Taking things with a pinch of spice...
FOOD UNWRAPPED: JIMMY’S ASIAN ADVENTURES
Channel 4, 8pm FROM the discovery that nail polish remover was used to make your favourite treats, to finding out that a banana is being marketed as a fish substitute, sometimes you wish you didn’t know what went into your food.
However, the amiable Jimmy Doherty and his enthusiastic declarations of “Wow” make this show an irresistible journey through some of life’s most baffling food mysteries.
You may never have dwelled on the difference between light and dark soy sauce, or why you can’t always taste turmeric, but it’s fascinating nonetheless.
This special sees Jimmy unwrap some of his all-time favourite Asian adventures.
In China, he investigates soy sauce, visiting a small, old-school operation where 6000 earthenware pots of fermented soy beans and salt water are left standing on the sunny banks of a river for three years.
Elsewhere in the country Jimmy visits a factory where 50 huge tanks whip up 30,000 tons of soy sauce a month.
On a visit to India, our host discovers that turmeric is in a lot more of your food than you realise – fishfingers, chips, yogurt, biscuits… but why can’t you taste it? It’s all to do with acetate, aka nail polish remover.
Jimmy also gets an invite to an Indian wedding where his face is smothered in turmeric, a symbol of peace and prosperity (and good for the skin).
In Thailand, he reveals an unexpected addiction to spring rolls.
And in Sri Lanka, he cracks the case of why coconuts are so popular in the UK.