The Food Chain

Millions of Americans live in so-called ‘food deserts’ - areas where it’s hard to access fresh affordable food. For people who aren’t able to travel to other neighbourhoods to do their food shopping, this might mean microwave meals bought from the local gas station are the only way to feed themselves. Emily Thomas meets two people who live in areas where fresh food is hard to come by in Albany, NY State and St Louis, Missouri. They explain why they reject the term food desert in favour of ‘food apartheid’ - which they say addresses the food system in its entirety, including race.(Picture: two shopping trollies with food, credit: Getty/BBC)If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukContributors: Tyrean Lewis, Founder and CEO of Heru Urban Farming Roni Minter

Carlo Petrini is leading a food revolution - one that fights to protect local, traditional ingredients and farming methods in the face of a standardised, industrialised food system. From a protest against a McDonald's in the heart of Rome, to a network of more than 100,000 members in 160 countries, his Slow Food movement strives for a world where producers are fairly treated and the planet is better protected.Carlo tells Emily Thomas the story of his life and activism and why he believes that a post-pandemic world offers a profound opportunity for economic, environmental and social change - should we choose to take it.Producer: Simon TulettIf you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: Carlo Petrini. Credit: James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images/BBC)

Chillies can be hard to love at first, but they are integral to the cuisines of many countries. So what do you do if hot peppers are at the heart of your food culture, but your child can’t stand the heat?Emily Thomas is joined by three cooks and parents. Each of them grew up in a food culture where chillies are important, but are now bringing up their own children in a country where hot peppers have less significance. We hear why you might want a child to develop a taste for chilli, how young they should be introduced to it, and whether you should ever resort to bribery.Guests: MiMi Aye, Sunrita Dutta, Mei Li.

Serving sizes have increased dramatically in recent decades. It’s happened so subtly that many of us simply don't realise, but it’s having a serious impact on our health and our planet. So, how can we reverse it?Emily Thomas learns how food manufacturers and clever marketers have nudged us into buying ever larger portions, leveraging ultra cheap ingredients and our own psychology. We hear that the phenomenon is so pervasive it’s also crept into the home, where many of us have lost any concept of what an appropriate portion is.Given the increasing awareness of the poor health and environmental outcomes linked to overconsumption, we find out what regulators and companies are doing to shrink portions back to a more sustainable size, and ask whether the real answer might lie in a fundamental shift in the way we all value food.Producer: Simon TulettIf you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: A woman drinking from a giant coffee cup. Credit: Getty/BBC)Contributors:Pi

Anti-Asian hate has surged since the coronavirus outbreak, and some of the most common targets have been Chinese food businesses.Tamasin Ford speaks to three people who’ve witnessed the rise of Sinophobia first hand and seen it damage not only their livelihoods, but also their families.They explain why they’re not prepared to stay silent, as was often the case for previous generations, and how they plan to use food in the fight against racism and ignorance.Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah StolarzIf you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: A person holds a sign during a rally against anti-Asian hate in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Credit: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty/BBC)Contributors:Patrick Mock, manager of 46 Mott bakery in New York; John Li, owner of Dumpling Shack, London; Ying Hou, owner of ShanDong MaMa, Melbourne

President Biden has pledged to scrap the 'tipped wage' in the US - a salary system where diners effectively subsidise waiters' wages.It's a move that's divided restaurant staff across the country. Tamasin Ford hears from those who want a higher minimum wage and an end to a system they argue makes servers vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. On the other hand, some staff are outraged because, they say, the changes could wipe out their chance to make double or even triple their hourly wage in tips.With the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the hospitality industry, restaurant owners too are wondering whether now is the time for a shake-up, and also how customers might react.If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: A waitress writes notes on a pad. Credit: Getty Images/BBC) Contributors:Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage USA; Dr Michael Lynn, professor of services marketing at Cornell University, New York; Xian Zhang, co-owner of Cafe Chi

On the streets of Bucharest a woman unwraps a package of Chinese pepper ... and falls in love. In Portland Oregon, a family finds a new home - in a farmers market. A food writer opens her front door in London and finds a Chinese banquet waiting for her. On a cold winter’s morning, in a city 10,000 kilometres away from her family, a woman stands and waits for a taste of home. As part of the BBC World Service festival exploring how the Coronavirus pandemic is reshaping our social lives, Emily Thomas hears four stories of how food can bring us closer together when we’ve never been more distant from one another. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: Two women sit on a bench talking, Credit: Getty/BBC)Contributors:Albertina Coacci Tse Yin Lee Fuchsia Dunlop Schlifka Collier

