Snackification: Our love affair with snacks

05/14/25 • 26 min

Ruth Alexander looks at the world of snacks. Have we always snacked or is it a more modern phenomenon that started with formal meal patterns? What snacks have been popular through the ages, what’s the industry doing now and what could we be eating in the future?

We talk to food historians Dr Annie Gray and Professor Janis Thiessen, the former CEO of Unilever Paul Polman - who remembers the rise of some of the biggest brands - and Christine Cochran from the international trade association SNAC International.

We also hear from snack fans across the world.

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

We also hear from snack fans across the world.

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

Previous Episode

Stress, eat, repeat?

When you’re feeling stressed, does it affect your appetite?

In this programme Ruth Alexander is joined by two experts in chronic stress to discuss why it can cause us to crave certain foods, the impact on our bodies and whether there’s anything we can do to prepare for periods of stress in our lives.

Ruth is joined by Professor Rajita Sinha, clinical psychologist and founding director of the Yale University Interdisciplinary Stress Center in the United States, and Dr Mithu Storoni, neuro-ophthalmologist and author of the books ‘Stress-Proof’ and ‘Hyperefficient’.

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

Presented by Ruth Alexander.

Produced by Beatrice Pickup and Bisi Adebayo.

(Image: a woman studying and eating a slice of pizza whilst wearing headphones. Credit: Getty Images/ BBC)

Next Episode

Let food do the talking

Does food have the power to send messages when words aren’t enough? This week Ruth Alexander finds out how food can sometimes speak much louder than words.

Lecturer in Chinese Cultural Studies Dr Zhaokun Xi explains why gifting a pear in China can quietly suggest separation — and how it still carries weight today. Chef Beejhy Barhany reflects on the role of Ethiopian food in expressing care and welcome through gursha, the act of feeding people with your hands. We find out how food can be used as a signal of protest from historian and food researcher Aylin Oney Tan. From the Janissaries tipping their cauldrons of soup to signal unrest, to black pepper in a wedding dish to symbolise the role of the mother in law. And we learn about the power of food in mourning; Greek food writer Aglaia Kremezi tell us about koliva, a sweet dish served at funerals in Greece — and how it attempts to soften the bitterness of loss.

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

Presenter: Ruth Alexander Producer: Izzy Greenfield