Food Matters Live Podcast

Ever since wine production began 8,000 years ago, people have suggested it can do remarkable things. Whether it increases courage, passion, happiness, is good for your heart, bad for your heart, good for your mental health, bad for your mental health, claims and counter claims are still made to this day. But in this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we are looking at the evidence, not the stories.  Red wine is particularly intriguing for health researchers because there are so many claims about it reducing cholesterol, improving heart health, being beneficial for our bones, and so on. But, we know that drinking too much alcohol is bad for us. So, do the health claims stack up? Are some wines healthier than others? And how much is too much? Alex Glover, Senior Nutritionist, Holland & Barrett Alex is senior nutritionist within the global R&D team at Holland & Barrett and graduated with an MSc in Clinical Nutrition from the University of Aberdeen.  He has published research in the field of public health nutrition specifically looking at the effects of plant-based alternative products and cardiovascular health.  Alex is currently looking to publish further research in the field of Sarcopenia. Jo Travers, AKA The London Nutritionist, Registered Dietitian Jo Travers, The London Nutritionist and author of The Low-Fad Diet, is a state Registered Dietitian with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Human Nutrition & Dietetics.  She has been in private practice for five years, and in her media role has consulted on and off-screen for the BBC; Channel 4; and comments regularly in print and on radio (more often than not as the voice of reason when the latest outlandish food story hits the news). She is also a spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association.

For many, 2022 has felt like a very long year. Even after the turmoil of 2020 and 2021, the last 12 months have been particularly difficult, and last Christmas seems like a very long time ago.On the positive side, there has been possibly more innovation, ideas and forward thinking in the food sector than ever before.Stacked up against that have been an incredible number of challenges.Drought, floods, political comings and goings, the continuation of and the fallout from the pandemic, rising energy prices, avian flu and, of course, the war in Ukraine.There has been a lot to take in.So to reflect on a turbulent 12 months, in this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we scrutinise our traditional Christmas dinner, and consider how the food and drink we are going to enjoy on December 25th has been affected by the events of 2022.  We are joined by three fantastic guests, offering their insights on the year that was. Paul Kelly is Managing Director of KellyBronze Turkeys, Tom Bradshaw is Deputy President of the National Farmers Union, and Mardi Roberts is Director of Communications at Ridgeview Wine Estate.

Jamie Keeble is the man behind one of the most recognisable sausage brands in the UK.HECK products are seen on supermarket shelves up and down the country and, for Jamie, it is a lifelong passion.By his own admission, he struggled at school, and went to work in the family business making sausages.In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, recorded in front of a live audience as part of our Inspiring Careers in Food events, we hear all about Jamie's journey to launching HECK and beyond.Jamie started on the factory floor, sold sausages at markets, and worked long and hard hours.He eventually started out on his own, launching HECK, which makes a wide variety of meat and meat-free products.Listen to the full episode to find out how they managed to secure deals with major retailers, and why Jamie believes flexitarian diets are a key driver for the company's future growth.Sign up for the next Inspiring Careers in Food events in 2023

How well crops take up and use nutrients from the soil is of vital importance, in terms of crop yield, soil health, and the wider environment. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, made in partnership with Anglo American, we investigate why nutrient use efficiency is taking on evermore importance in the world of farming. The increased global demand for food and the depletion of many natural resources, including our soils, has posed a big challenge for farmers. Namely, getting the right nutrients into crops to meet the ever-increasing demand in a way that is sustainabl, whilst also being gentle on the environment. Fertilisers play a critical role in making this possible by providing essential nutrients to the soil. Previous episodes featuring Anglo American Biodiversity in soil - why it matters to us all How do we stop the rapid erosion of essential soils? Can regenerative agriculture fix our food system? What can be done to ensure that agricultural practices are sustainable? As with anything, the incorrect use of fertilisers can also have negative effects on the soil and the wider environment too. So finding a more sustainable approach is vital.    And there is a big discussion in the industry about nutrient use efficiency.  Because increased nutrient efficiency could help improve crop yield and also move agriculture along the road towards net-zero. But what exactly is nutrient use efficiency and how do we improve it? POLY4 Fertilizer POLY4 is the trademark name for polyhalite products from Anglo American. It is a naturally-occurring, low-chloride, multi-nutrient fertilizer certified for organic use. It includes four of the six key macro nutrients that all plants need to grow: potassium, sulphur, magnesium and calcium, and a range of valuable micro nutrients. It allows farmers to maximise their crop yield, increase quality and improve soil structure with one simple product. Juergen Berwinkel, Commercial Agronomist, Anglo American Juergen has been a Commercial Agronomist at Anglo American working on the market introduction of POLY4 in Germany, Poland, Austria and Southeast Europe since 2022. He lives in North West Germany, running his own small farm with arable land and nature reserves (grassland for bird sanctuary). He studied agriculture at the University of Applied Sciences in Osnabrueck and has worked in various areas of fertilization since 1995 (fertilization with organic residue products such as compost, sewage sludge, food production waste [1995 – 2007]). He has worked in the fertiliser industry since 2007, and until 2021 was with EuroChem Agro in various research, consultancy and fertilizer sales positions in Central and Northern Europe.

