Books in the “Podcast: The Food Programme” bookshelf created by BBC Radio 4

Jaega Wise delves into the history, traditions and culture surrounding the birthday cake, meeting bespoke baker Adam Cox, and attending a traditional Mexican "cake smash" along the way. She'll also find out what happens when a cake historian takes on the task of baking a traditional roman-style cake, and pick up some tips for the best birthday bakes from none other than Dame Mary Berry. And there's a very special delivery for one 13 year old girl from a community network of bakers trying to ensure that absolutely all children get a birthday cake. Produced by Tory Pope for BBC Audio in Bristol

The Food Programme investigates whether the Great British food renaissance is over. With food prices rising and consumer confidence falling, has the UK's good food bubble burst?Sheila Dillon visits the Real Food Festival at Earls Court in London. It is a showcase for producers of fine food, and so a perfect indicator of how premium food products and sales are faring in the current economic downturn. Sheila meets chefs, farmers, producers and economists to discuss whether the British food renaissance is doomed, or in fact whether it ever even began.Presenter: Sheila Dillon, Producer: Martin Poyntz-Roberts.

Simon Parkes explores the connection between Royal wedding banquets and British food. From historic feasts with hundreds of lavish dishes, to present day 'austerity'.A visit to the Tudor kitchens of Hampton Court palace reveals the scale and grandeur of wedding feasts of the past. Power, wealth and their display was all-important, and food was a central part of this. Huge marzipan sculptures, models in food of St Paul's Cathedral, and in the case of James II, a feast with 145 dishes in the first course alone; nothing was too extravagant or beyond the skill of the working-class cooks who invented these dishes. And historically, even beggars on the street got to share the food of the wedding feast, after each layer of the aristocracy had enjoyed its fill.Food historian Ivan Day traces the evolution of buffets, wedding breakfasts, and looks at the influence of 'the first celebrity chef' - Patrick Lamb, master cook to four monarchs, and author of an early aspirational cookery book.And as bunting and trestle tables take their place in streets across the UK, The Food Programme asks whether royal food has left a legacy of public feasting which might enhance 21st century communities.Presenter: Simon Parkes Producer: Melvin Rickarby.

Natural Wine is the latest buzz in the wine world but what is it? Sheila Dillon discusses and samples this chemical and additive-free "new" wine that was in fact quaffed by the Ancient Romans.Producer: Dilly Barlow.

Sheila Dillon looks at some of the latest developments in airline food. The supply chain is beginning to open up and innovative producers from the north east of Britain have succeeded in winning contracts to supply leading airlines. One of these suppliers - 'Look What We Found' - has led the way in technology to deliver quality ambient food in a bag. They've converted this to a tray of food that can be heated and eaten during a flight. Gate Gourmet, one of the largest providers of airline catering in the world, has had its difficulties in recent years - strike action and radical restructuring. Now back on its feet it has just opened a new £10m production kitchen. Sheila Dillon visits the new facilities and sees for herself the challenges of feeding and pleasing millions of people a year consuming meals 30,000 feet up in the sky.
producer: Lucinda Montefiore.

Chef Mark Hix travels to Transylvania to help revive a disappearing food culture. From cheese making shepherds to pickle producers, he meets the people improving food in Romania. Producer: Dan Saladino.

In these hard economic times does a Private Members Bill introducing new standards for the food sourced by public bodies stand a chance of becoming law? Simon Parkes visits Nottinghamshire, where some hospital meals and all school dinners are procured this way, to look at what such a change might mean in practice. The Nottingham City Hospital has been sourcing sustainably for 7 years, buying its meat and vegetables from local farmers. Food is fresher, higher quality, and no more expensive, and now over half the money the hospital spends on food goes into the local economy, benefitting local suppliers like dairy wholesalers Transfresh, and butchers Owen Taylor.Also 7 years ago Nottinghamshire County Council began its process of sourcing its school meals food sustainably, and has now achieved Silver Standard under the Soil Association Food for Life Partnership scheme. Donna Baines, School Food Development Manager, met Simon in Maloney's butchers, which now supplies all their meat, with Alison Maloney and Jeanette Orrey, school meals campaigner, to discuss the impact of these changes on the food, their finances, and the threats posed by the current spending review. The service is currently being "market tested" with a view to potential privisation. Conservative Councillor Andy Stewart explains what that might mean.In the studio to discuss the Bill are Labour MP Joan Walley (Stoke on Trent North) who tabled the Private Members Bill; Tony Cooke Government Relations Director of catering service provider Sodexo; and Kath Dalmeny, Policy Director of Sustain, which runs the Good Food for Our Money campaign. Producer: Rebecca Moore.