Vitamin D keeps our bones and muscles strong, and now there's some evidence it could help protect us from Covid-19. With many of us deficient in the 'sunshine vitamin' could food fortification be the best way to ensure we're getting enough? Emily Thomas hears how enriched milk and margarines have helped to almost completely eliminate vitamin D deficiencies in Finland, and how plans to fortify flour could prevent devastating bone diseases like rickets in Mongolia. As more countries are urged to act, we ask whose responsibility fortification should be - governments' or the food industry's? Plus, why is it so hard to get enough vitamin D from sunlight or our regular diets, and is it possible to get too much?If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukProducers: Simon Tulett and Sarah StolarzContributors:Kevin Cashman, professor of food and health at University College Cork, Republic of Ireland; Amaraa Bor, operations manager at the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, Mon

When a footballer is around, does food simply become fuel? Emily Thomas is joined by the wives of two former professional footballers and the ex-captain of the New Zealand National team. They reveal how the game affects meals for the players and the people around them. We hear about the highs and lows of fuelling a professional athlete - from managing diet through injury and retirement, to turning a blind eye to 2am curries, to keeping all the chocolate hidden away. (Picture: Footballer shoots at goal. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukContributors:Bex Smith Prudencia Buxton Shauna Muamba

Alice Waters is one of America’s most influential chefs and food writers. In the 1970s she led a food revolution that sparked a movement towards local, sustainable, organic food. Alice tells Emily Thomas about her life, from a suburban childhood in New Jersey to the radical politics of the University of California, Berkeley. She explains how she was inspired to set up a small French restaurant called Chez Panisse, after a trip to France as a student, and how it became a mecca for writers, chefs, musicians and artists.After almost half a century of food activism, Alice tells us that she still has plenty of work to do. She talks about her mission to educate children through her Edible School Yard project, how lockdown has focused her mind on climate change, and what it has felt like to see her beloved restaurant forced to close its doors over the past year.(Photo: Alice Waters. Credit: Amanda Marsalis/ BBC).

A spongy collection of flour, water, wild yeasts and bacteria may seem an unlikely object of affection, but some sourdough starters are truly cherished, and can even become part of the family.Emily Thomas hears how one starter has been used to bake bread in the same family since the Canadian gold rush more than 120 years ago, and speaks to a man trying to preserve sourdough diversity and heritage by running the world's only library dedicated to starter cultures.And a German baker, whose starter has survived Nazism and communism, reveals the commercial demands of maintaining it and why old ‘mothers’ (as sourdough starters are known) hold a powerful lesson for us all in nurturing living things.Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah Stolarz(Picture: A woman holding bread. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)Contributors:Ione Christensen; Karl de Smedt, Puratos; Christoph Hatscher, Bäckerei & Konditorei Hatscher

In March 2020, as countries struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic, 90% of the world’s school children were sent home. With all eyes - and headlines - on the spread of Covid-19, it took a while for many to see that another crisis had been unleashed - hundreds of millions of children around the world were now going hungry because they relied on free school meals as their main source of nutrition. Not every parent had the money to buy more food - and few governments had adequate plans in place to help them.Emily Thomas hears extraordinary stories from Kenya and the US of how schools and charities fought to reach children throughout school closures. Could the coronavirus have changed school meals for good - and if so, why did it take a pandemic for the world to wake up to their importance?(Picture: boy with school lunch. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Contributors:Wawira Njiru: Founder and Executive Director, Food for Educatio

The internationally-acclaimed food writer and TV cook Nigella Lawson, tells her life story through five memorable dishes. Often filmed devouring food with a showy relish, she tells Emily Thomas how her mother’s bulimia sparked a life-long determination to enjoy eating.Nigella explains how a series of bereavements has led her to memorialise her loved ones through recipes, and why she’s become more protective of her privacy in recent years. Nigella’s books and TV shows often give the impression of a gregarious host, cooking for a multitude of family and friends, but her latest book ‘Cook, Eat, Repeat’ and its accompanying TV series, partly written and produced during lockdown, show her on her own. We find out how she’s coped.(Picture: Nigella Lawson. Credit: Matt Holyoak/ BBC).

