Advertise on podcast: The Food Programme

Sheila Dillon reveals the winners of this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards from Northern Ireland. She and this year's head judge Paula McIntyre meet some of the best food and drink producers in the country at the ceremony at Titanic Belfast. Just who will take home the coveted BBC Food Programme chopping boards? Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol

Regenerative farming is being championed by some as the future of British agriculture. As part of Radio 4's Farming Tomorrow season, Leyla Kazim asks - does regenerative farming change the nutritional value of what we eat?  "Regenerative" farmers say the way they work their land rebuilds soil health, through the use of practices including cover crops, grazing animals, reduced cultivation and greater biodiversity. Its supporters say these healthier soils could produce healthier food. But what does the evidence show so far? could the way we farm influence not just the environment, but the nutrients in our, and even our health? The programme includes interviews with Ian Wilkinson founder of FarmEd, a regenerative research and education farm; Lucy Williamson, author of "Soil to Gut: How to Regenerate Your Health with Food", Dr Grace Kangara - a soil scientist at Rothamsted Research who is researching the impact of different farming practices on the nutritional content of wheat (and other grains), and Rob Ward from Vitagri, a think tank pulling together thousands of research studies to try to answer the question.  Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

Typically British, a comforting ritual and a calorific onslaught - the Sunday Roast is part of the weekly routine for many. Jimi Famurewa assesses the combination of meat, potatoes, sides and all-important gravy to examine why we keep coming back for more. He visits the Bank Tavern in Bristol where table bookings are harder to come by than Glastonbury tickets. Jimi explores the global appeal of the Yorkshire pudding with food writer Elaine Lemm and takes a trip to a branch of the self-styled "home of the roast" the Toby Carvery. Along the way food historian Annie Gray explains how roasts cemented themselves in British culture. Also, Irish "roast detective" podcasters Emer McLysaght and Esther O'Moore Donohoe reveal the language they've devised to describe the carvery experience while touring Ireland on the hunt for the perfect roast dinner. Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Robin Markwell. The poem "In Praise Of Yorkshire Puddings" written and performed by Ian McMillan "Roast Beef Of Old England" performed by Jerry Bryant

Dan Saladino reports on big ideas from the food world, ranging from a farming system that produces a climate friendly rice to a fermented yeast that releases an oil and could help prevent deforestation. The innovations are being recognised by the judges of this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards and Sweden's Food Planet Prize. All have the potential to make a positive impact on the future of food. Also featured is a rethink on how we buy fish and the species we get to eat, efforts in the American mid-west to integrate more trees into farms and a project that's removing barriers to people cooking. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino,

Sheila Dillon is joined by a panel at Abergavenny Food Festival to ask - why is food costing so much more than it used to, and what would it take to build a food system that works better for everyone? Food prices in the UK have risen dramatically in recent years, while healthier food remains out of reach for many families. At the same time, farmers, growers and food businesses say they are struggling with rising costs, squeezed margins and growing uncertainty. So who is benefiting from the current system? Who is under pressure? Are we paying too much for food, or in some cases not enough? And what would a fairer, more sustainable food economy actually look like? Joining Sheila Dillon are Food Programme presenter and award-winning journalist Dan Saladino; Vicki Hird, one of the UK's leading food policy experts and Strategic Lead on Agriculture at The Wildlife Trusts; and Welsh food writer, broadcaster and food strategist Simon Wright, who is currently developing a National Food Strategy for Wales. Produced by Natalie Donovan for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Each year The BBC Food & Farming Awards celebrates food producers who are going above and beyond to create delicious and sustainable food. They are examples of how food can be a force for good, improving our local areas, health and environment. In this programme judges Sheila Dillon and Paula McIntyre meet the three finalists and announce the whole of this year's Awards shortlist.

Dan Saladino visits the annual Oxford Food Symposium and explores its theme of 'poverty food'. Stories told at the event ranged from the historic links between breadfruit and the slave trade and the cooking demos organised for the poorest families in Edwardian London. We also hear about the oldest known cookbook to feature recipes for people in poverty, dating back to 14th century Persia. How has poverty has shaped food cultures over the centuries? The symposium set out to provide answers. As we face an ongoing cost of living crisis and the prospect of further food price inflation, 'poverty food' is an increasingly urgent and topical theme. Are there lessons we can learn from history? Produced and presented by Dan Saladino. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

