The FoodTalk Show

Best of both worlds

Great chocolate and delicious coffee that are gentle on the environment.

Coffee is a big deal in Ollie’s world, so Guy Wilmot from Bird & Wild Coffee is under pressure to impress. Luckily, he’s up to the challenge – Bird & Wild is the UK’s only bird-friendly and shade-gown coffee.

Although coffee naturally grows in the shade, it’s commonly grown in the sun by commercial producers in order to increase yields and speed up the process. This has a negative impact on bird populations, due to the removal of nesting sites and the presence of insecticides and pesticides.

Once Sue and Ollie are amped up on coffee, it’s time to chill out with some amazing treats from Prodigy Snacks. The chocolate is plant-based and vegan-friendly, plus it’s free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar. It’s even plastic-free, thanks to the recyclable packaging.

Prodigy are on a mission to reinvent the classics, so you can enjoy the taste of your favourite chocolate bars while consuming only low levels of natural sugar. Sue thinks they’re out of this world…

A touch of spice and all things nice

We’re hot to trot with this exotic episode.

There’s a spicy atmosphere in the studio this week and for once, it’s got nothing to do with Ollie’s shirts.

Arun Kapil from Green Saffron has brought in an array of fabulous spices, which the company provides in a variety of different blends. They aim to create blends that bring out the best in each element on a plate and treat spice as a flavour ingredient, not just a regional touch.

Jack Galliano of Galliano Dining is well aware of the challenges of keeping the spice in mass catering – how do you feed 600 people and still serve up top quality food? Jack has some interesting insights into feeding the masses, along with his views on the new dining trends to watch.

Inspired by 12 years of doing PR for innovative food brands, Hannah Glasson has launched the new INTUNE range of fruit and botanical drinks to share the benefits of CBD. Having found that CBD helped to boost her concentration at work while undergoing medical treatment, Hannah wanted to share her discovery with the world in a tasty, refreshing way.

Bread of heaven

Amazing sourdough and gin fuelled by romance – what more could you want?

Ollie has temporarily moved house and he’s now living above an amazing bakery. But there’s no time for Sue and Holly to feel jealous, because there’s some delicious bread right here in the studio.

Lovingly Artisan Bakery has a mission to return bread to the centre of the table. Baker Aidan Monks makes incredible double fermented artisan sourdough from heritage grains that has been a huge hit with discerning shoppers. Of course, he’s brought some along for the team to try, much to Sue’s delight.

We all adore a good love story and there’s a true romance behind the origins of Manchester Gin. You’ll have to tune in to hear Seb Heeley’s tale, but suffice to stay it has resulted in a fabulous brand that started life in his dining room and is inspired by Manchester’s industrial heritage.

What’s your favourite Spanish or South American tipple? Lucy Shaw, editor of The Drinks Business, is here to share her love of these countries’ produce and give her views on the impact of the burgeoning English sparkling wine industry.

Quiz your thirst

We hear about the state of the drinks industry and the new ideas bubbling up.

Sue starts this week’s show with a pop quiz – can our hosts and guests guess at the bestselling spirit brands? Or the most popular lagers, tonic waters and soft drinks? There may be a few surprises in there…

One of today’s guests has some insider knowledge about this topic. Richard Chamberlain from Drink Warehouse has some interesting insights of his own to add, along with a top tip for low and no-alcohol drink producers.

Fran Pearce is no stranger to fun alcoholic products, thanks to her work with Smith and Sinclair. But today she’s here to talk about a new venture, Pollen, which is taking the growing trend for CBD products one step further by exploring the use of CBD in cocktails and gummies.

Finally, Jess Latchford from Waste Knot explains how they’re helping to build relationships between farmers and chefs. When farmers have surplus fruit and vegetables that they can’t sell through their usual channels, Waste Knot can connect them with chefs who are looking to buy great quality produce – thus reducing food waste in a big way.

The right connections

Tracking down the best dishes in town and shaking up FMCG.

Where can you get the best cheese toastie around? Or the most delicious doughnut? Or the most sensational sushi?

Well, it’s time to share your recommendations because a new app is taking the guess work out of making your next gourmet discovery.

