The Food Chain

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Joanne Kwan is looking for a bargain at her local night market. She's finding that since the pandemic, the cost of food has been increasingly taking up more of her budget. And in the English town of Halifax in Yorkshire, a community supermarket is seeing rising numbers of people queueing up to access cut-price groceries as the cost of living bites. All of us are feeling the impact of rising food prices. So what's going on and why are we paying so much for what should be nutritious staples? Rumella Dasgupta investigates, with a focus on fruit and vegetables, what is driving up the cost of the healthy basics we're all supposed to be eating more of. Ghana based economist John Asafu Adjaye from the African Centre for Economic Transformation explains the big issues pushing up grocery bills in Africa and beyond, and it turns out everyone around the world is facing similar issues. Rumella also talks to Stefanie Katzman, boss of the New York based fruit and veg distributer Katzman about the extra costs popping up in her supply chain. UK-based carrot farmer Roger Hobson takes Rumella on a tour of his farm and explains how recurrent heatwaves have been damaging his crop. And in Thailand, fruit exporter Christine Pecharalum talks about her fears for next year's crop of durians. If you would like to get in touch with the show to tell us how the price of food is affecting you, please email: [email protected] Lexy O'Connor Sound engineer: Fiona Fairmaner. Image Description: A tower of vegetables, a potato, and aubergine, a courgette, a red chilli and an onion float on a green background. Credit: Getty.

The term 'food noise' has been used by some to describe thoughts about food that are unwelcome and intrusive. People who have used weight-loss medication have reported that the drugs can help to quieten these thoughts. Ruth Alexander explores how frequent thoughts about food can be a pleasure for some, but distressing for others. Ashley Ripple in Alabama explains why she feels the term fits her own thoughts about food and what happened when she took GLP-1 medication. Daisuke Hayashi a phd student at Pennsylvania State University has conducted research on what the term means to different people and Emily Dhurandhar an obesity scientist at Texas Tech University worked on one of the first questionnaires seeking to measure food noise. Dr Charlotte Ord a counselling psychologist in the UK specialising in eating disorders and body image says she’s concerned people may get the message that all thoughts about food should be silenced. And Mexican chef and food writer, Pati Jinich, author of 'Foods of La Frontera', explains why her constant thoughts about food are a source of joy and inspiration. (Image: A cartoon silhouette of a woman who is thinking, images of different foods such as a hotdog, egg and avocado float around her head. Credit: Getty Images)If you’d like to contact the programme you can email [email protected]: Beatrice Pickup and Amber Mehmood Sound engineer: Hal Haines

Do you love to share food with friends and family? Or resent handing over even one french fry from your plate? Sharing food has a long and proud tradition in some cultures and is relatively rare in others. Ruth Alexander looks at what it does for our relationships, how it can enhance the experience of a meal and how it can help boost a restaurant's bottom line. It can even improve the outcome of tricky work negotiations.But what if you can't bear to share? You're not alone. Ruth hears from dedicated anti-sharers who will protect their own private portion at all costs.If you would like to get in touch with the show please email: [email protected] by Lexy O'Connor, Amber Mehmood and Beatrice Pickup.Sound engineer: Hal Haines.Image: A woman and a man's hand reach across table laden with curries and breads. She is dipping bread into a dish and the red and gold embroidery of her sleeve is also visible. Credit: Getty.

What does a life on tour do to a stand-up comedian's eating habits? And how do you stay healthy if half of your working life is spent travelling? Ruth Alexander finds out. If you travel regularly for work you'll know how hard it can be to hold onto good eating patterns. International flights, client dinners and the hotel's buffet breakfast can blow your diet out of the water. And that's before you consider the impact of sleep disruption, jet lag, late finishes and early starts. Plus a work trip may involve a big presentation, a stressful conversation or a performance of some kind. So what do nerves and stress do to your appetite? And can you eat to maximise your performance? Ruth chats to comedian Celya AB, currently three weeks into her UK tour and hears from Marisa Poster, boss of Perfect Ted Matcha who spends half of every month travelling – often taking long-haul flights. Plus South African dietician Nathalie Mat on how to handle stress and jet lag and the vital importance of travelling with good snacks. Produced by Lexy O'Connor, Sam Clack and Beatrice Pickup. Sound Engineer: Fiona Fairmaner.Image: A young woman in a business suit sits on the end of a hotel bed, gazing out of the window. She is holding a wheelie suitcase. Credit: Getty. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Are you hungry? How often do you stop to think about why that is and what sort of foods you are hungry for?In this programme Ruth Alexander explores the science of appetite – what causes us to feel hungry and full and why our appetites differ from one person to the next. Geneticist Professor Giles Yeo at the University of Cambridge in the UK explains how much of our appetite is informed by our genes and how much by our environment. Registered public health nutritionist Federica Amati, author of 'The Appetite Reset', explains what happens in our gut to help us feel full, not just immediately but for hours after eating. Amber Alhadeff, neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, US says that GLP-1 weight-loss medications are changing what we know about appetite. And Ruth meets Darren Ratcliffe at his home in Manchester, UK. Darren shares how GLP-1 medications affected his appetite, and what happened when he stopped taking them.If you'd like to contact the programme you can email [email protected] by Beatrice Pickup and Lexy O'Connor. Sound engineer: Andrew Mills(Image: Darren Ratcliffe is standing in his kitchen. He is wearing a green t-shirt and holding a plate of food that contains a baked potato with tuna and sweetcorn and a salad. Credit: BBC).

