The Food Chain

Serving sizes have increased dramatically in recent decades. It’s happened so subtly that many of us simply don't realise, but it’s having a serious impact on our health and our planet. So, how can we reverse it?Emily Thomas learns how food manufacturers and clever marketers have nudged us into buying ever larger portions, leveraging ultra cheap ingredients and our own psychology. We hear that the phenomenon is so pervasive it’s also crept into the home, where many of us have lost any concept of what an appropriate portion is.Given the increasing awareness of the poor health and environmental outcomes linked to overconsumption, we find out what regulators and companies are doing to shrink portions back to a more sustainable size, and ask whether the real answer might lie in a fundamental shift in the way we all value food.Producer: Simon TulettIf you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: A woman drinking from a giant coffee cup. Credit: Getty/BBC)Contributors:Pierre Chandon, professor of marketing and director of the INSEAD Sorbonne University Behavioural Lab, Paris; Theresa Marteau, director of the behaviour and health research unit at Cambridge University; Denise Chen, chief sustainability officer at Melco Resorts & Entertainment, Hong Kong.

Anti-Asian hate has surged since the coronavirus outbreak, and some of the most common targets have been Chinese food businesses.Tamasin Ford speaks to three people who’ve witnessed the rise of Sinophobia first hand and seen it damage not only their livelihoods, but also their families.They explain why they’re not prepared to stay silent, as was often the case for previous generations, and how they plan to use food in the fight against racism and ignorance.Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah StolarzIf you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: A person holds a sign during a rally against anti-Asian hate in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Credit: Kerem Yucel/AFP/Getty/BBC)Contributors:Patrick Mock, manager of 46 Mott bakery in New York; John Li, owner of Dumpling Shack, London; Ying Hou, owner of ShanDong MaMa, Melbourne

President Biden has pledged to scrap the 'tipped wage' in the US - a salary system where diners effectively subsidise waiters' wages.It's a move that's divided restaurant staff across the country. Tamasin Ford hears from those who want a higher minimum wage and an end to a system they argue makes servers vulnerable to discrimination and harassment. On the other hand, some staff are outraged because, they say, the changes could wipe out their chance to make double or even triple their hourly wage in tips.With the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the hospitality industry, restaurant owners too are wondering whether now is the time for a shake-up, and also how customers might react.If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: A waitress writes notes on a pad. Credit: Getty Images/BBC) Contributors:Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage USA; Dr Michael Lynn, professor of services marketing at Cornell University, New York; Xian Zhang, co-owner of Cafe China and Birds of a Feather, New York; Joshua Chaisson, president of the Restaurant Workers of America and a waiter in Portland, Maine

On the streets of Bucharest a woman unwraps a package of Chinese pepper ... and falls in love. In Portland Oregon, a family finds a new home - in a farmers market. A food writer opens her front door in London and finds a Chinese banquet waiting for her. On a cold winter’s morning, in a city 10,000 kilometres away from her family, a woman stands and waits for a taste of home. As part of the BBC World Service festival exploring how the Coronavirus pandemic is reshaping our social lives, Emily Thomas hears four stories of how food can bring us closer together when we’ve never been more distant from one another. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk(Picture: Two women sit on a bench talking, Credit: Getty/BBC)Contributors:Albertina Coacci Tse Yin Lee Fuchsia Dunlop Schlifka Collier

Vitamin D keeps our bones and muscles strong, and now there's some evidence it could help protect us from Covid-19. With many of us deficient in the 'sunshine vitamin' could food fortification be the best way to ensure we're getting enough? Emily Thomas hears how enriched milk and margarines have helped to almost completely eliminate vitamin D deficiencies in Finland, and how plans to fortify flour could prevent devastating bone diseases like rickets in Mongolia. As more countries are urged to act, we ask whose responsibility fortification should be - governments' or the food industry's? Plus, why is it so hard to get enough vitamin D from sunlight or our regular diets, and is it possible to get too much?If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukProducers: Simon Tulett and Sarah StolarzContributors:Kevin Cashman, professor of food and health at University College Cork, Republic of Ireland; Amaraa Bor, operations manager at the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, Mongolia; Christel Lamberg-Allardt, professor of food and nutrition at the University of Helsinki, Finland(Picture: An optical illusion of a boy 'eating' the sun. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)