On BBC Radio 4 we’re marking the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry in London by exploring the impact of the Norman invasion. In this programme, food historian Dr Annie Gray travels to Normandy to investigate how the Norman Conquest changed what we eat and drink. The Normans crossed the English Channel with new cheeses, different varieties of apple to make cider and introduced rabbits to our table. Annie samples the “Fantastic Four” of Norman soft cheeses – Livarot, Camembert, Neufchâtel and Pont-l'Évêque – and learns about their history with cheese expert David Raguet. She visits cider-makers Christian Drouin and Jean Olivier Petrich to understand why Normandy excels in the drink and finds out about the production of calvados and pommeau. Back in England, Annie also goes on the hunt for rabbits in Thetford Forest where you can still see evidence of the extensive Norman warrens. Dr Millie Horton-Insch from the British Museum explains how food is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry and Professor Ben Jervis considers what archaeology can teach us about the way our diets changed after 1066. Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol.

School food is back in the spotlight, and as governments across the UK look to improve what children eat, what does it actually take to change a school meals service? Jaega Wise spends a day with Andrew Cowan, Catering Manager at Bury Council, whose team serves around 10,000 meals a day across more than 50 schools. From Manchester's wholesale produce market to Elton High School, she follows the people working to put more freshly prepared, seasonal food on pupils' plates. Along the way, Jaega visits Organic North, which supplies organic fruit and vegetables to Bury's schools, and The Organic Pantry, a prospective supplier hoping to be part of the council's network of local food producers. Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Natalie Donovan

"One day we will eat with a knife and fork." As they were growing up, it's a phrase Ify Adenuga repeated to her children, including the grime artists Skepta and JME. The saying would later inspire the title of Skepta's 2026 album Fork & Knife, which he has described as being rooted in the immigrant mindset, aspiration and the belief that hard work might one day deliver a better life. In this edition of The Food Programme, Jimi Famurewa takes that phrase as a starting point to explore how the way we eat shapes ideas of identity, belonging and culture. From the arrival of the fork in Europe to the Nigerian tradition of eating with your hands, and from Cantonese chopstick culture to the formal rituals of the British dinner table, he uncovers surprising stories about the many different ways in which we consume our food. Part social history, part personal journey, this is a story about the rules we inherit, the traditions we hold on to, and what something as simple as a knife, fork, pair of chopsticks or even our own hands can reveal about who we are. Produced by Ishmael Soriano for BBC Audio Bristol

Dan Saladino meets this year's collection of musicians from around the world who are cooking as they perform at the WOMAD festival. What do their dishes reveal about global food history? Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

There are many ways to age a cheese so how best to refine its flavours over time? Welcome to the art of affinage - a French term that translates as "refining" a cheese - and a practice that is starting to take off in the UK. Sheila Dillon attends a competition to find the Affineur of the Year and discovers that the way you age a cheese can dramatically change its taste and texture. A cheddar can become more like a comté by changing the temperature, humidity and length of the ripening process. She hears from practitioners who regularly wash and turn their cheeses. Some have buried cheeses in coal holes, encased them in clay pots or even played them music to find new ways of making traditional cheeses taste differently. Experimentation with these techniques has led to new cheeses entering the market. In this programme the dark arts of affinage will be revealed. Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Robin Markwell

Since January 2025, thousands of tonnes of common octopus, usually found in the Mediterranean, have been landed by fisherman off the south coast of England. But it’s still not a regular feature on UK menus. In this episode of the Food Programme, Jaega Wise heads to Brixham fish market to find out more about what’s happening, and visits seafood restaurants taking alternative approaches to the challenge. Rockfish owner and chef Mitch Tonks talks her through the difficulties of cooking octopus, and marine ecologist Bryce Stewart at Plymouth University explains why the creature could be here to stay. Jaega also explores what puts people off eating octopus - from tentacles to extreme intelligence. And we head to Guernsey to meet a fisherman whose business has been severely impacted, and try some “Octodog”. Produced by Tory Pope.

Leyla Kazim revisits some of The Food Programme's most memorable stories to ask: what happened next? From 500kg of eels stranded in a holding tank in Gloucestershire and English olive oil being pressed in Lincolnshire, to the future of halloumi in Cyprus following an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease, and the impact of global politics on vegetables grown in Africa for UK consumers. Leyla returns to the people behind these stories to hear what happened after the programmes were broadcast. Listen to the original programmes: English Olive Oil https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002f00z Why Is Africa Feeding Us? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002m1mz Halloumi and hellim: The story of an island and its cheese https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jsc7 Eels and Elvers https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002lfhd Consider the Eel: Part 2 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002t2kh Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

Cacao prices broke all records and then crashed, Dan Saladino explores the fallout for farmers and the chocolate industry with Jack Thompson reporting from the Ivory Coast. Produced and presented by Dan Saladino