The Food Programme

There are many ways to age a cheese so how best to refine its flavours over time? Welcome to the art of affinage - a French term that translates as "refining" a cheese - and a practice that is starting to take off in the UK. Sheila Dillon attends a competition to find the Affineur of the Year and discovers that the way you age a cheese can dramatically change its taste and te...

Since January 2025, thousands of tonnes of common octopus, usually found in the Mediterranean, have been landed by fisherman off the south coast of England. But it’s still not a regular feature on UK menus. In this episode of the Food Programme, Jaega Wise heads to Brixham fish market to find out more about what’s happening, and visits seafood restaurants taking alternative ...

Leyla Kazim revisits some of The Food Programme's most memorable stories to ask: what happened next? From 500kg of eels stranded in a holding tank in Gloucestershire and English olive oil being pressed in Lincolnshire, to the future of halloumi in Cyprus following an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease, and the impact of global politics on vegetables grown in Africa for UK con...

Soaring cacao prices broke all records and then they crashed. Dan Saladino explores the fallout, the impact on farmers, their communities, industry players and chocolate lovers.

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino

They’re in your chocolate, your gelato, even your coffee - pistachios seem to be everywhere at the moment - bolstered by the craze for Dubai Chocolate. In this episode Leyla Kazim asks what happens when the world seems to fall in love with one ingredient.

She explores how the United States came to overtake traditional producers in the Middle East to become the world's ...