look like. Out of the policy came 'universal infant free school meals', dubbed by the Government as "good news" for any family with small children at infant school. A £600 million commitment to giving children a hot meal at lunchtime.But in this programme, one of the authors of the School Food Plan says the Government failed to listen to the advice it asked for. Now thousands of primary schools across England face funding cuts which could see them struggling to provide school lunches to tens of thousands of pupils.Sheila Dillon hears how a Government report on funding food in small schools was never published and asks what the future holds for school food across the UK in an uncertain political climate. Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

Dan Saladino outlines the big food issues we're facing because of Brexit. From the impact of a devalued pound to longer term questions over the future of how we farm, produce, buy and sell food. Dan goes on the road in search of answers. The podcast of this programme is a special extended edition featuring Angela Hartnett.Producer: Rich Ward. Photo: Artur Melez Tixiliski.

Dan Saladino returns to the world of the gut microbiota, the vast array of microbes within us all. From the Amazon Basin to East Africa to the life underneath our feet; food will never be quite the same again.Featuring Tim Spector, author of The Diet Myth, Jeff Leach, co-founder of the American Gut Project, microbiome scientist Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, food professor and author Ken Albala, and DJs Lisa and Alana Macfarlane - aka The Mac Twins.Presenter: Dan Saladino Producer: Rich Ward.

Dan Saladino reports on food, survival and fishing from the Faroe Islands. From fermented sheep's head to whale blubber he finds out how people eat on the remote archipelago. For many generations many of these traditonal foods were only eaten in family homes, often having associations with poverty and difficult times. Things are changing however and dishes from the past are now helping to drive a restaurant boom.Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Dan Saladino discovers the world of the gut microbiota, the vast array of microbes within us all. From East Africa to the White House, it's a story that'll change the way you eat.Dan is joined by Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King's College London, and author of The Diet Myth - The Real Science Behind What We Eat. Tim tells the story of how he became fascinated by the gut microbiome and our diet.The programme also features a Dutch draper named Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, co-founder of the American Gut Project Jeff Leach, evolutionary biochemist Dr Nick Lane, and Alexandre Meybeck - a Senior Officer at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation.Presenter: Dan Saladino Producer: Rich Ward.

In the British Library there is an archive of life story sound recordings which tells the true story of how our food has changed over the past century. Until now, this collection has been accessible only by visiting the British Library. Now, for the first time, the 'National Life Stories project' is being made public online. Featuring hundreds of voices, and thousands of hours of interviews, it is one of the most comprehensive and revealing resources we have on food in the UK. Contributors range from chefs like Shaun Hill and Albert Roux, to biscuit factory managers, from butchers to apple growers.In this edition, The Food Programme is collaborating with the British Library to bring you highlights from the 'National Life Stories' archive. Historian Polly Russell picks voices which shed light on hidden parts of the food industry, from restaurant kitchens to the high street. And in recounting these histories to today's chefs, restaurateurs and shop owners, she finds how working in British food has changed.Presented by Sheila Dillon with Polly Russell & Barley Blyton Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

Food writer Diana Henry has just collected a James Beard Award in America for her latest book 'A Bird in the Hand'. Straight from the plane she joined Sheila Dillon at the Bristol Food Connections Festival. In Part 1 of the interview she shared about growing up in Antrim, how a revelatory French exchange fuelled her excitement about cooking and starting out in TV. She shared works by Naguib Mahfouz and Seamus Heaney. In this second part, she shares more of her chosen excerpts on food - including memoirs, online journalism and restaurant reviews - and explains what each of the authors bring that inspires and excites her. The podcast including both parts of this interview are available from this programme page.Readers: Rebecca Ripley and Sam Woolf Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

Part two of a road trip which took BBC Food & Farming Awards judges Yotam Ottolenghi and Sheila Dillon from the Outer Hebrides, to Cheshire's pastures and on to South west Wales. Which is where they met the winners of this year's award. They are Charcutier Ltd. A young couple producing bacons, hams, cured and smoked products and charcuterie. In this programme, Sheila and Yotam visit Felin y Glyn Farm in Pontnewydd to find how Illtud Llyr Dunsford and Liesel Taylor are pioneering a British charcuterie revolution; making delicious meat products and revitalising their local food scene.Presented by Sheila Dillon & produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

Yotam Ottolenghi and Sheila Dillon meet BBC Food and Farming Awards's best food producers.

