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BBC World Service


The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate.


The Food Chain

Meal kits have become a familiar part of food shopping in many countries, offering pre-portioned ingredients and recipes delivered to the door. But how widespread are they, and what do they reveal about how people are eating today?

Ruth Alexander hears from Philip Doran, CEO of HelloFresh UK and Ireland, and Sarah Hewitt, CEO of South African meal kit company UCOOK, about how these services operate in very different markets.

She also speaks to Dr Rebecca Bennett, a food systems researcher, about what meal kits say about changing cooking habits and online food platforms, and to market analyst Nandini Roy on how big the global meal kit industry is and where future growth may come from.

Producer: Izzy Greenfield
Sound engineer: Hal Haines

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

Image: A woman unpacks a box full of food (credit: Getty Images)

Dinner unboxed

The Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables, pulses and olive oil and traditionally includes small amounts of fish and very little red meat. Thousands of studies back its health benefits. In fact, it's considered to be one of the most widely researched diets in the world. But why has this way of eating come to prominence over others? 

Marta Guasch-Ferre from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark explains what the Mediterranean diet is and how her Spanish roots have informed her work. 

Professor Sarah Tracy from the University of Oklahoma tells the story of the diet's roots, popularised by American scientist Ancel Keys in the 1950's. 

And Ruth asks, if this way of eating isn't familiar in your culture, can you still make use of the Mediterranean diet's principles to improve your health? Singapore based cardiologist Professor Huang Zijuan has been looking at the science behind Asian inspired food swaps that could offer the same health benefits. 

Plus public health expert Professor Pekka Puska explains how he used the work of Ancel Keys in the 1970's to help transform the life expectancy of Finnish men. He co-led the now world famous North Karelia project, after Keys' research revealed how the region in eastern Finland had the highest rates of blood cholesterol in the world. 

Produced by Lexy O’Connor 

The sound engineer was Andrew Mills. 

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

Image: A family is eating together. The wooden table is covered in brightly coloured plates of salads, pastas and olives. Hands reach over to take some of the food. (Credit: Getty/Compassionate Eye Foundation/Natasha Alipour Faridani)

Should we all eat the Mediterranean way?

Ruth Alexander gathers the most useful, actionable nutrition advice from our episodes of 2025 to help set you up for 2026. Things like how to nourish your brain, keep an eye on portion sizes, and why it’s important to focus on fibre. Experts from around the world tell us about the small tweaks that can make a real difference to how we eat, think, and feel.

Producer: Izzy Greenfield
Sound mixing: Hal Haines

(Photo: a person looks at a variety of foods, Credit: Getty Images)

Tweaks for 2026: How to eat better

Food is at the centre of family life – on ordinary days, in the everyday rush, during the dramas, and the quieter moments too. 

In this episode, Ruth Alexander looks back at some of The Food Chain's most moving and intimate moments of 2025, all revealing the power food has to bind people together. 

From the first meal taken by a foster child in an unfamiliar home to the couple cooking together for the first time in their lives after a dementia diagnosis, these stories show how food has the capacity to strengthen family bonds and how its absence can shape a life just as deeply. 

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

Producer: Rumella Dasgupta.

Family ties

With the festive season approaching in parts of the world, Ruth Alexander explores what’s actually happening in the body during a hangover, why some people suffer more than others, and whether common remedies make any real difference. 

How the body processes alcohol and why that can make you feel so bad is explained by Andrew Scholey, Professor of Human Psychopharmacology at Northumbria University in the UK and member of the Alcohol Hangover Research Group. 

Marisa Moll, a registered nutritionist from Paraguay, shares her recommendations on what to consume before you drink alcohol to try to reduce the risk of a hangover. 

And Jonathon Shears, Professor of English Literature at Keele University in the UK and author of The Hangover, a Literary and Cultural History, reflects on the cultural history of the hangover. 

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

Producer: Izzy Greenfield 
Sound engineer: Andrew Mills
Image: A woman looks at empty bottles of alcohol (credit: Getty)

What is the ultimate hangover cure?

***This programme contains conversations about disordered eating which some listeners may find upsetting***
Social media is awash with nutritional misinformation with foods often cast as superheroes or villains. So how can we separate fact from fiction? And how can we know what posts we can trust? 

