Table Talk

How can the food industry innovate to meet the demands and challenges it's facing, and do so in an efficient way? The answer, according to Tetra Pak: Partnerships, partnerships, and more partnerships. There are all kinds of issues that need to be tackled, not least the question of sustainability. In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we shine a light on a small company that says it's found a solution to a big problem, and how it's working with a big company to get that solution out into the world. EnginZyme takes waste materials from food processing and uses enzymes to transform that material into useful, sustainable, and natural added-value products. The company says its method requires less energy and leads to far less waste than conventional methods. Join our complimentary webinar:  Climate optimism – shifting the narrative on climate change Featuring Anne Therese Gennari in partnership with Tetra Pak But it is expensive work and EnginZyme isn't primarily a food comp

Studies have shown that around 20-30 per cent of how we age is down to our genetics, so how big a factor is what we eat in the remaining 70 per cent? In this episode of the Food Matters Live Podcast, we explore the relationship between our diets and our health in later life. Life expectancy has fallen in the UK very recently, largely down to the Coronavirus pandemic, but it had been rising consistently since the end of the Second World War. And an ageing population can throw up a number of problems… The UK Government’s Foresight report into the future of an ageing population points out that without significant improvements, ill-health, chronic conditions, and cognitive impairments will become more common. The question for us is: can our diet help prevent these things?  And what can we learn from the food culture in places where people live the longest, healthiest lives? As we grow older, our nutritional requirements change, so should our eating habits change too? At what age do we need t

The UK Government is planning to introduce a raft of restrictions on the promotion of foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) - but will they actually make any difference? The idea behind the proposals is to improve public health.  But will we actually develop new, healthy shopping habits once the regulations come in? In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we look at the evidence to see how shopping and eating habits might change. What does the research show? How will impulse purchasing be affected? In short, what happens when our favourite foods are no longer quite so visible? The Government recently announced that it was delaying some of the restrictions. That has caused lots of controversy and no doubt we will revisit the topic in the weeks ahead. But here's how things stand as of June 2022: A ban on buy-one-get-one free deals on food and drink that is high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as free refills for soft drinks, has been postponed by 12 months and won’t b

Practice, practice, practice. It's good advice whatever food career you're hoping to embark on, and according to Dominique Woolf it is particularly good advice if you want to get into writing cookery books. In this edition of the Career Conversations podcast series, Dominique tells Elisa Roche there simply is no substitute for getting as much experience as possible. She recently won the TV show "The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver" and is releasing her first cookbook "Dominique's Kitchen" this month. But, she says, success didn't come overnight. In fact she says she spent years going to events to learn about cookbooks, meeting her favourite writers and reading as much as she could. "It was something that had been bubbling away for years and years and years," says Dominique. "Winning the show was the ultimate validation." Her advice to anyone hoping to one day become a cookery book writer is to get work experience, read as much as you can, and keep practising: "Writing is essential."

What can be done to solve the growing problem of labour shortages in the UK food sector? The Government's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee says chronic shortages could lead to further price rises and the UK becoming more dependent on food imports. In fact, it says if nothing is done to address the issue, labour shortages will shrink the sector permanently. It is a stark warning and we are already seeing the effects. In recent months we have seen crops left to rot in the fields, tens-of-thousands of pigs incinerated or rendered due to a lack of workers at meat processing plants, and disruption to the food supply chain. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we delve into the causes of the crisis, as well as looking at what some of the solutions may be. How big a role are Brexit and Covid playing? Will higher salaries help to alleviate the problems? Is the Government doing enough to help the industry? And what does the current situation mean for workers? There are mo

There's no doubt that plant-based dairy alternatives are booming. In 2021, a Bloomberg Intelligence report estimated that the global market for dairy-alternative milk could grow to more than $60bn by 2030. But this isn’t just about milk, there is dairy-free cheese, ice cream, just about everything, and the market is constantly evolving. Where plant-based dairy was once the preserve of people who identified as vegan, we've long-since moved on to flexitarians. Now sustainability is one of the key factors affecting the products people buy, meaning ever more innovative ways of making alternative dairy products. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, made in partnership with Edlong, we look at where the market is heading, the challenges of making new products that taste and feel like dairy, and the crucial role consumer messaging has to play in the sector's future. With new innovations in cultured, fermented and hybrid products helping meet the demand for sustainable alternatives, how do

Liz Littlewood says she struggled at first to convince her parents and her teachers that a career in food was a good choice: "I had to fight quite hard to continue doing it at school and then university." But she did persevere and now, as Co-op's Lead Technical Manager for Ambient Foods, Non-Food, Beers, Wines and Spirits, she says she's so pleased she stuck with it. "I'm really glad I got a job that I really enjoy and I've had a varied career," she tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series. Liz's journey so far has seen her get a degree in Food Technology at Manchester Met University, work for M&S, Morrisons, and now the Co-op. Her current role comes with a fair bit of power, she and her team have the ability to stop a product going into stores at pretty much any stage of the development process. It also requires a bit of knowledge about a lot of things, from the manufacturing process, to packaging, transport and distribution, and legal and legislative re