Sheila Dillon presents the 2016 BBC Food & Farming Awards in this extended online special.At the ceremony in Bristol, Sheila and three co-hosts - Yotam Ottolenghi, Angela Hartnett and Stefan Gates - guide us through the stories of the finalists and reveal this year's winners.This full-length edition, available to download and listen online, also features an extended version of the Derek Cooper Outstanding Achievement Award, presented this year to Dr Joan Morgan.The ceremony marked the climax of a long process - starting with listeners’ nominations, then an expert team of judges sifting through your nominations in each of the categories, before making their visits right across the UK.On stage at the ceremony, Sheila is joined by award givers including Jancis Robinson, Ken Hom, Mitch Tonks and the BBC Director General Lord Tony Hall. The finalists - and their stories - are insightful, inspiring… and delicious.Producer: Rich Ward

Sheila Dillon and Genevive Taylor explore why Bristol has such a strong food scene.

Food in the most extreme cooking environment, space. Dan Saladino tries menus for Mars.

Continuing our series of programmes on cooking and eating in challenging conditions in remote places: The Royal Navy's submarines make their own air and water so food is the one factor limiting how long they can remain at sea. Sheila Dillon explores life, and the role food plays in it, on board HMS Artful- a nuclear-powered but not nuclear-armed submarine. More than simply for nutrition, food acts as a marker of the day and time in a world without sunlight and is crucial in maintaining morale. So how do you order enough food for 140 crew for up to 3 months at sea, store it in confined spaces and cook for a 24 hour operation while coping with the vessel diving or having to keep silence in a stealth operation? Sheila learns about the naval favourites 'Cheesy Wham-bam' and 'Nelly's Wellies', how they mark an important occasion and works out if the chef if the most popular job to have on board.This episode follows on from eating in the Antarctic. Next is food in space. Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

Across all of the world, weather doesn't get more extreme than the Antarctic winter. The continent is plunged into 24 hour darkness from from March to October with strong polar winds and temperatures that can dip to minus 50. But for the staff of the Halley Research station, work and life goes on. In 2014 experienced Antarctic chef Gerard Baker joined the base for the cold Antarctic winter to cook for the team. In the first of a special Food Programme series documenting food in extreme environments, Gerard shares his diary with Sheila Dillon. She hears what it takes to be an Antarctic chef. From the daily baking bread, to planning for months of mealtimes with no contact, or supplies, from the outside world. When crisis strikes on base, we hear the real importance of a good meal.Next week, Sheila Dillon is in an underwater kitchen on board a submarine.Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

From the guerilla gardener Ron Finley in South Central LA fighting the law to grow vegetables to the project training children in Brazilian favelas to train as chefs, Dan Saladino has shared some inspiring and life changing food projects shared at the MAD symposium in Copenhagen in 2014. But what's happened since then? He wants to hear what those projects have gone on to achieve.MAD (the word for food in Danish) was founded by the celebrated chef of the restaurant Noma, Rene Redzepi. In his own words, it's curated by a group of "chefs, waiters, a former banker and an anthropologist". To some it's a festival of ideas, to others it's like listening to a "food mix tape", over two days an audience of 600 chefs, writers and food obsessives hear a series of presentations about cooking, restaurants, food history and activism.But that was just the start. Ron Finley, a gardener from Los Angeles was prosecuted for growing food in a patch of land in front of his house. He took on the authorities and changed the law. His story has inspired people all over the world. Now his story has been made into an award-winning feature film, showing how other gardeners in South Central LA - gang-members Spicey and Kenya, 9 year old Quimonie and a man just released from a 30 year prison term are changing their lives simply by growing food. Meanwhile FruitaFeia, a Portuguese project to save ugly fruit from going to waste, has 2000 people on their waiting list and is looking to expand while GustoMovida, the Brazilian project training disadvantaged young people is preparing for the Olympics. Presented by Dan Saladino Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

Dan Saladino charts the rise, fall and rise of traditional Neapolitan pizza. He's joined by Daniel Young whose "Where to Eat Pizza" lists 1700 great pizzerias around the world. A common theme in the book, Daniel argues, is that after decades of competition from less authentic rivals, the Neapolitan style pizza is making an impact on restaurant scenes across Europe, Asia and north America.Professor John Dickie, the author of Delizia: The epic history of the Italians and their food, explains the birth of the Neapolitan pizza in the 18th and 19th centuries on the streets of Naples, then one of the most densely populated cities in the world. What emerged was a pizza that was quickly cooked at high tempertaures and was soft and moist enough to be folded and eaten on the streets.The current renaiisance of the pizza can also be seen in the UK. Dan meets some of the pizzaioli (pizza chefs) who have taken a centuries old food and taken it to new heights.Presented by Dan Saladino.

