The Food Chain

Running a restaurant is hard. Long hours, tight margins and constant stress. In this week's programme Rumella Dasgupta travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, to meet Lisa He and her mum Sophie. Lisa has just put her life and acting career on hold, to try and help her mum save the family's restaurant, the China Star. A video she made documenting her attempt has gone viral, with more than fifteen million views.
But is a viral video going to be enough to turn a failing business into a success? Lisa's got to fix the sprawling menu, digitise the paper ordering system and cut costs.
Lisa and Rumella meet restaurant turnaround expert David Hopkins from the Fifteen Group in Canada, who's on hand to give advice and to explain why restaurants are such difficult businesses to run.
Meanwhile the Mand family in Sydney Australia know only too well what Lisa and Sophie are going through. Last year, son Bhav documented his fight to save his dad's failing restaurant. So how's it doing now?
And, in such a difficult industry, when is the right time to walk away? Rumella hears from Carleigh Bond, who made the tough decision to close her vegan fast-food restaurant Forked Up in October 2025.
Producers: Lexy O'Connor and Beatrice Pickup.
Sound Engineer: Andrew Mills
Image description: Lisa He and mum Sophie in their restaurant, The China Star. Lisa is looking at mum and smiling. (Credit: BBC)

Food tours are becoming one of the fastest-growing parts of the travel industry, with tourists increasingly choosing to explore cities and cultures through what they eat.
In this episode, Ruth Alexander explores the global rise of guided food experiences and the people building businesses around them.
In Manchester, food tour guide Julia Fairburn takes Ruth through some of the city’s best-known food spots, explaining how successful tours combine local history, storytelling and carefully paced eating experiences designed to leave visitors with lasting memories.
Eric Wolf, founder and executive director of the World Food Travel Association in Valencia, Spain, explains how food tourism has expanded worldwide into a multi-billion-dollar industry, as travellers increasingly seek authentic and immersive culinary experiences.
We also hear from Judith von Prockel, who began creating holidays centred around food experiences more than two decades ago, long before culinary tourism became mainstream. She reflects on how attitudes towards food travel have changed and why people are increasingly planning trips around what they want to eat.
And in Malaysia, Pauline Lee from Simply Enak describes the work involved in creating memorable food tours in a growing and increasingly competitive market, where guides must balance logistics, hospitality and cultural storytelling alongside the food itself.
From hidden local gems to global tourism trends, we explore why food tours have become big business — and what travellers are really looking for when they book them.
If you’d like to get in touch with the programme, please email: [email protected]
Producer: Izzy Greenfield
Sound engineer: Andy Mills
Picture: Simple Enak

Making cocktails isn't just about flair - bottles spinning through the air as the bartender puts on a show. It's about precision, perfectionism and people skills.
Ruth Alexander meets three world-class bartenders to hear stories about their most glamorous customers, the dangerous ones, and what it takes to make the perfect drink.
Hear about the highs and lows; from the glamour of working on a movie set to the what happens when customers turn nasty. What's it like to make this challenging job your career?
Plus of course: how to make the perfect martini! (The answer might surprise you!)
Producers: Lexy O'Connor and Izzy Greenfield
Sound Engineer: Andrew Mills
Image description:

Meal prepping is supposed to save us time, money and stress. It is a huge trend on social media, but how can we make it work in our own real, messy lives?
Ruth Alexander meets Hannah, a busy working mum who wants help to make meal times easier, quicker and more varied. Could batch cooking be the answer?
On hand to offer advice and inspiration are Jess Rice from the US website Budget Bytes and Kevin Curry, who has around two million followers across his Fit Men Cook social media accounts.
And if you have ever wondered whether those leftovers are safe to eat, or how long you should leave hot food cooling on the kitchen counter before you freeze it, there is advice from Natalie Stanton, who trains chefs in food safety.
If you would like to get in touch with The Food Chain team, please email [email protected]
Producer: Lexy O'Connor
Sound engineer: Hal Haines
(Image: A food container with chicken and vegetables being opened by a woman's hands. Credit: Getty Images)

Potatoes are having a moment.
Once dismissed as dull, stodgy or even unhealthy, they’re now back, appearing on restaurant menus, in food magazines and across social media feeds.
But the story of the potato goes back much further.
In this episode, Ruth Alexander traces the journey of one of the world’s most familiar foods. From its origins millions of years ago to its place in today’s global food system.
AJ Shehata, senior sous chef at Fallow restaurant in London explains why the potato forces chefs to get creative.
At the Natural History Museum, botanist Sandy Knapp explains how the potato may have been born from a chance encounter between two wild plants in the Andes, an event that made it possible for potatoes to grow underground and spread across new environments.
We explore how the potato became a global food. Potatoes USA president Blair Richardson explains how demand continues to grow worldwide, and how the industry is working to reshape the potato’s image.
We ask whether the potato’s reputation is deserved. Nutrition scientist Candida Rebello shares research suggesting potatoes may be far more beneficial, and more misunderstood, than many people think.
And at the International Potato Center in Peru, scientist Julian Soto works with farmers to conserve thousands of native potato varieties. In the Andes, potatoes are not just a crop, they are part of culture, identity and family life.
From ancient origins to modern revival, this is the story of how the potato conquered the world, fell out of favour, and is now being rediscovered, just as new challenges begin to emerge.
If you’d like to get in touch with the programme, please email: [email protected]
Producer: Izzy Greenfield
Sound engineer: Hal Haines
Picture: Getty