2022 marks 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne, making Her Majesty the first British Monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee. Royal celebrations have often been associated with food, banquets and street parties, with this year following the script. In May 2022, Jemma Melvin created a lemon and Swiss roll amaretti trifle which beat around 5,000 other entries to be named the official pudding for the Jubilee. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, we're looking at the traditions and recipes of British Royal celebrations of the past. We ask why some dishes capture the public's imagination, while others don't. We look at the parallels between the Platinum Jubilee celebrations and those that took place at the Queen's coronation in 1953. Today, like then, the celebrations are taking place at a time of hardship for many.  Food prices are rising today as the cost of living crisis deepens. In 1953, we were still a year away from the end of rationing after the Second

“Monbiot has that most aggravating of gifts, the ability lucidly to point out things that people desperately do not want to be true." That's a quote from Henry Dimbleby, the man who proposed the UK's new national food strategy. He is, of course, talking about journalist, author and activist George Monbiot. In this episode of the Food Matters Live podcast, George joins Stefan Gates to discuss the future of food production both in the UK and around the world. "We are looking at the possibility of systemic environmental collapse," George says. "We tell ourselves we put our survival above everything else. I see no evidence of that at all." He raises many concerns about the current food system in his new book “Regenesis: feeding the world without devouring the planet”. But the most pressing concerns centre around soil and the use of land for agriculture. He says the book came about through his newfound "obsession with soil", something he describes as being "the most complex ecosystem on Earth.

The images of suffering in Ukraine as Russia's invasion continues are some of the most horrifying seen in Europe for decades. The war has already led to the deaths of thousands, caused to the destruction of homes, and completely destroyed many people's way of life. Among the terrible scenes in Ukraine, we see a country which is a linchpin of the global food system, undergoing catastrophic change. The ripples will be felt across the world. The World Bank has warned it will cause the "largest commodity shock" since the 1970s and, of course, the impact will be felt acutely in Ukraine for decades to come. The global response has been to impose punishing sanctions on Russia, that too will have consequences for the food sector. So how is the global food system adjusting? And just what will be the effect on global food insecurity? In this edition of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates is joined by Professor Tony Heron and PhD researcher Paulina Flores Martinez, from the University of York, to d

Stu Henshall has cooking in his bones, but it didn't always look as though he would end up being Executive Chef at two of the world's biggest meat-free brands. His early years were spent helping out his mum and dad, who owned a farm and a restaurant. He tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, that he learned a lot in those early days, as much about front-of-house and pot washing as anything else. Alongside his love of food, he also had a passion for music and launched a successful career, working with The Prodigy, touring Europe, and gaining a gold disc for making a number one album. But he says he started to find that whilst on tour, he was more excited about the restaurants they were visiting than the gigs they were playing: "I realised something wasn't quite right." Then came a new moment in the limelight, and the start of the journey which has led to him becoming Executive Chef at Quorn and Cauldron - he appeared on the Great British Bake Off in 2015.

The history of English wine has been a bumpy one, and it starts much further back than many people would believe. There is evidence that the Romans grew grapes for wine in English soil some 2,000 years ago. For many hundreds of years after that there have been numerous attempts to make English wine the preferred choice amongst drinkers, with varying degrees of success. In fact, its fair to say that until relatively recently, English wine had a bad reputation both at home and elsewhere in the world. But today, the white and sparkling wines produced in England are often rated among the best. So how did we get here? In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates is joined by wine writer, Liz Sagues, to find out exactly that. It's easy to dismiss early attempts at making English wine as being blighted by cold weather and too much rain, but there's more to it than that. Easy access to European wines, a lack of expertise, and a love of beer have also played their part. But if it was

Blair Bowman thinks there is something magic about whisky, and when you look into its history, it's hard to argue with him. "A single cask, single malt whisky, is totally unique," he tells Stefan Gates in this episode of the Table Talk podcast. "The fact that a cask is organic, means every cask is different. If you try one that you like and there's only going to be 200 bottles from that cask, once they're drunk it's extinct.  "You can't recreat that. That's the magic of whisky." There's no doubting that Blair knows his stuff. He is the founder of World Whisky Day, author of the bestselling "Pocket Guide to Whisky: featuring the WhiskyTubeMap", and he holds the world record for the most distilleries visited in one day. Whisky is booming at the moment, with production surging into new territories including Japan, India, and even the Arctic Circle! But how did we get to this point? What were the key events that shaped the drink we have today? And where might the whisky market be heading? Bl