Fermentation is one of our oldest methods for preserving food. All around the world people have been transforming food with the help of microbes for thousands of years. The problem is, this simple method has had an identity crisis. We tend either see it as a fashionable fad, or a strange science. But there are people who want things to change. So in this programme Sheila Dillon meets 'The fermenters'. Ukranian food writer and chef Olia Hercules, who grew up with fermented foods; Roopa Gulati, using fermentation to explore her Indian heritage; entrepreneur Deborah Carr, whose fermentation business is going from strength to strength; and seasonal chef Tom Hunt who is putting seasonal ferments back on his restaurant menu. In 2016, It's time to rethink fermentation.

Sheila Dillon unveils the list of this year's BBC Food & Farming Awards finalists.Presenter: Sheila Dillon Producer: Rich Ward.

If your experience of sake has been limited to simply 'a hot cup of alcohol after a meal' like Sheila Dillon it's time to listen without prejudice. With thousands of breweries each producing dozens of varieties there is more range than most of us understand. After a slump in sales in Japan young people are now returning to sake and in the UK interest is growing rapidly with top restaurants listing more choices, plans for specialist bars and more people in the drinks trade now qualifying in sake expertise. But how do you know where to start? A lack of Japanese can make bottles hard to understand and when do you drink it hot or cold? What food can you pair them with? How do you avoid the really bad ones? Sake samurai and sommelier Natsuki Kikuya explains how different varieties should be drunk and how the novice can gain confidence . She's joined by passionate sake convert, drinks writer Anna Greenhous and Techno DJ Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman fell so in love with sake he's now taking it to a new generation of young clubbers around the world. Meanwhile the race is on between 2 breweries to produce the first sake in the UK. Will it be Scotland's Arran brewery or the Japanese Dojima brewery which is investing in a multi-million pound operation in Cambridgeshire?Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

Dan Saladino explores the fierce debate over how 1.2bn people will be fed in the future.

In her new book, First Bite - How We Learn To Eat, Bee Wilson takes a deep and reflective look at how food choices and habits are shaped, and how they can be changed.Sheila Dillon is joined by Bee Wilson and special guests to discuss the book's surprising findings, and how to make positive changes where positive change is needed.Sheila and Bee are joined by Rosie Boycott, who advises the Mayor of London on food and is Chair of the London Food Board, as well as father and son Geoff and Anthony Whitington who star in the just-released film Fixing Dad, which documents Geoff's struggles with type 2 diabetes and his two sons' efforts to help him.Dan Saladino tells the story of Professor Pekka Puska, who as a young public health doctor in the 1970s spearheaded the North Karelia Project in Finland, which in the context of a population with the highest rates of death from heart disease in the world, aimed to improve the way that a whole region ate.Presenter: Sheila Dillon Producer: Rich Ward.

Ultra-marathon champ and vegan Scott Jurek tells Dan Saladino how to eat and run 100 miles. Fermented food and Paleo diets are also put to the test in Food and Running Part 2.

Dan Saladino meets the people working to improve the food future of Newcastle.

Welcome to Cardiff, Croeso i Caerdydd. The capital of Wales and the fastest growing urban population in the UK. For centuries, people have come to the city to live from Wales, and from far beyond the country's borders, attracted by the prospect of a life between the sea and the hills. It's a city with, at once an international community and a strong Welsh identity.In this programme Sheila Dillon travels to Wales to find out what this has to bare on the city's food scene. She hears how modern redevelopment is pulling in big restaurant chains, whilst small scale food businesses come up with imaginative ideas to stay in the game. She discovers a part of the city which still reflects the mass immigration into Cardiff docks of the 19th century. Food businesses which are evolving as today's migrants take the helm. She tries a truly home-grown brew, made with crowd grown hops by Cardiffians, and she gets a taste of the city's most revered pastry encased creation. This is a city where food means more than it might first appear.

