The Food Chain

Rationing looms large in the memories of a generation who lived through World War Two. Basic groceries were limited and getting enough food on the table became a daily challenge that went on long after the last bombs fell. Ruth Alexander brings together a German and an English woman, who grew up on opposite sides of the world’s deadliest ever conflict, to share their recollections of wartime eating. What was it like struggling to find food, how did they adapt, and how has it changed their approach to food forever?

(Picture: Ingeborg Schreib-Wywiorski and Beryl Kingston, Credit: BBC)

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodhchain@bbc.co.uk

Contributors: Ingeborg Schreib-Wywiorski and Beryl Kingston.

Presenter: Ruth Alexander

Producer: Sarah Stolarz

Gabriella D’Cruz, from Goa, wants to improve diets, transform livelihoods, and protect the planet using an often-overlooked marine vegetable - seaweed.

Ruth Alexander speaks to the 29-year-old about her big plans for the underwater crop, and her hope that it could bring lasting economic and environmental change to India’s coastal communities.

Gabriella’s passion and her project’s potential saw her chosen by a panel of international judges as the winner of The Food Chain Global Youth Champion Award 2021.

If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.

Producer: Simon Tulett

Contributors:

Gabriella D'Cruz, founder of The Good Ocean;
Ismahane Elouafi, chief scientist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

(Picture: Gabriella D'Cruz in the sea holding a basket of seaweed. Credit: Gabriella D'Cruz/BBC)

How is a new cuisine created? Ruth Alexander explores two unique cuisines in South Africa and the USA: ‘Cape-Malay’- a 300-year old tradition born out of colonialism and slavery that unites Indonesian and Dutch tastes; and ‘Viet-Cajun’ - a more recent phenomenon that has seen the Vietnamese diaspora experimenting with Cajun flavours in Texas. We explore how history’s darkest episodes can lead to some of the most captivating flavour combinations and ask why some people will cringe at the term ‘fusion food’.

(Picture: Pot lid being opened. Credit: Getty/BBC)

If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Contributors:

Cass Abrahams: Chef and Author, Cape Town, South Africa
Mai Pham: Food writer, Houston, USA

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic some people discovered a solace and comfort in cooking, but for many others the opposite was true - the joy they had once felt in the kitchen evaporated.

Tamasin Ford speaks to three formerly passionate cooks to find out what it’s like to lose the love of the thing you enjoy doing the most.

What’s really behind their ‘cooking burnout’, how have they tried to reignite that spark, and has this experience changed their relationship with food for good?

If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.

Producer: Simon Tulett

Contributors:
Helen Rosner, food correspondent for The New Yorker, New York, USA;
Yamini Pustake Bhalerao, author and ideas editor at shethepeople.tv, Pune, India;
Wayne Barnard, chef and ambassador for The Burnt Chef Project, Cardiff, Wales.

(Picture: A woman making cookies. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

The pressure to tackle climate change by altering what we eat is huge, and it can be a daunting prospect. But you don’t have to go vegan, shop 100 per cent local, or start your own allotment to make a difference.

This week, as world leaders gather for a key climate conference in Glasgow, we’re asking you what small changes you’ve made to your everyday food habits to make them a little bit greener.

Plus, Tamasin Ford hears from a chef in Nigeria about the special role he thinks the professionals have to play, and we ask for one life-changing piece of advice from an expert and writer on food waste.

(Picture: Hand reaches for apple, Credit: Getty/BBC)

If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Contributors:

Michael Elégbèdé: chef, ÌTÀN Restaurant and Test Kitchen in Ikoyi, Nigeria
Tamar Adler: author ‘An Everlasting Meal’, New York, USA

And Food Chain listeners:

Annabell Randles: London, UK
Mike Hoey: Berkely, California
Simone Osman: Maputo, Mozambique
Yael Straver Laris: Geneva, Switzerland
Kate Minogue: Lewes, UK
Karine Young: Cape Town, South Africa
Jeremy Okware, Uganda
Rebecca Neo: Singapore