Once Upon a Mealtime

The Food Programme

Whether it's Turkish Delight, chocolate cake or ginger beer - some of our earliest food memories are shaped by the books we read. In this episode Sheila Dillon goes down the rabbit-hole of children's fiction to discover why young readers find descriptions of food so compelling.

She hears from bestselling children's author Katherine Rundell who insists on eating the food she features in her books. Katherine reveals what it's like to sample a tarantula in the name of fiction. Professor of Children's Literature Michael Rosen unpicks the themes of greed, temptation and fear that surface in both his work and that of Roald Dahl. At the Bath Children's Literature Festival Supertato author Sue Hendra and the illustrator Rob Biddulph talk about how children are drawn to the everydayness of food.

The programme concludes in the Children's Bookshop in North London as the Food Programme presenters gather to discuss their favourite food books of the year for both younger and older readers. They are assisted by the bookshop owner Sanchita Basu de Sarkar and the author of The Chronicles of Wetherwhy Anna James.

Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Robin Markwell

This episode features extracts from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis read by Katherine Rundell, The Boy Next Door by Enid Blyton read by Miriam Margolyes (for BBC Radio 4 in 2008) and The Twits by Roald Dahl read by Kathy Burke (for Jackanory, BBC TV in 1995)