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BBC Radio 4


Investigating every aspect of the food we eat


The Food Programme

When Tam o’ Braan began marketing Scottish Tea from his Wee Tea Plantation, the response was astonishing. Upmarket retailers such as Fortnum and Mason and hotels from the Dorchester in London to the Balmoral in Edinburgh paid top prices for the supplies of this rare treat. Scottish farmers caught the bug and bought tea bushes from Tam's plantation that he promised were bred especially for harsh Scottish conditions. Magazines, national newspapers and even the BBC profiled the entrepreneur behind the innovations that were putting Scotland on the tea map of the world. 

The only problem was that Tam’s business was based on lies. His name wasn’t Tam o’ Braan, he wasn’t an award-winning tea grower and his tea certainly wasn’t Scottish. Jaega Wise follows the story of Tam and his tea from the hills of Perthshire through the tea salons of London to Falkirk's Sheriff Court. 

Producer: Nina Pullman

The Great Tartan Tea Swindle

The judges have reached their verdicts so who has won the coveted Food Programme chopping boards in 2025's BBC Food and Farming Awards? Sheila Dillon and chair of the judges Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall meet some of the best food and drink producers in the country at this week's ceremony in Bristol.

Produced by Robin Markwell of BBC Audio in Bristol.

And the Winner Is... The BBC Food And Farming Awards 2025

Dan Saladino and reporter Jack Thompson investigate the UK's growing dependence on two farms in northern Senegal based around a lake. In recent years they have become the source of most of the sweetcorn, radishes and beans sold by supermarkets. 

Is this a good arrangement for the UK and the Senegalese or a risk to food security in both countries? 

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
Reporting from Senegal, Jack Thompson.

Why Is Africa Feeding Us?

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day - but what happens when thousands of children arrive at school too hungry to learn? In this programme, Jaega Wise looks into how the Government’s new free breakfast club scheme is being rolled out across England, seven months into a trial involving 750 primary schools. While the policy which aims to tackle hunger and improve attendance is welcomed by all, schools and campaigners raise questions about it's future funding and the exclusion of secondary schools and some special school pupils.

At Holy Trinity Church of England School in Tottenham, Jaega visits a breakfast club being run in partnership with Chefs in Schools, where hot food is cooked fresh each morning in the same kitchen that serves lunch. In Weston-super-Mare, headteacher Marie Berry explains why her school’s breakfast club is a lifeline for families - and why she’s keen to be included in the new scheme. Campaigners at Sustain argue breakfast clubs could be a powerful tool to support local food producers and promote sustainable sourcing - and urge the Government to back that vision.

We also hear from the charity Magic Breakfast, which provides food to 300,000 children at breakfast clubs every day, and from Olivia Bailey MP at the Department for Education. Food writer Michael Zee of @SymmetryBreakfast discusses Britain's breakfast culture, and why we so often eat the same thing every day.

Presented by Jaega Wise
Produced by Natalie Donovan for BBC Audio in Bristol.

The Breakfast Club Challenge

Dan Saladino looks at why eels numbers are plummeting and asks if the species can be saved. On the River Severn he meets the last of the glass eel fishermen and conservationists.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Eels and Elvers

It's twenty years since the Aldeburgh Food Festival began. Sheila Dillon examines its impact in this small Suffolk seaside town where food producers work together to forge strong local supply chains. She speaks to the festival's co-founder Lady Caroline Cranbrook who has been a passionate advocate of Suffolk's rich food ecosystem. She goes on a shopping trip with local restaurateur and hotelier George Pell, a self-styled "blow-in" from London. They visit a fishing family, a butcher and a farmer supporting a start-up serving crullers in a town where collaboration is king.

Produced in Bristol for BBC Audio by Robin Markwell

Keeping It Local: A Suffolk Story

Sheila Dillon and this year’s head judge of the BBC Food and Farming Awards, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, hit the road to meet the finalists in the Best Food Producer category. From sourdough pioneers Aidan Monks and Catherine Connor at Lovingly Artisan in Kendal, and regenerative grower Calixta Killander at Flourish Produce in Cambridgeshire, to cheese champions Andy and Kathy Swinscoe at The Courtyard Dairy in North Yorkshire — they explore how these exceptional producers might hold clues to a more resilient food future. Inspired by Professor Tim Lang’s recent report, Just in Case: narrowing the UK civil food resilience gap, the episode asks: could these small but significant businesses be part of the solution to Britain’s food security crisis?

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

Feeding Britain: Can Our Best Food Producers Deliver?

Dan Saladino meets people behind pioneering projects rethinking the future of chocolate, seafood and food forests. Which one will win this year's BBC Best Food Innovation Award?

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

The Food Innovators: 2025

Five years ago, after 160 years in Norwich, the Colman's factory shut its doors for the last time. 

John Osborne is a writer, a poet and a performer - he's called Norwich home for 25 years. But last year, while writing a show about his city, he began to learn more about the depth of the history of Colman's, and he started to wonder why more people don't know about it.

Between Jeremiah Colman, James Colman, Jeremiah James Colman and many many generations since, an entire empire was built on the back of these humble seeds. The company had a cradle-to-grave ethos, providing education, housing, healthcare and leisure for workers and their families. All of which means the factory, the school buildings, the churches, even the entire village of Trowse is still a part of the fabric of the city. Now, everywhere he looks in Norwich, from the double yellow lines, to the big yellow boxes on the pavement full of sand for de-icing the concrete in winter... John sees mustard. 

Hundreds of people worked at the factory, and as its doors shut in 2020, a crowdfunder was underway to launch a new Norwich mustard. Five years on, the mustard is nowhere to be found. Even the famous mustard shop, where everyone went for Christmas presents for their relatives, is gone. So John wants to rediscover this history, and along the way find out what's happened to Norwich's mustard. After all, the bright yellow labels on shelves all over the world still proudly read Colman's "of Norwich". As it turns out, thanks to the determination of the local mustard farmers, mustard never really left Norwich at all...

Presented by John Osborne
Produced in Bristol by Polly Weston

In Search of Mustard in Norwich

Sheila Dillon is joined by four guests who each have a deep connection with Welsh food and farming for a panel discussion recorded at the 2025 Abergavenny Food Festival. Beca Lyne-Pirkis is a food writer and broadcaster; Patrick Holden is an organic farmer and founder of the Sustainable Food Trust; Carwyn Graves is a Welsh food historian and author; and Sue Pritchard leads the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. Together, they explore what is currently making Wales’s approach to food distinctive — and what lessons it might offer for the future of food across the UK.

Presented by Sheila Dillon
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

The Great Tartan Tea Swindle

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