The Food Programme

Andi Oliver, Rick Stein and Yotam Ottolenghi join Sheila Dillon at the BBC Radio Theatre to celebrate 40 years of The Food Programme and ask what changes the next four decades might bring to the way we eat and drink. Together with restaurant critic for The Guardian and MasterChef regular, Grace Dent and food blogger and presenter Leyla Kazim, they’ll traverse the food trends which have shaped our eating in and eating out, and face questions from listeners from all over the country. From fad diets to food fraud, from the scandals which have shocked us to the cook books we reach for in our flour-coated, milk-spattered kitchen time of need; the highs and lows of 40 years in food and drink. The Food Programme was commissioned in 1979 as a six-part radio series fronted by Derek Cooper. Join in as we share the food stories which have helped make the series the place on BBC Radio 4, for hungry minds across four decades. Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury. (Part I of II)

Autumn is the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness – when the air is perfumed with bonfire smoke, sweet crisp apples are weighing down orchard branches, and root vegetables are plump and ready for picking beneath the soil. It’s a time of year when a whole new palette of British produce is ripe and ready to turn into pies, pickles, chutneys, cakes, jams and stews: hearty comfort food to warm and nourish as the weather turns colder. Autumn is also a season for festive gatherings: with Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night leading swiftly into the frenzied run-up to Christmas, providing plenty of opportunity to eat, drink and be merry - and on November 5th in particular, food traditions abound across the UK; from regional specialities to family favourites. In this programme, Sheila Dillon heads to North Yorkshire, to gather round a fire with Michelin-starred chef Tommy Bank; cook and food writer Meera Sodha; and chef and restaurateur Andrew Nutter. Together, they keep the autumn chill at bay with a bonfire feast – whilst sharing stories of their seasonal food memories.

Dan Saladino uses the story the tomato to examine the impact of the new Brexit on food.

As many UK schools break for half term, chef Romy Gill and Sheila Dillon focus on our national problem with holiday hunger. Earlier this year, a UN special rapporteur found poverty in the UK to be "systematic" and "tragic". The Work and Pensions Committee published a separate report suggesting that while poverty rates are much higher in households where no-one works, almost one in 10 households with children where all adults work full-time are in poverty. In the school holidays, food budgets are stretched even further. Now a charity from India, who regularly feed 1.76 million school children, says it can help. In this programme, Romy visits a holiday club in Croydon in South London where Akshaya Patra are working with local groups and trialling a new way of providing school meals. Could the organisation's success in India help solve a UK holiday hunger crisis? Presented by Sheila Dillon and Romy Gill. Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.

When Joe Wicks, the personal trainer, started making Instagram videos in his kitchen in 2014, he couldn't have imagined he'd become author of the second biggest selling UK cookbook of all time. Today he is a phenomenon. He's built a social media brand with millions of followers, nay disciples, on Instagram and YouTube who come for the quick healthy recipes and online fitness workouts. Yet, Joe tells Sheila Dillon, somewhat modestly, "I'm not really great at cooking..." In this programme Sheila visits Joe at home in London to find out what drives his ambition and enduring popularity. They talk cooking, parenthood, and how his own fame has affected his whole family. Presented by Sheila Dillon. Produced in Bristol by Clare Salisbury.