When the Food Programme went to Leeds to cover its growing food and drink scene many areas of the city had recently been flooded. At the time community groups, including Muslims and Sikhs, were taking part in a food operation to feed those forced out of their homes - meeting the fundamental need for food while showing the strength of the community. Dan Saladino explores the city - which has historic links to supermarket chains, wealth from the textiles industry and 'Leeds Dripping Riots'. The last 2 years have seen a thriving independent food and drink movement, with innovators starting projects which are changing the face of Leeds but also inspiring others around the world. Adam Smith was working in Australia when he became aware and angered at the scale of edible food being wasted. After being told if he wanted to change the world he needed to change his home town he returned to Leeds, setting up a cafe which intercepted food being thrown away from shops, markets, projects and allotments to 'feed bellies not bins'. The pay as you feel model of the Real Junk Food Project has been replicated across Leeds and around the world with 126 cafes and more in the making. Yet Adam is far from content. At Trinity Kitchen, a radical new model for a shopping mall food court which has drawn attention from others as far flung as Sweden and China. A 6 week rotation of new traders is no mean feat - with road closures and cranes hoisting food trucks into place. Dan also meets Northern Monk in Grub and Grog - brewing quirky ales to match a changing, mainly vegan menu while Northern Bloc ice creams are keeping things close to home with flavours like Yorkshire Parkin and Black Treacle but with their eyes on expansion into the London market.

Sheila Dillon reveals this year's team of judges, and launches the 2016 BBC Food and Farming Awards. Sheila will be catching up with some of last year's winners and nominees and explaining how you can send in your all-important nominations.Presenter: Sheila Dillon Producer: Rich Ward.

How important is diet to running performance? It's a question Food Programme listener and runner Nicole Marais wanted answers too and so she emailed the programme's production team. This programme explains what happened next....When Dan Saladino went to meet (and run with) Nicole she explained she had tried lots of different diets, from one based on meat, to a vegetarian diet and onto veganism. She was keen to hear the experience of other runners and athletes and how they eat to run.Dan hears from Kevin Currell, Head of Performance Nutrition at the English Institute of Sport, to find out about the dietary advice given to Britain's elite athletes. Adharanand Finn, author of 'Running with the Kenyans', shares his insights into running, racing and eating in Iten, the town where many of the world's most successful distance runners live and train. Kenyan runners eat a lot of ugali, a carbohydrate rich porridge made of maize flour and water.Elsewhere however, others are arguing that a low-carb, high-fat diet will help runners reach peak performance. Author of Born to Run and Natural Born Heroes, Christopher McDougall, profiles diets based on this principle, that fuelled long runs by resistance fighters during the Second World War and early Iron Man events in the 1980's. It's a controversial approach and many believe it's just the latest food fad to be picked up by people in the running world.The programme also features Scott Jurek who eats a carbohydrate rich, vegan diet. It's enabled him to dominate runs like Badwater, a 135 mile race through America's Death Valley.Will these athletes and running writers give listener Nicole Marais the information she needs to break her own record in this year's London Marathon? Listen, find out and perhaps go on a run afterwards.Produced and presented by Dan Saladino. Researcher: Camellia Sinclair.

Food writer, chef, restaurateur, philosopher...?Since 'Ottolenghi: the cookbook' was published in 2008, Yotam Ottolenghi has become one of the UK's most followed voices on food and cooking. Nearly eight years later, Ottolenghi's cookbooks total five, the last written in collaboration with head chef at his London Soho restaurant NOPI, Ramael Scully. The restaurant is one of five in the capital, which he runs with a small, loyal team. He's appeared on our TV screens, exploring the foods of the Mediterranean and his birthplace and childhood home, Jerusalem. He's presented an ode to the Cauliflower on The Food Programme on Radio 4 and in a weekly column for the Guardian, has shed new light on cooking with vegetables, paving the way for ingredients from the Middle East to enter our kitchen store cupboards. No wonder that the rise of sumac, za'atar and tahini in our supermarkets was dubbed 'the Ottolenghi effect'.In an extended interview, Yotam Ottolenghi shares his life through food with Sheila Dillon. She hears how a Jewish boy from Jerusalem negotiated the world of academia, and winded up as a pastry chef in chic restaurants in 90s London. How a chance meeting with business partner Sami Tamimi led to one of London's most successful string of deli restaurants 'Ottolenghi', and on to Soho restaurant NOPI. Yotam explains how people in his life have shaped the food he cooks. He tells Sheila about the effect of his brother's untimely death in tragic circumstances, his own coming out as gay and reflects on his connection with Jerusalem now that he has adopted London as home for his own young family. As 2015 draws to a close, he looks to the future. What will the Philosophical food writer do next?Presented by Sheila Dillon. Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