Originally inspired by a hunt for raspberry sorbet, Eaten compiles user reviews of dishes, rather than restaurants. So, if you’re in the mood for a great Sunday lunch and don’t have time to search endless restaurant reviews or websites, Eaten can cut out the middle man and take you straight to the best roast joint in town. Co-founder Jeeho Park is in the studio to tell us more.

The world of fast-moving consumer goods, or FMCG, is a pretty daunting one, but it’s also where more and more food start-ups are making their debut. Young Foodies is a business hub and community that helps start-ups deal with the challenges of getting their products onto retailers’ shelves and scaling up when the big players come calling, as Theadora Alexander explains.

Passion for plant-based

Plant-fuelled passions surge with this week’s trio of innovative products.

This week’s show gets underway with a discussion about alcoholic drinks, including a truly heroic cocktail recommendation from Ollie.

It’s not the most apt start though, as this episode focuses on healthy alternatives that don’t involve alcohol. Rosh Amarasekara from Humble Warrior is here to tell us about her range of plant-based drinks aimed at the health-conscious adult soft drink market.

Using extraordinary plants to create extraordinary flavours – such as reishi and pineapple – Humble Warrior is offering a really different alternative to booze and sweet soft drinks.

Luhv Drinks is taking health beverages to a whole new level and they won the Drink Innovation category at last year’s Future Food Awards.  Through their collaboration with Kings College London, they’ve created drinks that benefit particular parts of the body – currently these focus on the skin, the heart and the mind, with more in the pipeline. Chris Beech joins the team to explain more.

The line-up is completed by another Future Food Awards winner in Seaweed & Co, which triumphed in the Mission Driven category. Dr Craig Rose, aka Doctor Seaweed, tells us why he’s so passionate about seeing this Eastern food staple become as popular in the West. He also reveals the rather surprising reason why he decided to study marine biology…

Food of the Gods

Charcuterie is on the menu today, along with some visionary chocolate.

So, how are your New Year’s resolutions going? If you’ve fallen off the sugar wagon already, don’t worry – our first guest will make you feel good about giving in to gourmet chocolate.

Edinburgh-based Coco Chocolatier not only allow its visionary chocolatiers free rein to explore amazing flavours, they also work with artists to create fantastic designs for the packaging.

Calum Haggerty is in the studio to tell us more about the brand, which sources ‘origin made’ chocolate from Colombia. This enables more of the product to be created at the source, rather than just the beans, resulting in a fairer and more sustainable trade.

We get to the real meat of the matter with Thomas Whitaker from award-winning Tempus Foods, a charcuterie company founded in 2014. Both Thomas and his co-founder Dhruv Baker are MasterChef finalists, with Dhruv having won the title in 2010. 

He fills Sue and Ollie in on the secrets of the charcuterie world, ways to do it at home and how to avoid the common pitfalls of amateur curing.

Don’t miss this show if you love chocolate, as there’s a special discount available for FoodTalk listeners at Coco Chocolatier – but you’ll have to listen in to get it!

The A.I. Diet

How will AI transform the way you shop and eat in 2020?

Holly has finally given up her globetrotting in order to re-join Sue and Ollie in the studio. Once they’ve checked in on how their New Year’s resolutions are going, they take a look at tomorrow’s world by investigating the hot foodie topic of artificial intelligence (AI).

From self-service supermarket checkouts to the algorithms that push online advertising at us, we interact with AI every day. But how is it being put to good use in the food sector?

Markus Stripf from Spoon Guru explains how his company set out to become the “Google of food”, enabling consumers to search for the products that suit their particular dietary needs.

How often have you visited a restaurant or ordered a takeaway and struggled to understand which dishes are truly right for you? Helping people to eat with convenience, control and transparency is a passion for Nick Popovici of Vita Mojo. The company provides an ultra-personalised menu, allowing customers to control macros, calories and quantities.

What does gut health mean to you? Possibly not very much, so it’s good that Helena Rogers from Troo is on hand to explain why it’s so important to our wellbeing. The vegan-friendly brand has created high-fibre products that contain no potential gut irritants, plus they’re a plastic-free company.

Futuristic Food

From space age food to hot new talent, we’re looking at the flavours of the future.

