The Food Programme

With Halloween upon us, this episode of the Food Programme explores the unique connection between Food and Magic.

Jaega Wise visits "Kitchen Witch” Rachel Patterson to find out how she uses everyday ingredients in her spells, and witnesses some food illusions with Chris Dodd, a pastry chef turned luxury magician.

Medieval researcher at the University of Pegaso Andrea Maraschi explains how magical rituals from the past connect to how we cook and eat today.
We meet food writer Ella Risbridger, who’s experienced first hand the transformational powers of cooking.
And there’s some complete and utter kitchen wizardry from the culinary genius of Heston Blumenthal.
Presented by Jaega Wise and produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Tory Pope

Sheila Dillon reveals the winners of this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards from Northern Ireland. She and this year's head judge Paula McIntyre meet some of the best food and drink producers in the country at the ceremony at Titanic Belfast. Just who will take home the coveted BBC Food Programme chopping boards?
Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol

Regenerative farming is being championed by some as the future of British agriculture. As part of Radio 4's Farming Tomorrow season, Leyla Kazim asks - does regenerative farming change the nutritional value of what we eat?  "Regenerative" farmers say the way they work their land rebuilds soil health, through the use of practices including cover crops, grazing animals, reduced cultivation and greater biodiversity. Its supporters say these healthier soils could produce healthier food. But what does the evidence show so far? could the way we farm influence not just the environment, but the nutrients in our, and even our health?
The programme includes interviews with Ian Wilkinson founder of FarmEd, a regenerative research and education farm; Lucy Williamson, author of "Soil to Gut: How to Regenerate Your Health with Food", Dr Grace Kangara - a soil scientist at Rothamsted Research who is researching the impact of different farming practices on the nutritional content of wheat (and other grains), and Rob Ward from Vitagri, a think tank pulling together thousands of research studies to try to answer the question. 
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

Typically British, a comforting ritual and a calorific onslaught - the Sunday Roast is part of the weekly routine for many. Jimi Famurewa assesses the combination of meat, potatoes, sides and all-important gravy to examine why we keep coming back for more.
He visits the Bank Tavern in Bristol where table bookings are harder to come by than Glastonbury tickets. Jimi explores the global appeal of the Yorkshire pudding with food writer Elaine Lemm and takes a trip to a branch of the self-styled "home of the roast" the Toby Carvery.
Along the way food historian Annie Gray explains how roasts cemented themselves in British culture. Also, Irish "roast detective" podcasters Emer McLysaght and Esther O'Moore Donohoe reveal the language they've devised to describe the carvery experience while touring Ireland on the hunt for the perfect roast dinner.
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Robin Markwell.
The poem "In Praise Of Yorkshire Puddings" written and performed by Ian McMillan
"Roast Beef Of Old England" performed by Jerry Bryant

Dan Saladino reports on big ideas from the food world, ranging from a farming system that produces a climate friendly rice to a fermented yeast that releases an oil and could help prevent deforestation.
The innovations are being recognised by the judges of this year's BBC Food and Farming Awards and Sweden's Food Planet Prize. All have the potential to make a positive impact on the future of food.
Also featured is a rethink on how we buy fish and the species we get to eat, efforts in the American mid-west to integrate more trees into farms and a project that's removing barriers to people cooking.
Produced and presented by Dan Saladino,