How chicken got big. Dr Chris van Tulleken unwraps the forces that shape what we eat. Listen and subscribe on BBC Sounds - just search for Fed with Chris van Tulleken.

In the One Dish Christmas special, chef and author Yotam Ottolenghi cooks Andi Oliver one of his favourite festive feasting dishes - a stunning platter of roasted aubergine drizzled with sunshine yellow saffron-infused yoghurt and jewel-like pomegranate seeds. It’s technically a side dish, yes. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be a stand-alone thing of beauty. How does it fit in alongside the traditional Christmas bird with all the trimmings that his husband and kids adore, or a more...

In the final episode of the first series of One Dish, comedian and writer Jack Rooke brings a lovely little ramekin of one of his favourite foods: stuffing. Intended to keep meat moist, and to eke out expensive cuts so they go further, they’re now an indispensable component of a special occasion meal for many people - including Jack. He shares some of his favourite stuffing memories, and admits that when it comes to the preparation he’s very much a sous chef and it’s his mum who’s in charge...

Presenter, comedian and actor Jayde Adams joins Andi Oliver this week to discuss a mutual favourite dim sum dish: cheung fun. These steamed rice noodle rolls filled with pork, prawns or other delicious things weren’t familiar to Jayde until relatively recently. Although she grew up with a close family connection to Chinese cooking, it was her mum who introduced her to the joys of dim sum in a Chinatown restaurant on a visit to London. Andi and Jayde learn about the extensive history in China...

Andi Oliver is joined this week by musician and actor Jordan Stephens and he’s brought a dish that’s close to both of their hearts: ackee and saltfish with dumplings. It’s a Jamaican national dish beloved in Britain by people from all parts of the African and Caribbean diaspora. During Jordan’s childhood it was a crucial part of the Guyanese buffet at Stephens family sports days in North London parks. Neither ackee nor saltfish originated in the Caribbean, so how did they end up on a plate...

Presenter and former Made In Chelsea star Jamie Laing meets Andi Oliver this week, and he’s talking about his mum’s Thai chicken noodle soup. Jamie grew up with underwhelming boarding school food; piles of sausages and meat and two veg. But his mum’s passion for cooking meant that when he went back home his mealtimes were much more exciting. Andi enlightens Jamie on the origins of his dish: actually a Ken Hom recipe for a Northern Thai dish called Khao Soi which originated from historic...

It’s comedian Suzi Ruffell in the hot seat this week, and she’s brought Andi a baked treat that’s been in her family for decades: bread pudding. It’s important to note early on, as Suzi does, that this is very different to bread and butter pudding, though it does also provide a great opportunity for using up stale bread. Employing working class thriftiness to make the most out of ingredients past their best, bread pudding is a dish that Suzi associates with her beloved late nan Joan, who’d...

Food writer and cook Ixta Belfrage is Andi’s guest, and her One Dish is actually one of her own invention: a historic and important Brazilian fish stew - Moqueca - adapted into a British-style potato topped fish pie. Ixta shares the history of Moqueca, and how it evolved from an indigenous Tupi Brazilian dish to contain ingredients like coconut milk and azeite de dende (red palm oil) which arrived in Brazil with enslaved people from Africa and Portuguese colonisers. Andi explores the history...

Cookbook author, restaurateur and chef Asma Khan is Andi Oliver’s guest on One Dish on this episode, and she’s brought one of the most important dishes in her life to the table: kala channa. This stewed, spiced black chickpea dish from India is one traditionally eaten in Asma’s family after fasting during Ramadan - although Asma prefers to start with a few samosas first. Andi and Asma talk about the history of kala channa as an important crop in India, reflect on how access to Indian...

Comedian and co-host of the hit food podcast Off Menu Ed Gamble is in the studio this week. He's making the case to Andi Oliver for one of his all time favourite things to eat: a cheeseboard. Crunchy cheddar, a soft goat, a cheese of giants (Comté) and a real stinky blue: these are all essential components of Ed’s dream board. To Andi’s horror, he’s not bothered about the ‘fripperies’ that surround the cheese on a board - but Kimberley Wilson’s here to explain the science behind why eating...

Baker, cookbook author and former GBBO star Benjamina Ebuehi is sharing her One Dish with Andi Oliver this week, and she’s gone for a classic: carrot cake. Benjamina’s brought a spectacular cake made to her own recipe and Andi’s wondering if there’s nutmeg in it, but in fact it’s spiced instead with cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, as well as one more - slightly unexpected - ingredient. This cake holds lots of memories for Benjamina after she started out baking in her teens. Carrot cake...

British-Malaysian comedian Phil Wang joins Andi Oliver at the table this week to share his love of a classic Malaysian dish, Wat Tan Hor. It’s characterised by flat rice noodles, seafood and a “gloopy” egg gravy spiced with pepper; Phil thinks this dish might be visually unappealing to the uninitiated, but he urges us to see past its humble appearance to appreciate the savoury deliciousness within. This dish has a real family connection for Phil; it reminds him of his dad, who took it on...

Joining Andi Oliver this week is presenter, author and journalist Candice Brathwaite, and she's chosen a dish with a history that runs deep for her and her family: fried plantain. Candice loves plantain so much, she’d eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The plantain’s roots lie on the Pacific island of New Guinea, which comes as a bit of a surprise to Andi and Candice, who have spent their lives eating plantain as part of Antiguan and Jamaican meals respectively. They discuss how...

Chef, restaurateur and the internet’s unofficial ‘King of Butter’ Thomas Straker has the honour of being the first One Dish guest to actually cook at the studio: he’s making his signature dish of pici cacio e pepe for Andi Oliver. It’s a bit of a cheffy favourite at the moment, but as Thomas and Andi discuss, it’s becoming more well known with British home cooks thanks to its simple ingredients. Thomas explains how cooking this dish was a lifebelt for him during lockdown, why friction is the...

Food-loving comedian Jessica Fostekew is Andi Oliver’s guest at the One Dish table this week and she’s talking about an Austrian family favourite: schnitzel. Whether cold from the fridge or freshly bubbling and crispy from the pan, Jessica is always up for some schnitzel. Andi and Jessica learn about the 1st century Roman gourmand who first recorded a version of this dish, and discuss the respective merits of other breaded cutlets (tonkatsu or parmo, anyone?) and also how making schnitzel...

Andi Oliver meets drag queen and star of RuPaul's Drag Race UK Cheryl Hole to discuss her favourite food: lasagne. Cheryl's a true diva who prefers to be cooked for, but she can still turn out a mean Essex lasagne just as her mum did. Andi and Cheryl learn about the greedy friar whose lasagne gluttony made it into a 13th century Italian poem, get geeky about how swelling starch molecules hold the key to the perfect bechamel and both Andi and Cheryl admit to some frankly shocking cold lasagne...

Andi Oliver meets cookery writer, presenter and GBBO star Briony May Williams to sample her home-made soda bread. Briony makes soda bread just as her incredible Granky did, using a recipe that's now over 100 years old. Andi and Briony wonder how on earth anyone discovered that using ash from a fire makes a delicious risen loaf, get stuck into the science of acidulation and saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Andi has a bread-related brainwave which will transform the way you roast a chicken and...

Andi Oliver explores the science and history of of our favourite foods. The first episode drops on Friday, 13th May 2022.