There’s a packed studio this week as three fantastic guests drop in to chat with Sue, Ollie and Holly.

First up, we hear from Nourish3d – the cutting-edge company that wowed the Future Food Awards judges enough to be unanimously voted Supreme Champion. Melissa Snover explains the science behind the world’s first truly personalised 3D printing daily nutrition stack, plus she’s brought in a sample that has been specifically tailored for Sue’s needs.

Once Sue has had her vitamin boost, she can’t wait to introduce the next guest. Jason Hirst from Evogro has been impressing some of the country’s top chefs with his plant growing system, which enables the production of perfect, delicious herbs and salad leaves right there in the kitchen. It’s not long before the team are clamouring for an Evogro of their own…

Finally, we get a glimpse of tomorrow’s talent with a visit from Bianca Tia Mesuria, who met some pretty impressive standards in order to win the prestigious Julia Child Scholarship with Le Cordon Bleu training schools. Luckily, the team don’t just have to trust that she’s highly talented – Bianca has brought in a tasty example of her cooking talent to prove it!

Cordial relations

Forget squash – we’re talking classic cordials with a modern twist.

Until fairly recently, cordial has had a bit of an underwhelming reputation. If you associate it with elderly ladies or over-sweet squash drinks, this week’s show has a surprise in store.

Natasha Steele is in the studio to share the story of Urban Cordial, a brand of which Sue is already a big fan. For centuries, cordials were viewed as medicinal concoctions and in some parts of the world, the term refers to a tonic, syrup or low-alcohol beverage.

Not only is Urban Cordial making a big splash in the non-alcoholic market with refreshing flavour combinations – Raspberry and Rosemary is a particular hit in the studio – the company is also committed to sustainable production.

After starting out as a hobbyist, making cordials from the produce of her own allotment, Natasha made the decision to take her idea to market. Concerns about the huge food waste problem, however, prompted her to use surplus fruit in the production of Urban Cordial. To date, the company has saved over 40 tonnes of fruit from going to landfill.

In this week’s show, Ollie gets his first taste of Urban Cordial’s delights and also reveals some rather odd drinking habits that leave Sue and Holly scratching their heads…

Do the truffle shuffle

Will trying truffles in lots of different forms finally win Ollie over?

The team are busting myths and testing preconceptions all over the place this week, starting with the much-adored truffle.

Perhaps surprisingly for a foodie, Ollie isn’t a big truffle fan and isn’t sure if they’re worth the (often very expensive) price tag. Nigel Whitehouse from Truffle Hunter is in the studio to see if he can tempt Ollie over to the dark – or light – side with a selection of tasty truffle-based treats.

From mayonnaise to cheddar, there is a veritable smorgasbord of delicacies for the team to try. You’ll have to listen to find out whether any of them are successful in winning Ollie’s approval…

If you feel increasingly confused by the wealth of conflicting information about diet and nutrition, Check Your Food could be heaven sent. Designed to make nutritional information accessible and understandable, the website allows you to check out the chemical and biological makeup of foods and make smart choices about your diet.

Matt Wright is here to tell us more and there are a few surprises as he reveals the truth about some of our favourite foods – how will milk, carrots and even the doner kebab line up?

Tickling the tastebuds

Oriental flavours and American beers are set to blow the team’s socks off.

It’s a full complement in the studio this week, as Holly takes a break from her gastro adventures to rejoin the team. What a great week to return, too – with food and drink that has the potential to split the crowd…

First, we meet the person with probably the best job title in the world: Head of Beer. Andrew Morgan from Beer Hawk Fresh explains just what it means to be head honcho of hops and introduces the team to some exceptional beverages. It’s a mixed reaction to the peanut butter milk stout, which Andrew washes down with a fascinating insight into American hops. Next, we find out which tipple would be his ‘desert island beer’ – we hope you’re taking notes!

Does wasabi go well with beer? Sue, Ollie and Holly are about to find out, as Nick Russell from The Wasabi Company provides an education in what the Oriental staple should really look and taste like. As experienced watercress farmers, the company has great expertise in growing plants in flowing water, so tasting the products turns out to be a bit of a life-changing moment for the team.

