The Food Programme

The Food Programme
Genre	Documentary-style narration
Running time	30 mins (Sundays at 12.30)
Country of origin	UK
Home station	Radio 4
Hosted by	Sheila Dillon, Dan Saladino, Leyla Kazim, Jaega Wise.
Edited by	Dimitri Houtart
Original release	30 September 1979
Website	The Food Programme
Podcast	Podcasts

The Food Programme is a BBC Radio 4 programme investigating and celebrating good food, founded by Derek Cooper and currently presented by Sheila Dillon, Dan Saladino, Leyla Kazim and Jaega Wise. The series is produced by BBC Audio in Bristol.

It is a programme about food production, consumption and quality rather than a cookery programme with recipes. It looks at the food industry (usually that of Britain) at the macroscopic level. Farming Today covers the upstream section of the British food industry and The Food Programme covers the downstream section.

History

The programme has run since 1979 and was initially broadcast at 12:30 on a Sunday afternoon, immediately preceding The World This Weekend. It is repeated the following day (i.e. on Monday afternoon) at 3:30 p.m.

In November 2019 The Food Programme celebrated its 40th anniversary. A live show was broadcast from the BBC Radio Theatre with guests Rick Stein, Leyla Kazim, Yotam Ottolenghi and Grace Dent.^[1]

Supermarkets are where most British people buy food, and influence our eating habits

Structure

Programmes are usually devoted to discussion of a single topic, from a consumer angle, such as:

Topical issues related to food, such as institutional cookery or dealing with food waste;
A specific food item, such as a particular fruit or traditional dish;
Food of a certain geographical area or of certain ethnic peoples;
Health issues in relation to food.

Sometimes, the theme of a programme may fit into several of the above categories. For example, the programme broadcast on 14 and 15 August 2011 dealt with institutional policies to improve the diets of people in Scotland so as to make their diets more salubrious, a topic which is at once a topical issue related to food, a health issue related to food and a topic relating to the diet of people in a certain geographical group.

All the most recent programmes are now available indefinitely at the Radio 4 website to listen again.

BBC Food and Farming Awards

The show hosts the annual BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards, and in so doing has been praised by Charles, Prince of Wales as a "national institution".^[2]

2009

Bob Kennard won "Best Campaigner".

2019

Best Streetfood/Takeaway, Liberty Kitchen^[3]

Awards won by The Food Programme

The Food Programme, which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in November 2009,^[4] has won multiple UK radio awards.^[5]^[6]

References

^ "The Food Programme at 40: Looking Back". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
^ Speech by the Prince of Wales at the BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards 2000
^ "BBC Radio 4 - Food and Farming Awards - The BBC Food and Farming Awards 2019 Winners". BBC. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
^ Paul Vallely (15 November 2009). "Relish for food and an appetite for change". Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.
^ Glenfiddich Food & Drink Awards
^ Guild of Food Writers Awards 1998, 2001, 2004

External links

News items

[1] "The Food Programme at 40: Looking Back". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 August 2020.

[speech-2] Speech by the Prince of Wales at the BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards 2000

[3] "BBC Radio 4 - Food and Farming Awards - The BBC Food and Farming Awards 2019 Winners". BBC. Retrieved 21 June 2019.

[4] Paul Vallely (15 November 2009). "Relish for food and an appetite for change". Independent on Sunday. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.

[glenfiddich_awards-5] Glenfiddich Food & Drink Awards

[guild_awards-6] Guild of Food Writers Awards 1998, 2001, 2004

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