Trump vs Biden isn’t the only issue that's been dividing communities in the USA in recent months - some have also been arguing over alcohol. Alongside November’s presidential vote, several counties and cities voted on whether to give up their ‘dry’ status and allow alcohol sales, many for the first time in 100 years. This week we hear from Bath County, Kentucky, which narrowly voted to go ‘wet’. Emily Thomas hears the story of this small rural community told by the people on opposite sides of the sometimes bitter argument - a pastor whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver, and a young metal worker convinced alcohol sales will bring prosperity.Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah StolarzContributors: The Reverend Lowell Rice, pastor at Owingsville First Church of God, Kentucky Dallas Whisman, Bath County Alcohol Beverage Control administrator, Kentucky(Picture: A broken beer bottle on a US flag. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

Do you give food emojis much thought? If not, perhaps you should. Emily Thomas hears how these tiny digital images can have a big social and economic impact. We reveal who decides which emojis are accepted and how you can propose your very own. Two Venezuelans living in the US explain why their brand new ‘flatbread emoji’ could be one the most significant achievements of their lives, and the emoji artist responsible for everything from the ‘dumpling’ to ‘bubble tea’ tells us why she sees her work as a calling, and how it has made her an unexpected cultural ambassador.(Picture: selection of food emojis. Credit: Lumen Bigott/Yiying Lu/BBC)Contributors:Sebastian Delmont, software developer Lumen Bigott, graphic designer Yiying Lu, artist and entrepreneurIf you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

When the only road into her town was blocked by a landslide, documentary filmmaker Suzanne Crocker was shocked by how quickly supermarket shelves went bare. It set her mind racing; would her remote Canadian town - just 300km from the Arctic circle - be capable of sustaining itself? She decided to undertake a radical experiment: an entire year of eating 100% local. Emily Thomas hears how she grew, hunted, foraged and negotiated her way through the seasons with a cupboard bare of salt, sugar and caffeine. How did she persuade three hungry teenagers to come on board, and what did a year of eating local do to family dynamics? Suzanne’s film about the experience is available on FirstWeEat.ca until 1 February 2021.If you would like to get in touch with The Food Chain please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: The Crocker family: Credit: Suzanne Crocker/BBC)

The influential Israeli-born, UK-based chef tells his life story through some of his most memorable dishes. Often credited with bringing Middle Eastern food into the mainstream in the UK, he now has a string of restaurants and delicatessens behind him, along with several best-selling cookbooks, but he was a late starter in the kitchen - almost pursuing a career in philosophy instead.He tells Emily Thomas about his youth in the vibrant and diverse Jerusalem of the 1970s, coming out as gay in Tel Aviv, and the huge impact of his younger brother’s death. Usually reluctant to delve into politics, Yotam also explains why he’s decided to speak out in support of his industry during the coronavirus pandemic.Producers: Simon Tulett, Siobhan O'Connell and Sarah StolarzIf you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: Yotam Ottolenghi. Credit: David Loftus/BBC)

Many of us love cookbooks. For some, they are a useful tool, and for others a source of inspiration. But then there are those for whom they are a whole lot more.Emily Thomas meets two people who are obsessed with cookbooks, collecting thousands of copies, and building emotional connections with each of them. Irish food writer Diana Henry explains how books can become soulmates, and Californian chef Cindy Pawlcyn describes how it feels to have a collection built over decades, destroyed overnight.If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: Pile of books. Credit: Getty/BBC)

What is it about garlic that wards off the evil eye? Why is rice sometimes thrown over the happy couple at a wedding?The way we grow, eat and use certain foods is said to bring us luck - good or bad - but why do we imbue them with these mystical powers, and why do these beliefs persist?Tamasin Ford explores some of the most common and also unusual food superstitions practiced around the world.Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah Stolarz(Picture: Two hands pulling a wishbone. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)Contributors:Jayanti 'Jonty' Rajagopalan, owner of Detours India, Hyderabad; Mae Azango, journalist with FrontPage Africa, Liberia; Tasha Marks, food historian, London.

Coronavirus shutdowns have seen many more people step into the kitchen to cook for themselves this year. Whilst some have boasted about the joy, comfort and delectable dishes they’ve discovered, it was the food failures that really went viral. Three amateur cooks tell Tamasin Ford about their epic kitchen catastrophes and the valuable lessons failure taught them about food, and themselves. Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah Stolarz(Picture: A woman looking at burnt cakes in the oven. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)Contributors:Ngo Thi Viet Anh; Heidi Allen; Dan Nash