Weight-loss medication, or GLP-1s as they are also known, are designed to suppress your appetite - so how do you make every mouthful count? Ruth Alexander looks into what happens to the body on these drugs and what it feels like to take them. She learns why it's vital to change your diet to minimise side effects like nausea and constipation and to avoid vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Plus why what you eat before you start taking the medicines also matters, and how to give yourself the best chance of coming off them without regaining all of your weight. Ruth Alexander talks to UK based medical scientist Federica Amati, author of The Appetite Reset and US dietician Whitney Black who takes the drugs herself and specialises in supporting patients on GLP-1s. Whitney shares her real-life experience alongside Michelle Herum from Denmark, a busy mum of four who's been taking Wegovy for three years. Produced by Lexy O'Connor and Beatrice Pickup. Sound Engineers: Hal Haines. Image: Two donuts, one pink and one brown are balanced on a small plate in the foreground. A woman's hands are visible, holding an apple in one hand and holding up her other hand to reject the donuts. (Credit: Getty) If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Imagine not recognising the food in the shops, markets and restaurants around you. Moving to a new country to live and work can come with some culture shocks and food can be a big part of that. Ruth Alexander speaks to people who have lived in different countries. Listener Jen Ballantyne in the UK has taught in Japan, Tanzania, Azerbaijan and Brunei. Chinese Canadian chef Kelvin Cheung has lived in Belgium and India and today has a restaurant called Jun's in Dubai. Miwa Kishi is a Japanese cookery teacher living with her family in The Netherlands. We also hear from listener Juanita Ruiz a Colombian chef living and working in a small ski town in British Columbia, Canada. (Photo: a man wearing a blue shirt pushing a supermarket trolley and looking at the shelves of food in a confused manner. Credit: Getty Images)If you'd like to contact the programme you can email [email protected]: Beatrice Pickup and Rumella Dasgupta

Is it more expensive to eat healthily? You might think the answer is simple: Yes of course, if you buy fruits, vegetables, beans and pulses and cook from scratch. But is it that easy? With the help of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, Ruth Alexander finds out where in the world a healthy basket of food costs the most, and why globally, billions of people are priced out of a nutritious and varied diet. She hears from Frances in Nigeria, struggling to afford healthy basics for her family, and from Aurora in the US state of Arizona, who is out of work and has lost the food benefit known as SNAP. She's being supported by the charity St Vincent de Paul.And even if you can afford healthy food, is it readily available within easy distance of where you live? Hear from the team running the mobile fruit and veg bus known as The Queen of Greens, tackling so called "food deserts" in Liverpool, North-West England. Plus your questions answered: How to eat well on any budget, with dietician Grace Derocha. Produced by Lexy O'Connor, Niamh McDermott and Beatrice Pickup Sound Engineer: Hal Haines Image: A woman with brown hair and glasses leans glumly on the handle of a supermarket trolley, contemplating the store's display of fruits and vegetables. (Credit: Getty) If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Ever wondered what the chef is eating? Snacking on the finest produce or surviving on thin air and caffeine? In this episode Ruth Alexander speaks to three chefs about how they get through the day, and the importance of the ‘family’ or staff meal. She’s joined by Juliette Feller, a Swiss chef working in London, Marisha Shukla a pastry chef in Bengaluru India, and Sam Grainger, an exec chef and restaurateur in Manchester in England. You can contact the programme by emailing [email protected]. (Image: from left to right, Juliette Feller wearing a pinstripe blazer, Marisha Shukla wearing a white shirt and Sam Grainger wearing a blue denim apron. Credit: Fin Nichols, Victoire Terrade, Sam Grainger)

Do you have a local cafe, restaurant or bar that you go to all the time? Maybe the staff recognise you or know you by name, perhaps you even get special treatment. In this programme Rumella Dasgupta finds out why people like to return to the same place, and the commercial value to a business of having regular customers. You can contact the programme by emailing [email protected]. Produced by Izzy Greenfield. (Image: a man sat at a bar chatting to a barman who is wearing an apron and cleaning a glass. Credit: Getty Images)