Northern Ireland's new Focus on Food policy, published earlier this summer, aims to put food at the heart of economic growth, and encourage value added, and quality, food production. While in the South the food revolution of the past 30 years created a plethora of innovative, quality food businesses to feed a burgeoning tourism sector, in the North the food and farming industries have been more commodity focused, and have lagged behind on the quality front. The Focus on Food strategy aims to provide expertise and support to stimulate the food and farming sectors, which, after the public sector, are the single biggest employers in the region. Sheila Dillon visits two new value-added businesses, the sorts of enterprise Focus on Food is designed to encourage: Mash Direct, selling a range of mashes and vegetable dishes fresh through the retailers and providing an economic future for the family, and Glastry Farm whose dairy herd provide the milk for their premium ice creams based around regional produce like Armagh Bramleys, and strawberries. She also talks to established artisan baker Robert Ditty. Is the government strategy enough to kick start quality food entrepreneurism in Northern Ireland? And in the era of public-sector cuts will the financial back-up be available?

The Food Programme looks at Scotland's first ever national food policy, introduced by the SNP, to try and join up every aspect of food production and health in the country. Presented by Sheila Dillon.
Producer: Maggie Ayre.

Food and the coalition. How does the government intend to change the way Britain eats? Sheila Dillon interviews Health Secretary Andrew Lansley.
Producer: Dan Saladino.

Sheila Dillon, with the help of some famous food lovers (including Giorgio Locatelli, Cyrus Todiwala, Fuchsia Dunlop and Bee Wilson) hears about their favourite kitchen gadgets. From a 300 year clockwork roasting spit to a 21st century thermal blender, what are the must-have qualities of these kitchen necessities? And how do you choose from the ever increasing plethora of expensive all-singing-all-dancing gizmos on sale in large kitchenware departments.
Producer: Dilly Barlow.

What food do students have access to, what do they eat? Sheila Dillon investigates the catering provided for students across the country in these financially straightened times. She talks to industry expert Chris Druce about the big catering companies and their expansion into higher education. She visits a food co-op at the School of Oriental and African Studies; Dan Saladino visits Plymouth University on the day it hosts its first farmers market and talks to stall holders, students, and Slow Food UK about its efforts to enrol students in its philosophy and approach to food. And Professor Warren Belasco from the University of Maryland describes how there's nothing new about student activism around food - think 60s, the University of California at Berkeley, the counter culture.Producer: Lucinda Montefiore.

What's the future for one of the world's most successful and controversial crops, soya? It has become one of the main ingredients in feed for livestock, so crucial in meat production, and it's a major source of edible oil used in food processing and cooking, but have we become too dependent on the soya bean?This year supplies of soya have tightened and the world price is approaching a record high. Because it's so widely used it has become a powerful trigger for food price inflation. For this reason, the food industry is now looking for alternative sources of protein. The rise of the soya bean in the west has been a relatively recent development. Its history as a food crop in south east Asia goes back 5000 years as an ingredient for traditional foods like tofu, soya sauce, Tempe and soya milk. Then, in the 1930's, technology was developed in the United States that allowed the protein and oil in the soya bean to be extracted on a large scale. From that point on it has become one of the most important and widely used ingredients in our food supply. In the last fifteen years alone, the global soya crop has doubled, most of which can be found in north America, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. If world demand increases where will these new supplies of the soya bean come from? Dan Saladino reports on the latest trends.

Sheila Dillon explores the past present and future of cooking and food preparation in the school curriculum. She learns how it was introduced in the 1800s to educate girls for domestic service and is now part of the design and technology syllabus. Sheila looks at two approaches to food education in a primary and a secondary school and hears from interested parties the reasons for making cooking compulsory at secondary level. Producer: Harry Parker.

Simon Parkes meets the people trying to come up with food ideas for the future. Will techniques used by experimental chefs become mainstream in the 21st century?Producer: Dan Saladino.