In this episodes of the Food Matters Live podcast, Stefan meets Grace Dent.Grace is a restaurant critic, broadcaster, author and podcaster.She is well known to audiences in the UK in particular, having written for the Guardian and Evening Standard newspapers, making regular appearances on MasterChef, and presenting The Untold, a series on BBC Radio 4.She has also written a number of novels and her award-winning memoir “Hungry”, as well as hosting the hugely popular podcast “Comfort Eating with Grace Dent.”Listen to the full episode to find out about the one meal that has made Grace cry with joy, why she once dressed up as a Christmas pudding, and why she generally prefers a restaurant with one Michelin star over one that has three.Oh, and there is a quick-fire round which reveals some of her more controversial food opinions!Grace Dent, Restaurant Critic, Author, BroadcasterGrace Dent is an award-winning restaurant critic who regularly writes for The Guardian and is a frequent guest judge on the hit BBC show Masterchef.Grace also hosts a chart-topping podcast, Comfort Eating, for The Guardian and has written a best-selling memoir, Hungry.Grace has partnered with P&G Professional to reveal how hospitality businesses can impress even the toughest critics, highlighting the importance of superlative cleaning to help lift up businesses, so they can lift up their communities.

"You wouldn't have wanted to have been my friend when I was at school," says Club Soda Founder, Laura Willoughby. " I'd have had you doing all sorts of things."Laura describes herself as a doer: "When I see a problem, I want to fix it."That level of drive has seen her career move in a number of different directions, but always with politics and social change playing some role.In this episode of the Career Conversations series, recorded in front of a live audience at our Inspiring Careers in Food event, she reveals all about her journey.It started with student politics, progressed to a powerful role in local politics, and even saw her dabble in Westminster politics.Throughout all of that, alcohol was a feature. Laura says she never got to the stage where she needed help, but says she started to bore herself and found she was drinking without even thinking about it.After a period of turning up to pubs with teabags so she had something intersting to drink whilst still socialising, she decided to start Club Soda.It's all about promoting non-alcoholic options that are designed for adults and still serve as a treat ("cola poured from a hose is not a treat," she says).Club Soda has gone from success to success and that is largely down to Laura's committment, can-do attitude, and an unwavering desire for change.Listen to the full episode to find out about the latest exciting evolution in the Club Soda journey, why Laura did not particularly enjoy university, and her unlikely connection to the Premier League football club, Arsenal.Laura Willoughby MBE, Founder, Club SodaLaura Willoughby MBE is the founder of the world’s largest mindful drinking, Club Soda, and the UK’s foremost expert in low and no alcoholic drinks. Receiving an MBE for services to the community in 2004, Laura’s devotion to Club Soda means hundreds of thousands of people are supported in their journeys to live well by being more mindful about drinking alcohol. Laura is an IWSC judge, and was voted one of 2022’s 100 most influential women in hospitality by CODE, named as one of Drinks Retailing’s latest Top 100 Most Influential People in Drink and is a Trustee for The Drinks Trust.

In 2015 a book was published that, for millions, was their first introduction to the gut microbiome.“The Diet Myth: The Real Science Behind What We Eat” looks at the relationship between microbes, genetics, and diet.A few years later, along came “Spoon-Fed” – a book which claimed to expose the bad science behind many government diet recommendations.The author of both is, of course, Tim Spector, one of the most interesting, engaging, and knowledgeable speakers in the world of food.He is also one of the most qualified. He is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London, honorary consultant physician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital, and he is one of the top 100 most-cited scientists in the world.He has been on the podcast before, and we were delighted to welcome him back to talk about his new book “Food For Life”.Tim Spector, Professor of EpidemiologyTim Spector is a medically qualified Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the TwinsUK registry at King’s College London. His current work focuses on the microbiome and nutrition, and he is co-founder of the data science company ZOE Ltd which has commercialised a home kit for personalised nutrition. He is also the lead researcher behind the world's biggest citizen science health project - the ZOE Covid study of over 4 million people, for which he was awarded an OBE. Having published more than 900 research articles, he is ranked in the top 100 of the world’s most-cited scientists by Google. He is the author of four popular science books, including "The Diet Myth”, “Spoon-Fed” and the most recent “Food for Life" which is a Sunday Times bestseller. He makes regular appearances on social and mainstream media