"I really love to see a client that's satisfied," says Tessa Anderson. "That they're in a much better position than when I first met them." Tessa is a qualified food technologist and is Managing Director of Pack Copy Sent Consultancy. She knows just about everything there is to know about food regulations and labelling, and helps companies get their consumable products safely approved for sale. Tessa says relationships are critical to the work she does, and says networking is a big part of her job. "I love helping people and I love meeting people," she tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series. Reading up on the latest legislation also takes up a lot of her time. It's crucial that she stays on top of any new rules around food packaging, wherever in the world they might be introduced. But it's not all "reaching out" and reading up, Tessa says there's no such thing as a typical day for her. Her journey began at Manchester Metropolitan University, where

For years, the Netherlands has had a particularly important role to play in the global food system - but how is that role changing as sustainability becomes an ever more pressing issue? The Dutch food production system has historically been the envy of the world, a small country but a big exporter. That has usually meant some pretty intensive farming practices, but now the Netherlands is becoming a global exporter of sustainable ideas. It's in no small part down to some of the work being done at Foodvalley, an independent international organisation, working to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system. In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, Stefan Gates is joined by Foodvalley Managing Director, Marjolein Brasz. She explains what the organisation does, why it exists, and some of the challenges it hopes to overcome. The crux of it, is that Foodvalley identifies problems in the food system that can only be solved by bringing people together from across different sectors. Th

Whenever there's a conversation taking place about the cutting edge of the food industry, the name of one country keeps cropping up - Israel. Whether it's discussing plant-based innovations, start-ups and investment, or lab-grown meat, we’re always drawn back to Israel. For a long time, home to a sparkling array of hi-tech industry, and now a global centre of food and agri-tech.     But why is Israel so central in helping to shape the future of our global food system, and how did it obtain this position? In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, we try to answer that question with the help of the Israel Innovation Authority. The Israel Innovation Authority is a government agency designed to foster the development of industrial R&D. Listen to the full episode to find out how they go about it, why it has been so successful to date, and what others countries might be able to learn. And take a peak at what's on the horizon, the projects that are getting people really excited about the fu

"I feel privileged to be occupying a role... where you get to be emersed in all the brand love," says Micah Douglas, Content and Community Manager at Tony's Chocolonely. Micah has only be in the role for two-and-a-half years but he can't speak highly enough of the place. In this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series, he reveals all about how he ended up working for at the chocolate company. He says he didn't initially see himself working in the food industry: "It's been a pretty winding path, food never seemed like the obvious choice to me." Tony's Chocolonely is going on tour - find out where and when In fact, Micah initially got into events marketing, something he studied at Bournemouth University. But after doing a work placement at Mr Lee's Pure Foods, he realised it was the sector for him. He was eventually drawn to the lights of London and, despite still being relatively inexperienced, he took a huge gamble.  He quit his jobs, "probably a bit too prematurely," he sa

After two years of a pandemic, and the massive behaviour change it forced on all of us, how do companies in the food industry look to the future and identify opportunities for positive innovation? In this episode of the Table Talk podcast, made in partnership with Accenture, we talk to the people behind the influential Fjord Trends report to find out. Fjord Trends 2022 might be the most fascinating to date, coming at a moment when huge sections of society are emerging from a period when we were forced to pause, reflect, and re-evaluate many of our relationships. That has affected the way we think about all sorts of things, self-care and the environment among them. It has also affected the way many of us think about the brands we engage with. So much has changed for so many people, but this episode isn't just about spotting the latest trends, it also looks closely at how the information compiled in Fjord Trends 2022 can be used by companies to make real-world decisions. This year's report has f

The right to food is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but in 2019 in the UK 5m people were living in food poverty. Many of those affected are children, and in this episode of the Table Talk podcast, we meet two extraordinary teenagers who are campaigning to make the food system fairer for everyone. Yumna Hussen and Saffron Stedall are both Young Food Ambassadors for the Food Foundation, campaigning for Children’s Right2Food. They believe that young people are not being heard when it comes to food poverty, and are working to implement real change. Their campaigning has taken them to COP26 and Downing Street. They have also met and worked alongside Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, Henry Dimbleby, and England footballer Marcus Rashford. As part of their work, they have produced The Children's Right2Food Charter, which sets out a roadmap for tackling food poverty. A big part of the charter is a call for the expansion of free school meals, which Yumna and Saffron point out

Max Tobias is co-founder of The Dusty Knuckle, a social enterprise bakery in London. "It's not for the feint-heart," he tells Elisa Roche in this episode of the Career Conversations podcast series. Max says the jobs is "very demanding" and really is a 24/7 endeavour: "People need their daily bread." It's fair to say Max has been slogging his guts out along with his two best friends to set up a community bakery that helps young people with difficult backgrounds to get back their confidence and learn new skills. Max now has a cookbook on sale, but he's very clear about how hard it has been to reach the stage he has. So, with all that hard work, is he a millionaire? "I haven't made any millions yet, and neither have my business partners."  Listen to the full episode to find out how the bakery came into being, and why they decided to call it The Dusty Knuckle. Max Tobias, Managing Director, The Dusty Knuckle Bakery Max Tobias is the Managing Director of The Dusty Knuckle Bakery. Prior to