FOOD UNWRAPPED
Channel 4, 8pm
NEXT time you lob a packet of raspberries into your trolley, smashing them to a pulp, spare a thought for the poor people who took great pains to protect them. “This fruit is as delicate as they come,” says Matt Tebbutt, who is in Spain to work out how raspberries get from the field to our fridges without turning to mush. Unlocking the secrets of the food we take for granted, this show is always a fascinating and international tour.
Easy to forget that perfectly ripe red raspberries don’t grow on supermarket shelves.
In Thailand, Jimmy Doherty wants to find out more about banana blossom, a new trendy ingredient that is starting to appear in our supermarkets. With vegan eating habits on the rise, vegans are eating it as a fish substitute… but it’s a flower? Jimmy is on a banana plantation hoping for answers, but the baffled Thai owner laughs: “Replace fish? I wouldn’t dream of it!”
Meanwhile in
Britain, Andi
Oliver gets the low down on onions, grabbing a hankie and heading to an onion factory. She wants to know how supermarkets now manage to sell packets of onions pre-peeled and chopped. Who has that job? Presumably the ones with bloodshot eyes.
And where does the magic happen? “The peeling room,” offers a factory worker, looking concerned. “It’s not everyone’s cup of tea to be honest. It’s going to make you cry.”
Andi braces herself for an eyewatering investigation.