Every Bite

You're starving, it's been a long day, and you just want something hot and ready to eat, right now. Turns out, that craving is nothing new. Two thousand years ago, Romans were lining up at stone counters in the streets of Pompeii for exactly the same thing — though what was on the menu might surprise you. From ancient Rome to the hawker stalls of Singapore to a pie cart on the Parramatta River, we trace fast food's deep history across empires and oceans, long before the first drive-thru.Guests:Steven Ellis, Roman archaeologist, University of Cincinnati, author of The Roman Retail RevolutionAidan Wong, Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Singapore Management UniversityJan O'Connell, food writer, author of A Timeline of Australian Food: From Mutton to MasterChef, creator of the Australian Food TimelineGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

On the day her family fled Afghanistan, Durkhanai Ayubi's grandfather shook walnuts from his tree as a blessing for the journey. The family settled in Adelaide, where they have run the Afghan restaurant Parwana since 2009. It recently received a Bib Gourmand in South Australia's first Michelin Guide. In her recent memoir, She Who Tastes Knows, Durkhanai explores how food carries memory and connects us to each other's cultures. Far from the war-torn images we know from the news, she describes Afghanistan as a land of fertile valleys, ancient seeds and pomegranates so big you need two hands to hold them. Durkhanai speaks with Jonathan Green.Guest: Durkhanai Ayubi, author of She Who Tastes Knows: A Memoir of Food, Exile and Awakening. Her family runs the Michelin-recognised Parwana Afghan Kitchen in AdelaideGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Hundreds of millions of people lived behind the Iron Curtain, in the Soviet Union and in allied countries such as Bulgaria. The state controlled many facets of daily life, including food. The rich and varied cuisines of a vast territory were recast in the state's mould, prioritising efficiency, uniformity and nutrition over tradition. So which culinary traditions endured, and how? Did some cuisines thrive or find new expression during these years? And how has this era changed what we eat today?Guests: Darra Goldstein, food writer, retired professor of Russian at Williams College, author of The Kingdom of Rye: A Brief History of Russian FoodElla Mittas, chef, food writer, author of Ela! Ela! To Italy, Georgia, Bulgaria and HomeDessislava Dimitrova, ethnobotanist and founder of Slow Food BulgariaEkaterina Terzieva, founder of the culinary tour company SlowTours.bgFarhod Baltabaev, chef and owner of Shish Authentic Uzbek Cuisine in MareebaGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Ask someone to name their top three vegetables and chances are the potato will make the cut. But why? On its own, a spud tastes of surprisingly little. And while it's now one of the world's most important food crops, outside its native South America the potato was once eyed with suspicion, and in parts of France it was even banned. Prompted by The Science Show's Belinda Smith, a self-confessed potato superfan, we ask a food scientist, a historian and a farmer how the potato became a perennial favourite — mashed, roasted or fried — and whether it deserves its place on our plates.Guests: Belinda Smith, co-host of The Science ShowRussell Keast, professor of food and sensory science at Deakin UniversityBarbara Santich, food historian and emerita professor at Adelaide UniversityGarry Kadwell, farmer, Kadwell & Co Gourmet PotatoesGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Why does so much supermarket veg taste of not much at all? Over the past century, vegetables have been bred for yield, shelf life and good looks, and flavour has often been the casualty. The range of plants we eat has narrowed too. Of the thousands of plant species humans have cultivated for food, about 200 now dominate. That loss of biodiversity is about more than taste; it also affects our food security. So can we breed flavour — and resilience — back into our vegetables?Guests:Dan Barber, Michelin-starred chef and owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, author of The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of FoodAli Francis, food journalist and author of The Curious Lives of VegetablesGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Food is a great unifier. It brings us together as a multicultural community (who doesn't love a good feed?) and it can foster a deeper connection to our own heritage. Right now, the many and varied cuisines of Africa are on the rise in Australia. Through recipes and ingredients passed hand to hand and heart to heart, more African flavours and dishes are finding their way out of the home and onto restaurant menus, festival stalls and your social media feed, gaining new fans every day.Guests: Fatma Mohamed, director of the Africultures FestivalNathaniel Ola-Roberts, Krio Descendants Union food stallholderMary Akindele, owner and operator of Mary'sSantilla Chingaipe, writer, historian and presenter of the documentary series Tastes of AfricaKauthar Abdulalim, filmmaker, creator and producer of Tastes of AfricaGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

You'd be hard-pressed to find an Australian-born chef as successful as Brett Graham. His London restaurant, The Ledbury, is ranked among the best in the UK, and he is the first Australian chef and restaurant owner to be awarded three Michelin stars. Since his childhood in rural New South Wales, Brett Graham has seized every opportunity to learn, grow and impress as a chef. Now, he's gone back to his roots and added "farmer" to his list of achievements. So why, for all this praise and success, does Brett Graham say that business has never been tougher?Guest:Brett Graham, Australian-born chef and owner of The Ledbury and The Harwood Arms in London, and founder of Capability GrahamGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Since her breakthrough as food editor for Marie Claire, and then going it alone with a magazine and numerous cookbooks under her own name, Donna Hay is now synonymous with Australian home cooking. In this episode, Donna Hay, who has around 30 bestsellers under her belt, shares her recipe-writing dos and don'ts, explains why she was once better known internationally than in Australia and reveals her number-one pick for Radio National’s Top 100 Australian Books countdown.Guest: Donna Hay, food stylist, cookbook author and television presenter. In 2026, she released the series Coastal Celebrations and the books Sunshine, Lemons and Sea Salt and Kids BakingGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

What makes a great Australian book? If your criteria include books that inspire, inform and instruct, then surely some of your flour-dusted, oil-stained cookbooks would be among the greatest. In this episode, we meet a woman who, during her 50 years in the Australian Women's Weekly Test Kitchen, witnessed several revolutions in Australian cookbook publishing, including the publication of The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. And we ask a food writer with a huge online following, 'Do cookbooks still matter?'You can vote in Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books countdown.Guests: Pamela Clark, former food editor at the Australian Women's Weekly, co-author of The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake BookJulia Busuttil Nishimura, founder of the food website Ostro and author of several cookbooks, including Simple PleasuresGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Yotam Ottolenghi, the man who inspired a generation of cooks to seek out obscure ingredients and commit to hours of prep time, has a new mantra: embrace the shortcut. While he once believed the flavourful fruits of his kitchen labour were their own reward, Yotam says his primary concern these days is: 'Will someone actually cook this?' He preached this gospel in his 2018 cookbook Simple. But, he says, food and cooking have changed a lot since then. In Simple Too, he refines that approach.Guests: Yotam Ottolenghi, chef, restaurateur and co-author of Ottolenghi Simple TooGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.