Food Chain presenter Ruth Alexander was confident that she was eating a healthy diet, in particular, a diet that included enough fibre. But it turns out, like many of us, her fibre intake has been falling short of the recommended amount.

In fact all over the world most of us are failing to eat enough, despite the growing trend for so called "fibremaxxing" where people try to maximise their daily intake. So how can we boost our fibre intake? And does it really have to involve chia seeds?

Ruth picks the brains of fibre expert Professor Joanne Slavin from the University of Minnesota and Fathima Abdoola, known as The Cultural Dietitian, based in Brisbane Australia. And psychologist Phillippa Lally from the University of Surrey in the UK, explains how we can make our well intentioned new habits stick.

Producer: Lexy O’Connor

Sound engineer: Andrew Mills

(Image: A close up of a steaming bowl of Persian barley soup, in a blue bowl, with a woman’s hands holding it. Credit: Getty Images)

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

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.

Shattering the myth of its aristocratic origins and exploring some of the boldest creations; Ruth Alexander finds out about the history, culture and family ties wrapped up in the sandwich.

Josh Veasey, co-owner of Rack in North West England talks about his menu’s hits and misses and what it’s like to make a living out of making sandwiches.

The fourth Earl of Sandwich John Montagu is popularly credited with coming up with the idea of putting a tasty filling between two slices of bread; food historian Dr Annie Gray reveals the facts of the matter.

Masterchef Australia finalist and food writer Samira el Khafir talks about some of her favourite Middle Eastern wraps, enduring staples in the region and far beyond.

Ruth discusses the changing fashions for fillings with Barry Enderwick, the California-based creator of the social media channel, Sandwiches of History.

And Ozoz Sokoh, author of Chop Chop: Cooking the Food of Nigeria, reflects on how the sandwiches of her childhood were shaped by a long history of enslavement and British colonial rule.

Producers: Julia Paul & Lexy O’Connor Sound engineer: Hal Haines Editor: Sara Wadeson

(Phoro: A smiling dark haired woman holds up a sandwich with a bite taken out of it. Credit: Farkot Architect/Getty Images)

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

From Michelin starred kitchens to Hong Kong’s high rise tower blocks, via informal settlements in the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Ruth Alexander hears from people making the best out of the cramped and tiny spaces they’re cooking in.

Gina Lai shows her around the kitchen in her cramped Hong Kong high rise flat and Ruth visits chef Ryan Blackburn who has retained a Michelin star whilst cooking out of the tinest of professional kitchens in Northern England.

Plus Leah and her daughter Janice explain how they cook family meals in an informal settlement in the Kenyan capital Nairobi and AJ Forget describes what it's like to give up a big kitchen for a new life on the road, living and cooking in a converted bus.

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

Produced by Izzy Greenfield, Rumella Dasgupta and Lexy O'Connor

Image Description: Gina Lai is cooking in her tiny Hong Kong flat. (Credit Gina Lai/BBC)

Every food company starts with a gamble - and not all of them pay off. In this episode Ruth Alexander speaks to business owners about the risks they’ve taken to get where they are today, from financial leaps to personal sacrifices, and the painful decisions that have shaped their journeys.

Ruth hears from Kim Kiarie, chef-owner of Five Senses Nairobi in Kenya, about building a high-end restaurant in a challenging market. Adonis Norouznia, who runs Nomas Gastrobar in Macclesfield in North-West England, on the risks of deciding to serve meat at his vegan restaurant, and Keith Bearden, CEO and co-owner of Alta Eco Foods in Houston, Texas, about scaling a food business in a competitive industry.

They describe the compromises that cost them dearly, the moments they wondered whether it was all worth it, and what kept them going. Produced by Izzy Greenfield

Image description: A foot comes down amidst a cartoon landscape of bright yellow banana skins. Credit Getty.

We all have recipes we turn to again and again, perhaps from the stained pages of our favourite cookbooks, or handed down through families. But have you ever wondered about the work that’s gone into writing that set of instructions? In this edition of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander looks at the art and science of recipe writing.

How does a cook turn what is often an instinctive and creative process into a list of instructions anyone can follow? How much detail is too much, and what are the essential elements no recipe is complete without? Ruth talks to a well-known cook who describes her love-hate relationship with recipe writing and a cookbook editor reveals how she’s built recipes from chefs’ doodles or even notes scrawled on a napkin. Find out what it’s like to work in the world of recipe testing and how the art of writing recipes has changed over hundreds of years.

Producer: Lexy O’Connor

Sound engineer: Hal Haines

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

Most of us have foods we refuse to eat - think coriander, or maybe olives. But where do those strong dislikes come from, and is it possible to change them?

In this episode of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander sets out to find out whether you really can learn to love the foods you hate. From first encounters that go wrong to memories that linger, she explores why food preferences can feel so fixed, and whether anything might help shift them.

Ruth speaks to neuroscientist Dr Dana Small, professor and Canada Excellence Research Chair at McGill University, about what’s happening in the brain and body when we eat, and how unconscious reward signals shape what we come to like or avoid.

She also hears from psychologist Dr Rachel Herz, an expert on the science of smell and author of Why We Eat What We Eat, about the powerful role odour, memory and emotion play in food dislike, often before we’re even aware of it.

And registered dietitian Clare Thornton-Wood shares practical, low-pressure techniques used with both children and adults to build tolerance - and sometimes even enjoyment - for foods they can’t stand.

Producer: Izzy Greenfield Sound engineer: Annie Gardiner Picture: A woman holding a fork with a piece of broccoli in front of her, looking unsure (credit: Getty)