For some, trifle is an essential part of Christmas - a star centrepiece at the dinner table. For others its a reminder of 70s food hell - soggy sponge, jelly, hundreds and thousands dissolving into custard and cream and possibly crowned with glace cherries. Tim Hayward argues pretty much every food writer of the last 50 years has pronounced on trifle in a massively doctrinaire fashion. He wants to fight the prejudice to delve into the shared secret recipes for quick and 'dirty' trifles and investigates the 'golden rules' to get every trifle doubter on side. Presented by Tim Hayward. Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

As she readies herself for an imminent move back to her native New Zealand after three decades in the UK, Juliet Harbutt, cheese educator and campaigner, shares her life in food with Sheila Dillon. Born and raised in Auckland, an experience with some French cheeses in Paris changed everything for Juliet, who decided there and then that cheese would be her life's focus.She sold her deli-restaurant in Wellington and moved all the way to London, to open up a cheese shop based on her experiences in France. This was the start of a journey that coincided with a huge change in the way Britain approaches, and makes, cheese. This is the story of that period, and Juliet's life in food.Along the way, Juliet founded The British Cheese Awards and edited the World Cheese Book, which won a Guild of Food Writers Award for Food Book of the year in 2010.Looking back on those three decades, it's a time in which cheese has become one of Britain's great food successes, but it has not been a smooth ride - and things nearly turned out very differently. At its heart, this is a tale about one person's fascination with and passion for cheese, which is, as Juliet says - "a combination of man's ingenuity and one of Mother Nature's finest miracles, milk".Presenter: Sheila Dillon Producer: Rich Ward.

If you were to create a museum telling the story of food and drink what would you say or put on display? What about interactivity - tastes and smells? Is it about flavour and experience or the process of creating the ingredients from the farmers to gastronomes? Sheila Dillon steps inside London's new British Museum of Food (BMoF) created by 'jellymongers' Bompas and Parr to see what their creative minds had in store. Meanwhile in New York, the Museum of Food and Drink (MoFAD) also aims to attract tourists and food enthusiasts...but how will they tell their story? Celebrating food and making an exhibition of it is not new. Many smaller venues aim to show off the delights of dishes - from the kimchi museum in Korea to those celebrating Spam, potatoes, nougat or butter. How keen or obsessed would you need to be to visit? Sheila invtes you to take a tour and see if they whet your appetite for more rather than leave you fed-up. Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock.

Sheila Dillon and guests reflect on a year of cookery and food books.Sheila is joined in the studio by Bee Wilson, historian and food writer who's about to publish First Bite: How We Learn to Eat, journalist and food writer Alex Renton, and Features Editor at trade magazine The Bookseller, Tom Tivnan.Tim Hayward meets chef Magnus Nilsson - who has just completed a nearly 800-page work called The Nordic Cook Book, the result of an almost Herculean effort to tell the food stories of a vast region.Sharing some of their standout books of the year are Xanthe Clay, Joanna Blythman, Gillian Carter and Diana Henry.Presenter: Sheila Dillon Producer: Rich Ward.

Nearly every major city in the world has one- a district where Chinese immigrants have settled to live, work and eat. This week Dan Saladino takes you on a tour of Chinatowns around the world. From one of the oldest, in Manila, to one of the newest, in Johannesburg, Chinatowns create a global trail of economic and culinary influence. And the food that they serve reflects not only the tastes of home, but of the adopted countries. In this programme, made in collaboration with BBC World Service programme, The Food Chain, we ask how these urban communities reflect not only the history of Chinese immigration, but the changing role of China as a global power. Including visits to Havana, to look at the legacy of communism in a Chinatown that rarely serves Chinese food, and Shanghai, where the fortune cookie - a westernized version of Chinese cuisine is finding a new market at home. Producers: Kent DePinto & Sarah Stolarz.