The Food Chain

Many people feel they can’t cook, or don’t know where to start. Studies suggest that in some countries, fewer people are preparing meals from scratch, and a lack of confidence in the kitchen can be a big part of the problem.
Ruth Alexander explores what holds people back from cooking, and how to overcome it. Drawing on her own experience of learning later in life, she asks: can anyone become a confident cook?
She’s joined by three guests who spend much of their lives in the kitchen, and who know that not everyone starts out with natural ability.
Robin Van Creveld, founder and director of Community Chef in Lewes, England, teaches people practical cooking skills through a social enterprise. Tokunbo Koiki, founder of Tokunbo’s Kitchen Catering Company and London African Food Week, joins from Lagos to share her approach to making cooking accessible and enjoyable. And Pak Wai Hung, owner of 288 Bar and Wok restaurant in Cheltenham, explains how building confidence can be just as important as learning techniques.
Together, they share simple, realistic ways to get started, from overcoming fear of failure to building basic skills and routines. Ruth asks them how beginners can gain confidence, what essential skills really matter, and how to make cooking feel less intimidating.
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]
Producer: Izzy Greenfield
Sound Engineer: Hal Haines
Picture: Credit – Getty.

Is the culture of professional kitchens shifting?
In recent weeks, one of the restaurant world’s most influential figures stepped down amid allegations about his conduct at work. It’s been widely reported that former employees accused René Redzepi, founder of Copenhagen’s Noma, of creating a toxic working environment involving verbal and physical abuse. Redzepi has since apologised publicly, saying he has worked to change.
Ruth Alexander uses this moment as a starting point to explore a broader question: what is, and what should be, the culture inside professional kitchens?
For many chefs, stories of gruelling hours, intense pressure and explosive tempers have long been part of the industry. But are those conditions still the norm today, or is a different kind of kitchen culture beginning to take shape?
Ruth is joined by three chefs from different generations and parts of the world, each reflecting on their own experiences of coming up in the industry, and how those experiences have shaped the way they run their kitchens now.
Jun Tanaka, chef-owner of Michelin-starred restaurant The Ninth in London, looks back on starting out more than three decades ago. Preeti Mistry, executive chef at Silver Oak in California, shares her perspective after 25 years in the industry. And Manon Fleury, head chef at Datil in Paris and co-founder of an organisation working to prevent violence in kitchens, explains why she believes change is both necessary and possible.
They discuss whether the old hierarchies and harsh environments are being left behind, what a healthier kitchen culture could look like, and what still needs to change.
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]
Producer: Izzy Greenfield
Sound engineer: Annie Gardiner
Image: credit - getty

Are your family meals calm and connected?
Or have they become dominated by battles with fussy kids or awkward teens?
Mum-of-one Ruth Alexander gets advice from experts who share the secrets to taking the stress out of family dinner and how to cope with fussy eaters. She finds out how we can make the table a place everyone wants to be at, tots, teens and adults alike.
Produced by Lexy O'Connor and Rumella Dasgupta.
Image: A small angry boy with blonde hair is holding a bowl of food and threatening to tip it on the floor as his parents' hands reach out to stop him. Credit:Getty/ skynesher

What should runners should eat to train for, and complete, a marathon?

With major races like the London and Boston marathons approaching, more people than ever are taking on the 26.2-mile challenge. But what should you actually eat to fuel that distance?

Ruth Alexander is joined by one of the most successful marathon runners in history, Paula Radcliffe, who held the women’s world record for 16 years. She shares what it takes to fuel months of marathon training, and what it feels like when things go wrong during a race.

Also on the programme is former world champion runner Steve Cram, now a coach and commentator, who explains the common nutrition mistakes he sees among recreational runners.

And Performance Director of the dsm-firmenich Running Team, Valentijn Trouw tells us what it’s like to oversee the performance programmes of elite athletes including marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge.

Ruth asks them what runners should fuel their training, what to eat in the crucial days before a race, and how to avoid “hitting the wall” on marathon day.

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]

Produced by Izzy Greenfield.
Sound Engineer: Annie Gardiner
Picture: Credit - Getty. Paula Radcliffe competes in a marathon

Ruth Alexander meets three people who gave up well-paid, high-flying careers to start all over again in the world of food.
Nisha Katona left a career as a child protection barrister behind to start Mowgli, a chain of Indian restaurants in the UK, physically building her first restaurants herself.
Judy Joo worked in finance on Wall Street but decided to give it up to go to culinary school. After starting at the bottom in various restaurant kitchens she founded the Korean restaurant chain Seoul Bird, which has outlets in the UK and the US.
Duc Ngo was an engineer who felt he lacked purpose and joy. So he left his job to start a sandwich shop in Helsinki. But it wasn’t easy. He took to Tiktok to document its rise, fall and rebirth as a bistro, The Alley.
So did they all make the right decision and would they change anything? Ruth finds out...
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected]
Produced by Lexy O'Connor.
Sound Engineer: Annie Gardiner
Image: A smiling woman is behind a cafe door. She is turning the “closed” sign to “open”. Credit MoMo Productions/Getty images.