English Olive Oil

English Olive Oil

Author: BBC Radio 4 July 4, 2025 Duration: 42:05

With the price of olive oil soaring in the shops after drought disrupted production in Spain, Leyla Kazim looks into the English farms planting olive groves in the hope of bottling their own oil. She meets a farmer in Essex who explains that English growing conditions are more suitable than you might think and discovers a producer in Cornwall who has already started pressing his own extra virgin olive oil. So will olive oil from Essex or Cornwall become the new English sparkling wine?

Dan Saladino reports from Sicily where hotter conditions due to climate change are presenting new challenges for growers. Food historian Dr Annie Gray debunks some of the myths around olive oil consumption in England and Leyla learns the correct way to approach an oil-tasting from one of the country’s biggest suppliers.

Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol.


The Food Programme from BBC Radio 4 digs into the stories behind what we eat. This podcast moves beyond recipes and restaurant reviews to explore the entire ecosystem of our meals. Each episode is a reported journey, examining the cultural, historical, economic, and personal forces that shape food production and consumption. You might hear about the surprising science of flavor, the future of farming in a changing climate, or the revival of a nearly forgotten culinary tradition. The series connects the dots between the field, the supply chain, and the dinner plate, offering a deeper understanding of the choices we make as consumers and citizens. Listen for insightful interviews with growers, chefs, scientists, and policymakers, all framed by thoughtful narration. It’s for anyone curious about the true cost and value of their food, providing context and conversation that changes how you think about your next bite. Tune in for a consistently engaging exploration of one of life’s fundamental pleasures and its complex global impact.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Food Programme
Podcast Episodes
Bradford: City of Food Culture [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:36
Bradford is this year’s UK City of Culture - but what does food have to do with it? Sheila Dillon visits the city to meet market traders, chefs and restaurateurs to find out how its industrial past has influenced the thr…
Communal Dining [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:50
Sheila Dillon joins diners eating together in Manchester and Copenhagen, and hears why some think we should be making more time in the UK for eating communally.During World War II, British Restaurants provided nutritious…
Closing London's 'Kitchen of the Universe' [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:57
Two of the country's largest wholesale markets are on the brink of closure. The City of London Corporation has decided to shut the historic meat market at Smithfield and the fish market at Billingsgate, bringing to an en…
Regenerative farming and food. What does it mean? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:20
It's a term used by the smallest farmers and the world's biggest food businesses. But what does 'regenerative agriculture' mean?Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.
Second to Nan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:21
Sheila Dillon revisits the idea of our grannies’ cooking and how it shapes us, hearing from listeners who sent in their own stories. Why does learning to cook from your granny seem to be such a powerful experience? What…
Broken Policies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:38
It's 2025, and the same old questions are still being asked about food and health—how do we get people eating better, reduce obesity, improve health, and ease pressure on the NHS? Despite decades of policies and campaign…
Low and No [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:39
What's behind the rise and rise of low alcohol and alcohol free drinks? The sector grew by a quarter last year alone, fuelled by our changing relationship with alcohol. More than fifteen million people are thought to hav…
Food and Exercise: A Puzzle [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:44
Want to lose weight? How much can you achieve through exercise? Dan Saladino investigates with the help of Mike Keen, a chef and Arctic explorer. Mike has had numerous adventures in Greenland, including kayaking thousand…
What's this emulsifier doing in my food? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:48
Emulsifiers are among the most common food additives found in ultra-processed foods (UPFs), a much-discussed category of foods commonly defined as those made using manufactured ingredients. They are often packaged and ha…
Food and AI [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:48
How will Artificial Intelligence (AI) transform the food industry? Experts say it's already having an effect - whether through self-service checkouts or the algorithms that determine which recipes you see online or the w…