Social media loves to portray some foods, like carbs, sugar and seed oils as villains, to be avoided at all costs.Other food groups like protein are often claimed to be food heroes and some social media influencers tell their followers to prioritise those foods and cut out others. Ruth Alexander looks at the truth of some of those claims and the impact it can have on those who believe them and end up restricting their diets as a result. 

Cecile Simmons tells Ruth how she "fell down the rabbit hole" and ended up cutting out dozens of foods in an attempt to cure a skin condition. 

Personal trainer and nutrition expert Michael Ulloa explains how he's made it his mission to fight food misinformation online. Plus Ruth hears from Dr Emily Denniss, registered public health nutritionist and lecturer at Deakin University in Australia, who has studied the spread of food misinformation on social media. And with the help of US based registered dietician Grace Derocha, Ruth separates food fact from food fiction. 

Producer: LexyO'Connor
Sound engineer: Gareth Jones

(Image: A comic book cartoon of a blond, muscle-superhero in a blue suit and yellow cape is flying through the air towards a baddie in a red suit with their fists outstretched as if ready to fight. Credit: Yogysic/Getty Images)

Food heroes and villains

How do you eat well in freezing the cold? When you live in some of the coldest places on earth, what you eat, and how much, really matters. 

Ruth Alexander hears advice from a scientist, who goes on expeditions to study the body’s reaction to sub-zero temperatures, and talks to people living in the Arctic circle. 

What do they cook, and what is their favourite food and drink to keep them warm in the winter? She hears how they find fresh ingredients when all around the ground is frozen – and how freezing temperatures can spark culinary creativity. 

Producer: Julia Paul and Lexy O'Connor
Sound engineer: Hal Haines 

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

How to eat well in the cold

Ruth Alexander explores the art and etiquette of tipping and how it varies around the world. 

She hears from staff and customers in countries where tipping is essential and in places where it can be taken as an insult. 

Ruth also talks to servers and bartenders about what your gratuity means to them and how tipping can sometimes bring out the best and worst in their customers. 

Producer: Lexy O’Connor and Rumella Dasgupta

Sound mixing: Hal Haines

Image: A jar full of coins and notes has the word “tips” written on it. It floats on a red background. Credit: Nikola Stojadinovic / Getty

To tip or not to tip?

What are the highs and lows of waiting on tables? Ruth Alexander speaks to restaurateurs from London, New York and Mumbai to find out about the inner workings of one of the hardest jobs in the business. 

Ruth hears from French celebrity Maitre D, Fred Siriex, Mumbai based restaurateur Gauri Devidayal and Michael Cecchi-Azzolina, the New York based author of Your Table Is Ready.
 
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk

Image: The torso of a waitress, carrying two plates of food, against a purple background. Credit: Maria Korneeva/Getty Images)

The servers: The highs and lows of waiting on tables

From pizza delivery to emergency aid, are autonomous aircraft the future? 

Ruth Alexander looks into whether drones are a feasible alternative to delivery drivers and traditional air drops. 

We hear how fast food and groceries are being delivered into suburban back gardens in Helsinki and Dublin and to a waterside collection point in Hong Kong. Is this technology something we might see everywhere soon? Ruth looks at its advantages and limitations and finds out how drones are carrying essential food to remote communities in Madagascar.

Taking part were Danny Vincent, BBC Hong Kong reporter, Ville Lepalä, the CEO and co-founder of Huuva foodhall, Bobby Healy, the CEO of Manna Aero, Santanu Chakraborty, chief executive officer of Bal Raksha Bharat – Save the Children India and Hedley Tah from the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service, which is run by the World Food programme.

Produced by Rumella Dasgupta.

Image: A drone is flying against a stylised blue sky background. It is holding a white box which says Food Delivery on it in black letters. (Credit Getty Images/ sarawuth702)

Food by drones?

Vegetarian and vegan food companies are under attack for using words like ‘burger', ‘sausage’, or ‘steak’ to describe their meat-free products. The meat industry and some politicians argue such words can only be used to describe foods that came from an animal and that plant-based alternatives should come up with new names to avoid consumer confusion. 

But can you really claim ownership of a word? And what’s in a name anyway – is this argument about transparency and trust or marketing and profits? 

Willem Van Weede, CEO of Dutch plant-based food company Vivera argues the case with Jess Peterson, senior policy adviser at the US Cattlemen’s Association, which represents the beef industry.

Plus, language expert Carrie Gillon tells us the real origins of the word 'meat' and suggests some new names for plant-based alternatives.

When is a burger not a burger?

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