Plus, we hear about finger limes, Buddha’s hands and some exciting news for vodka fans.

Taking a bite of the future

The event that showcases the food and agri innovators of tomorrow.

Try as they might, Sue and Ollie just can’t stay away from the booze. Or rather, the booze can’t stay away from them.

This week, it’s an Italian liqueur that’s tempting our intrepid twosome. Italicus is a sour treat based on bergamot that makes incredible cocktails – as Sue is to find out, thanks to the generous mixology skills of Adamo Vobaro (phonetic). This time-honoured tipple is very well-known in Italy and its versatility is certainly impressing our co-presenter…

There will be more promising discoveries to be made on 7 November, when FoodBytes! comes to London. This live pitching event is the most incredible showcase for food and agriculture start-ups, where they can meet investors and possibly get the big break they need to crack the market.

Sue is appearing at FoodBytes! to help bring brilliant exposure to these promising innovators, so tune in to find out more from Maarten Ooms and learn how you can be there.

Plus, the team and guests chat about some fascinating facts thrown up by Great British Chefs’ latest research into the ecological values of the buying public.

Pick the bones out of that

Bringing back superfoods of old and cracking the foodie market.

Hands up if you had a granny who made the most incredible soup that could cure any childhood ailment? Recipes and delicacies from days gone by tend to get left behind as food trends and technology surge forward. But there’s a lot to be gained from looking at the time-honoured knowledge we used to have about food.

So says Fiona Esom of Product Chain, an FMCG retail sales agency that works to bring food and drink innovation to the British public. Although the company is passionate about the flavours of tomorrow, Fiona also believes that bone broth has an important place on today’s menus.

That’s the thinking behind Boosh, a high-protein and very nourishing food that Fiona wants to see in homes, care establishments and hospitals everywhere.

Breaking into the food or drink market, even with an established concept, can be incredibly tough. Fiona is well-placed to shed light on the do’s and don’ts of launching a new product.

Everleaf is already making a splash in the non-alcoholic drinks market. Created by bartender Paul Mathew, the aperitif Everleaf aims to offer consumers the complexity of flavour and texture that is so often missing from soft drinks or spirit alternatives. Will Sue and Ollie agree?

You've got to be kidding

Will the distinctive taste of kefir win over Sue and Ollie or will it get their goat?

Ollie is back from his recent jaunt to Indonesia and he’s full of tales about the country’s amazing foodie offerings. If anyone knows of a great Indonesian restaurant in London, do let us know…

What is a microbiome? What damages it and what can we do to reverse that damage? How can you tell if a goat is happy?

These critical questions and more are put to gut health expert Shann Jones of Chuckling Goat, the UK’s number one producer of kefir. She’s brought some of the company’s products to try and it’s safe to say that Sue’s reaction won’t disappoint. But you’ll have to tune in to see whether Shann can convert Sue and Ollie to kefir by the end of the show.

After discussing the admirable attributes of goats, the team turn to investments – specifically, what to do with that spare £100,000 they’ve got lying around. Sue wants to know which areas of food tech are on investors’ radars right now if they want to stand a chance of good returns in the future.

Luckily, food entrepreneur and business growth advisor Rekha Mehr has popped into the studio to offer her expertise on the food trends of today and tomorrow.

Viva la revolution

The team’s lives may just have been transformed by today’s guests…

This week’s show starts on a sad note as it’s Kumud Ghandi’s last appearance as guest presenter. But what a week to go out on, as the presenters discover two products that might just change their lives.

Sue’s not a sandwich or wrap fan, finding that the carrier often out-stodges the filling. Anishya Kumar, founder of Zinda Foods, shares this view, which is why she created the incredible AirWrap. Light, simple and delicious, could this have the power to transform lunch forever?

The small company has already broken into a supermarket chain, but scaling up can be tough for innovative food and drink firms. So, it’s interesting to hear from Rupert Holloway of Dorset-based Conker Spirit. His company launched its first gin at the very beginning of the gin revolution, so didn’t have too much competition to start with.

Times have changed a bit since then, so it’s fortunate that Conker’s Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur is proving such a hit. Hailed as the foundation of the perfect espresso martini, it’s certainly made a big impression on our presenters – we think Sue may actually be in love…

Name that tuna

There’s a fish substitute in the studio, but is it the real deal or a red herring?