With coffee prices at a 30 year high Sheila Dillon traces the money we pay for a cup along the supply chain and also hears how it raises big questions for Fairtrade.Recently the price for coffee on the world market broke through the important $3.00 barrier. Just a few years ago prices were as low as 60 cents. Speculation from investors is one reason, but other factors like growing demand for coffee in Brazil and China look like creating a long term spike in prices. So what does this mean for growers and what will this mean for us? Will we start to taste the difference as roasters in the UK are forced to source different and cheaper beans?This price spike also raises big questions for the Fairtrade model. Current prices are way above Fairtrade's minimum price, so do coffee growers still need Fairtrade? Producer: Dan Saladino.

Richard Johnson is on a mission to revive the fortunes of the British kebab.A life long lover of the world famous street food he's convinced that a more authentic kebab culture can flourish in Britain. On his travels he finds out how and why it became so popular here and where most of the UK's kebabs are made. Then, in order to understand the authentic techniques used in Turkish kebab making Richard travels to Istanbul and Bursa home of the Iskender kebab, a form of doner. Will the family run business share its secret recipes and methods and help revive the kebab's reputation in Britain? Produced by Dan Saladino.

A distiller, a brewer and a cider maker - but who will be the first winner of the Food and Farming Awards Best Drinks Producer Award? Oz Clarke joins Sheila Dillon in Birmingham's NEC to reveal all.Food writer and critic Charles Campion and restaurateur and writer Mark Hix were the judges for this category and talk Sheila through the finalists. In this first year of the Best Drinks Producer category the judges were overwhelmed with nominations for innovative entrepreneurs making all manner of juice, perry, teas, and wines. But the three drinks chosen - a cask ale, a spirit and a traditional cider - have been made in these islands throughout our history.Sipsmiths are one of a new generation of artisan distillers riding the coat-tails of pioneer distiller Julian Temperley who battled H M Customs for the right to distil. Simpsmith's were awarded the first London distillers licence in nearly 200 years, and now produce a London gin and a barley vodka from their west London residential neighbourhood distillery. Mike Henney's Herefordshire ciders are the result of a hobby that got out of hand. From airing cupboard tinkering via farmers markets the brand is now sold throughout the country's main supermarkets, making good quality cider accessible to all. Henney's ciders all have protected name status, with apples sourced from within Herefordshire and the cider is made in a traditional way. Wye Valley Brewery is a family business started by Peter Amor and now run by his son Vernon. It brings new meaning to local produce - beers are only sold within 50 miles of the brewery, the majority of hops are grown within 7 miles, and one beer, the Dorothy Goodbody Imperial Stout, even used Herefordshire malting barley.

Sheila Dillon explores a food story behind the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. In 1861 Italians came together as one nation, but does food reveal a different story? Sheila travels to Sicily where she hears how the island's powerful food culture is seen as evidence by some of disappointment with the creation of a nation state. She meets food historian Mary Taylor Simeti who explains how menus in the 19th century show how Sicilians rejected the temptations of food from the mainland and further afield.Producer: Dan Saladino.

With digital publishing evolving at a blistering pace, Sheila Dillon investigates the future of the printed cookery book.Andrew Webb is a food journalist whose work spans the online and printed worlds. He is the author of 'Food Britannia', which just scooped the Guild of Food Writers award for Food Book of the Year, and also edits a food website. To find out where things are moving in the world of the food book, The Food Programme sent him to meet five key players in the world of food, books and publishing.Antony Topping is a literary agent, whose clients include Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Thomasina Miers. Mary-Clare Jerram is a Publishing Director at Dorling Kindersley, looking after both digital and print editions. Ian Malone runs a company specialising in food apps for phones and tablets. Andrew also meets Dr Peter Ross, Principal Librarian at the Guildhall Library, home to the largest collection of food books in any UK public library - and lastly, Hardeep Singh Kohli is a broadcaster, author and is passionate about food.Sheila is joined in the studio by Neill Denny, Editor-in-Chief of the book industry magazine 'The Bookseller', Kerstin Rodgers - aka MsMarmitelover - food blogger and pop-up restaurant pioneer, and Ben Ebbrell, who cooks and presents on the Sorted food site.Producer: Rich Ward.