When a footballer is around, does food simply become fuel? Emily Thomas is joined by the wives of two former professional footballers and the ex-captain of the New Zealand National team. They reveal how the game affects meals for the players and the people around them. We hear about the highs and lows of fuelling a professional athlete - from managing diet through injury and retirement, to turning a blind eye to 2am curries, to keeping all the chocolate hidden away. (Picture: Footballer shoots at goal. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)If you would like to get in touch with the show please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.ukContributors:Bex Smith Prudencia Buxton Shauna Muamba

Alice Waters is one of America’s most influential chefs and food writers. In the 1970s she led a food revolution that sparked a movement towards local, sustainable, organic food. Alice tells Emily Thomas about her life, from a suburban childhood in New Jersey to the radical politics of the University of California, Berkeley. She explains how she was inspired to set up a small French restaurant called Chez Panisse, after a trip to France as a student, and how it became a mecca for writers, chefs, musicians and artists.After almost half a century of food activism, Alice tells us that she still has plenty of work to do. She talks about her mission to educate children through her Edible School Yard project, how lockdown has focused her mind on climate change, and what it has felt like to see her beloved restaurant forced to close its doors over the past year.(Photo: Alice Waters. Credit: Amanda Marsalis/ BBC).

A spongy collection of flour, water, wild yeasts and bacteria may seem an unlikely object of affection, but some sourdough starters are truly cherished, and can even become part of the family.Emily Thomas hears how one starter has been used to bake bread in the same family since the Canadian gold rush more than 120 years ago, and speaks to a man trying to preserve sourdough diversity and heritage by running the world's only library dedicated to starter cultures.And a German baker, whose starter has survived Nazism and communism, reveals the commercial demands of maintaining it and why old ‘mothers’ (as sourdough starters are known) hold a powerful lesson for us all in nurturing living things.Producers: Simon Tulett and Sarah Stolarz(Picture: A woman holding bread. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)Contributors:Ione Christensen; Karl de Smedt, Puratos; Christoph Hatscher, Bäckerei & Konditorei Hatscher

In March 2020, as countries struggled to contain the coronavirus pandemic, 90% of the world’s school children were sent home. With all eyes - and headlines - on the spread of Covid-19, it took a while for many to see that another crisis had been unleashed - hundreds of millions of children around the world were now going hungry because they relied on free school meals as their main source of nutrition. Not every parent had the money to buy more food - and few governments had adequate plans in place to help them.Emily Thomas hears extraordinary stories from Kenya and the US of how schools and charities fought to reach children throughout school closures. Could the coronavirus have changed school meals for good - and if so, why did it take a pandemic for the world to wake up to their importance?(Picture: boy with school lunch. Credit: Getty Images/BBC)If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk.Contributors:Wawira Njiru: Founder and Executive Director, Food for EducationCarmen Burbano: Director of the World Food Programme’s School Feeding DivisionDr. Gabriella McLoughlin: Research Associate, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri

The internationally-acclaimed food writer and TV cook Nigella Lawson, tells her life story through five memorable dishes. Often filmed devouring food with a showy relish, she tells Emily Thomas how her mother’s bulimia sparked a life-long determination to enjoy eating.Nigella explains how a series of bereavements has led her to memorialise her loved ones through recipes, and why she’s become more protective of her privacy in recent years. Nigella’s books and TV shows often give the impression of a gregarious host, cooking for a multitude of family and friends, but her latest book ‘Cook, Eat, Repeat’ and its accompanying TV series, partly written and produced during lockdown, show her on her own. We find out how she’s coped.(Picture: Nigella Lawson. Credit: Matt Holyoak/ BBC).