Eating food is one of the most multisensory, emotional experiences we can have.   It is not something we are always that conscious of, but the smell of food cooking in the lead up to mealtime can take you back to your childhood, and the taste of a certain meal can transport you halfway around the world to a holiday that lives somewhere in the depths of your memory.Even on a day-to-day basis, tasting food is one of life’s pleasures. A bit of joy on an otherwise dull day, it can be the focus of your evening, even a comfort at times.So for people whose senses have been altered by illness, cooking and eating can become joyless, even isolating.It is something lots of people have experienced with Covid. But it can be true too for people suffering other illnesses or going through invasive treatments, and the effect can be profound for people’s wider health and wellbeing.So in this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we are exploring sensory cooking techniques which can help people to start enjoying their food again.Ryan Riley, Co-Founder, Life KitchenRyan Riley opened a cookery school for people with Cancer in 2019.Life Kitchen is a not-for-profit cookery school for people whose taste has been affected by cancer or cancer treatment. It also teaches anyone who is experiencing an altered sense of taste due to Covid. Life Kitchen’s focus is on taste and flavour and helping people enjoy food again.During cancer treatment and Covid, a lot of patients lose or experience changes to their sense of taste or smell. This is a really difficult side effect that can make mealtimes difficult and isolating. Life Kitchen is run by co-founders Ryan Riley, author, cook and food stylist, and Kimberley Duke, recipe developer, trained chef and food stylist.Both Ryan and Kim were inspired to launch Life Kitchen after losing parents to cancer. Throughout Ryan’s mum Krista’s two-year battle with cancer, Ryan saw how chemotherapy was affecting her ability to taste and experience food. After her death, he wanted to honour his mother’s memory and use his cooking skills to help cancer patients find flavour and pleasure in food again. And so, Life Kitchen was born.Life Kitchen is backed by science and they are advised by Professor Barry Smith, the founder of the Centre for Study of the Senses. Professor Smith guides the Life Kitchen team on recipes and ingredients so that people living with an altered sense of taste get enjoyment out of food.

2023 looks set to be another challenging year, and rising to those challenges is going to require innovation and new thinking about how the global food industry feeds a growing population.This episode Food Matters Live podcast is part of a short series shining a light on some of the start-ups who are shaping the future of the food industry.They are the big thinkers, with big ideas about how to solve some of the world's biggest problems.In this episode, we meet Jim Laird, CEO and co-founder of alternative protein company Enough.Enough grows ABUNDA mycoprotein, a fermented food ingredient which is rich in protein and fibre.ABUNDA is a highly versatile mycoprotein. It can be incorporated as a protein and fibre rich ingredient in established recipes or used to inspire new culinary creations.Listen to this short episode to find out more about the work Enough is doing, the company's ambitions for the future, and how investors and customers can get involved in their journey.EnoughAs a food-tech company whose purpose is “to make protein sustainable” ENOUGH passionately believes in the merits of fermentation as the most technologically and economically viable solution to sustainably feed a growing global population.As a team of 55 representing 17 nationalities, we want to do something that is “bigger than us” and are building what we hope will become the World’s largest protein facility, located in the Netherlands and from where we will start to supply in early 2023, initially producing the equivalent of five cows worth of protein every hour.  ENOUGH’s product Abunda® mycoprotein is a solution to make great tasting food that both provides an alternative and removes the need for the unacceptable impacts of intensive animal farming. This addresses demand for non-animal protein that is forecast to grow by +15k tonnes every day for the next 5,000 days.  ENOUGH’s current plans are not enough to meet a relevant share of this but with collaboration, we embrace the opportunity to go further and faster.Find out more by visiting the Enough website, emailing info@enough-food.com or following Enough on LinkedInJim Laird, CEO and co-founder, EnoughAs CEO and co-founder of ENOUGH, Jim has worked in the food industry for 30 years. This included supply chain roles running frozen beef and chicken factories in the early 1990s and managing the Quorn brand internationally in the late noughties.Jim co-founded ENOUGH (formerly 3F BIO) in 2015 and feels massively privileged to work with a team who span three locations and 17 nationalities, and who are motivated by a collective purpose “to do something where the impact is bigger than us”.  As a motivated reducetarian Jim continues to acknowledge the need for further improvements in the way that we grow and produce protein to make great tasting foods and celebrates collaboration as a means to achieve this goal.

Sophie Medlin is quite clear about why she loves her job as a dietitian so much.For her, it is all about making a difference to people's lives, something she describes as giving her "the best job satisfaction".Sophie has her own practice, City Dietitians, and is the London Chair of the British Dietetic Association.In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, recorded in front of a live audience at our first Inspiring Careers in Food event, she tells us all about her journey to the top.She is one of the UK's leading dietitians and she is incredibly passionate about helping young people join the industry.Sophie says the best way to get experience as a dietitian is to go and work in the NHS.Although many people want their own practice, she says it is important to learn the trade in the national health service, where you will encounter a huge variety of issues.She thinks that stands you in good stead, should you wish to go it alone in future.Sophie specialises in gut health and says she was first drawn to it "because it's embarassing and taboo"."We often see patients who have never spoken about it. De-stigmatising that and giving people help when they need it is magic," she says. Listen to the full episode to find out what you can expect from a role like Sophie's, the types of skills you need to be a successful dietitian, and the courses you need to study.Sophie Medlin, Consultant DietitianSophie worked for many years in hospitals before moving to a career in academia where she was a lecturer in Nutrition and Dietetics at King’s College London before leaving to run City Dietitians and work as a consultant.In her clinical work, Sophie specialised in managing the nutritional needs of people with intestinal problems. She is considered a leading specialist in the dietary management of bowel conditions such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticular disease and the nutritional management of colostomies and ileostomies.Sophie carried this through to her research which focuses on the nutritional consequences of bowel surgery. Her experience in complex nutrition support sees her overseeing the nutritional management of patients with complex feeding needs such as tube feeding and intravenous nutrition support.