Wassail! Wassail! A celebration of cider, orchards and song

01/30/22 • 28 min

1 Listener

Dan Saladino goes in search of the history, meaning and spirit of wassails and cider. In Somerset he takes part in a village wassail sung door to door and one sung in an orchard.

Contributors: The Drayton village wassailers. Gerard Tucker, wassail master of ceremonies. Nell Leyshon (novelist and dramatist, play: Folk). James Crowden, author, Cider Country: How an Ancient Craft Became a Way of Life.

Music: Drayton Wassail (as documented by Cecil Sharp in 1903) Tam Lin, Fairport Convention (1968) Bruton Town, Pentangle (1968)

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Dan Saladino goes in search of the history, meaning and spirit of wassails and cider. In Somerset he takes part in a village wassail sung door to door and one sung in an orchard.

Music: Drayton Wassail (as documented by Cecil Sharp in 1903) Tam Lin, Fairport Convention (1968) Bruton Town, Pentangle (1968)

Produced and presented by Dan Saladino.

Previous Episode

Angela Hartnett: A Life Through Food

In this episode Sheila Dillon is joined by a chef, restaurateur, author and campaigner, Angela Hartnett, for another in the programme’s series of Lives told through Food.

Angela Hartnett is seen as an icon in the food industry - she started out learning on the job in Cambridge - and later rose up working for Gordon Ramsey, first at The Aubergine, and later at the Connaught Hotel, where she earned her first Michelin star.

During that time she started to become a familiar face on British Television, appearing regularly on Hell’s Kitchen and the Great British Menu.

In 2010, Angela bought Ramsay out of the restaurant she still runs today - Murano - where she received another Michelin star.

In January 2022, Angela was awarded an OBE for her services to the hospitality industry, and for the work she did for the NHS during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In this conversation, Angela reflects on her campaigning, changes in the industry, and family life.

Presented by Sheila Dillon Produced in Bristol by Natalie Donovan

Next Episode

Eco-labelling for food - what difference could it make?

Jaega Wise explores how environmental-impact labels on food and drink products could help lower the carbon footprint of the food industry. Although there’s been an increase in the number of companies using different kinds of carbon and eco labels, they still appear on a small minority of products. There are growing calls for there to be a unified system for calculating the environmental impact of food production – one that not only measures carbon emissions, but also other impacts like water use and biodiversity loss, all using the same internationally agreed method so shoppers can compare products fairly and accurately. So what would it take for environmental labelling to become widespread? Jaega Wise talks to non-profit organisation Foundation Earth about their plans to establish an eco-impact label that could be used across Europe. We look at how a more harmonised approach could encourage more companies to get on board, increase public trust, and trigger change across food supply chains as companies look for more eco-friendly ways of producing, manufacturing, transporting and packaging food.

Presented by Jaega Wise and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.