The Food Chain

Every food company starts with a gamble - and not all of them pay off. In this episode Ruth Alexander speaks to business owners about the risks they’ve taken to get where they are today, from financial leaps to personal sacrifices, and the painful decisions that have shaped their journeys.

Ruth hears from Kim Kiarie, chef-owner of Five Senses Nairobi in Kenya, about building a high-end restaurant in a challenging market. Adonis No...

We all have recipes we turn to again and again, perhaps from the stained pages of our favourite cookbooks, or handed down through families. But have you ever wondered about the work that’s gone into writing that set of instructions? In this edition of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander looks at the art and science of recipe writing.

How does a cook turn what is often an instinctive and creative process into a list of instructions anyo...

Most of us have foods we refuse to eat - think coriander, or maybe olives. But where do those strong dislikes come from, and is it possible to change them?

In this episode of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander sets out to find out whether you really can learn to love the foods you hate. From first encounters that go wrong to memories that linger, she explores why food preferences can feel so fixed, and whether anything might help shift ...

Fermented foods are fashionable – kimchi, kefir, kombucha – they're all having a moment, many thousands of years on from where they were first produced. But how much do you know about how they're made? Do you know your SCOBY from your kefir grain?

In this episode, fermenting novice Ruth Alexander goes on a quest to find out more about this ancient way of preserving food; how to do it yourself, why you might want to, and what it's d...

Meal kits have become a familiar part of food shopping in many countries, offering pre-portioned ingredients and recipes delivered to the door. But how widespread are they, and what do they reveal about how people are eating today?

Ruth Alexander hears from Philip Doran, CEO of HelloFresh UK and Ireland, and Sarah Hewitt, CEO of South African meal kit company UCOOK, about how these services operate in very different markets.

She also...

The Mediterranean diet is rich in vegetables, pulses and olive oil and traditionally includes small amounts of fish and very little red meat. Thousands of studies back its health benefits. In fact, it's considered to be one of the most widely researched diets in the world. But why has this way of eating come to prominence over others?

Marta Guasch-Ferre from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark explains what the Mediterranean diet...

Ruth Alexander gathers the most useful, actionable nutrition advice from our episodes of 2025 to help set you up for 2026. Things like how to nourish your brain, keep an eye on portion sizes, and why it’s important to focus on fibre. Experts from around the world tell us about the small tweaks that can make a real difference to how we eat, think, and feel.

Producer: Izzy Greenfield Sound mixing: Hal Haines

(Photo: a person looks at a...

Food is at the centre of family life – on ordinary days, in the everyday rush, during the dramas, and the quieter moments too.

In this episode, Ruth Alexander looks back at some of The Food Chain's most moving and intimate moments of 2025, all revealing the power food has to bind people together.

From the first meal taken by a foster child in an unfamiliar home to the couple cooking together for the first time in their lives afte...

With the festive season approaching in parts of the world, Ruth Alexander explores what’s actually happening in the body during a hangover, why some people suffer more than others, and whether common remedies make any real difference.

How the body processes alcohol and why that can make you feel so bad is explained by Andrew Scholey, Professor of Human Psychopharmacology at Northumbria University in the UK and member of the Alcohol...

***This programme contains conversations about disordered eating which some listeners may find upsetting*** Social media is awash with nutritional misinformation with foods often cast as superheroes or villains. So how can we separate fact from fiction? And how can we know what posts we can trust?

Social media loves to portray some foods, like carbs, sugar and seed oils as villains, to be avoided at all costs.Other food groups like...

How do you eat well in freezing the cold? When you live in some of the coldest places on earth, what you eat, and how much, really matters.

Ruth Alexander hears advice from a scientist, who goes on expeditions to study the body’s reaction to sub-zero temperatures, and talks to people living in the Arctic circle.

What do they cook, and what is their favourite food and drink to keep them warm in the winter? She hears how they find ...

Ruth Alexander explores the art and etiquette of tipping and how it varies around the world.

She hears from staff and customers in countries where tipping is essential and in places where it can be taken as an insult.

Ruth also talks to servers and bartenders about what your gratuity means to them and how tipping can sometimes bring out the best and worst in their customers.

Producer: Lexy O’Connor and Rumella Dasgupta

Sound mixin...

What are the highs and lows of waiting on tables? Ruth Alexander speaks to restaurateurs from London, New York and Mumbai to find out about the inner workings of one of the hardest jobs in the business.

Ruth hears from French celebrity Maitre D, Fred Siriex, Mumbai based restaurateur Gauri Devidayal and Michael Cecchi-Azzolina, the New York based author of Your Table Is Ready. If you would like to get in touch with the show, plea...

From pizza delivery to emergency aid, are autonomous aircraft the future?

Ruth Alexander looks into whether drones are a feasible alternative to delivery drivers and traditional air drops.

We hear how fast food and groceries are being delivered into suburban back gardens in Helsinki and Dublin and to a waterside collection point in Hong Kong. Is this technology something we might see everywhere soon? Ruth looks at its advantages a...

Turmeric has been revered for thousands of years, not just for its mellow taste but for its golden colour and its supposed health giving properties.

Rumella Dasgupta looks at its history, its uses in food and medicine and talks to scientists who have studied the spice. She finds out what they've learned about its fabled medicinal qualities and whether it's really worth paying for expensive turmeric lattes and turmeric supplements.

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You've got to be full of passion to make it as a top chef. It's a highly skilled and physically demanding job that comes with long hours.

Ruth Alexander talks to three celebrated and talented chefs from three different continents about the highs and lows of their careers. They tell Ruth why they love the job so much and whether chef culture has changed in the years they've been working in kitchens.

Featuring May Chow, Chantel Dart...

For millions of us around the world, the day hasn't begun until we've had our first cup of coffee.

Ruth Alexander traces our love affair with coffee back through history, to the wilds of Ethiopia where it was first discovered. She experiences some of the ancient traditions built around coffee which still endure today and asks why this bitter drink has always had such a hold over us.

And does it matter if we enjoy a coffee or thre...

Pepper is ubiquitous at the dining table, but arguably most of us don’t know much about it.

In this programme John Laurenson finds out about the pepper plant – how it is grown and harvested and the range of flavours it can offer. He learns about the history of this spice and why it was once so revered, and the ways in which you can use it today to make your food not just tastier, but also healthier.

If you’d like to contact the p...

How confident would you feel about complaining if a restaurant meal was not up to scratch?

Restaurateurs in the UK, South Africa and the United States compare stories of the most outrageous complaints they’ve received, and how they were dealt with.

They tell Ruth Alexander how increasing numbers of customers are "weaponising" the threat of negative online reviews.

And if you’re someone who struggles to complain when things go wr...