With Olly still away, Sue, Holly and Kumud Ghandi are ruling the roost in the studio and they’ve got plenty to talk about.

This week the team are joined by Tara Mei from Bread & Jam, the UK’s first festival for food founders. If you’re an emerging business in food or drink production, you need to be at this two-day conference on 3 and 4 October – Tara explains why the experience can be life-changing for fledgling innovators.

Tune in to find out how you can access invaluable expert advice, as successful figures in the food industry offer their feedback to entrepreneurs – but you need to book your spot, so don’t miss out! And of course, there’s the Grand Final of the Future Food Awards to look forward to as well.

There’s another transformative experience in store as Eric Woods from Loma Linda offers a vegan plant-based alternative to tuna. Loma Linda in California is one of the world’s five ‘blue zones’ where people tend to live longer and veganism could be contributing to their longevity.

It’s got the texture but not the smell – will it win over the presenters? Or will they find Tuno a bit fishy?

Just our cup of tea?

There’s no shortage of soft drinks on the market these days, many of them pretty high brow and creative. However, there’s one thing that most of them have in common; sugar.

Even if a soft drink has a relatively low sugar content, the flavour profile is bound to lean towards the saccharine and sweet drinks kill flavours. So, how do you find a non-alcoholic alternative that won’t ruin your lovely meal?

David Begg from Real Kombucha reckons he has the answer and he’s here to win Sue and Ollie over. Kombucha is a fermented tea that’s been around for thousands of years and David believes it offers a delicious option for those avoiding booze.

Another interesting aspect of kombucha is that it is a probiotic and can apparently be good for your gut health. A tasty, low calorie beverage that boosts your microbes – what’s not to love!

Sue’s a big fan of sour tastes in cocktails so she’s going to love this, right? Well, it’s fair to say that while Ollie enjoys the kombucha, Sue isn’t so sure… Although, is that a second glass we can hear being poured by the end of the show?

No sushi please, we're Japanese

Fans of BBC’s MasterChef will recognise the voice of Andrew Kojima, who made it to the final of the 2012 series. Half Japanese, half British, Andrew – known as ‘Koj’ – has made the transition from a finance career to opening his own Japanese restaurant in Cheltenham.

But despite Koj’s love of traditional Japanese cuisine, you won’t find any sushi on the menu – Sue and Ollie are dying to know why!

Our other guest this week is also treading his own path by taking things right back to nature. Fred Thorneycroft has been foraging ever since he started making nettle beer at university, which led to an enduring interest in herbs, wild fruits and other overlooked ingredients.

Based in Macclesfield, Fruits of the Forage makes incredible chutneys, cordials, beers and wines with foraged treasures and just about anything they can find. Of course, Fred has brought some samples into the studio for the team to taste. Sue can’t get enough of the Sloe Seville Marmalade, while Ollie is intrigued by the Pickled Wild Garlic Buds.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing though, as Fred reveals with an interesting story about his Hogweed Curry Chutney! Oh, and there’s some exciting news about the company’s future plans too.

Mouthful all weekend

It’s summer, which means it must be festival season.

Ollie has chosen to wear a rather fashionable shirt for today’s show, which is apt because Sue wants to talk about that most trendy of summer activities – the festival. 

But this is no ordinary festival. This week Sue and Ollie are joined in the studio by Katie Bone, founder of PX+ Festival, an event created to bring together chefs, producers, sommeliers and many more from the culinary industry for one brilliant three-day extravaganza.

Alongside 65 chef headliners, the festival, which takes place from 17 – 19 August, also welcomes speakers from other industries to encourage the sharing of knowledge and expertise, check out #mouthfulallweekend

Katie explains why she wanted to host a gathering specifically for the hospitality community and also gives us the secret behind the festival’s name.

Among the headliners is our second guest, Jan Kanonetzki, who is Director of Wine at the rather fabulous Four Seasons Hotel Ten Trinity Square. Not only does Jan give us his take on the PX+ Festival, he also answers such pressing questions as, what does a director of wine do? What does the future look like for sommeliers? And do you really need a huge wine list?