We’re excited to share with you the recent coverage of Bags of Taste in the media:
BBC Radio 4’s “The Food Programme”
The Guardian article about our campaign against the closure of Billingsgate Fish Market
The Food Programme – Radio 4
Alicia has been featured on Radio 4’s The Food Programme several times, most recently in July 2026 in a feature about Professor Susan Jebb’s industry Food and Drink Lecture. Prof. Jebb talks about the impact the food industry has had in the decline of the nation’s health and their responsibility to improve the quality of foods we are eating.
In her lecture she highlighted a few organisations – and featured Bags of Taste on this specially curated programme – which are doing good work in this area. Professor Jebb is the Chair of the Food Standards Agency and a Professor of Diet and Population Health at Oxford University.
Listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002y24d
This episode from Feb 25 focused on what we can learn from our Grans, how and why we learn to cook and the ways in which we cook and eat have changed over the years.
Alicia talks about how Bags of Taste encourages people to cook from scratch in their own homes and supports people to move away from a reliance on takeaways and ready meals. It was wonderful to welcome Sheila Dillon to Bags of Taste HQ and do some onion chopping together! Sheila described Bags of Taste as ‘Granny for a new age!’ 💗💗💗
Also featured were Polly Russell, Food Historian, Sophie Beckett from Birmingham Museums Trust and Jonny Murphy, the ‘Hungry Hooker.’
Have a listen to our section below:
Or you can listen to the whole programme on BBC Sounds via the link below, it’s a great listen, the Bags of Taste section is at 24:40.
Gap Finders – Radio 4
Gap Finders is a 30 minute programme that features people that have identified a gap in the market and developed a product or service to fill it. It was an ideal showcase for our founder Alicia Weston, who realised that traditional cooking lessons were not very effective at changing what participants ate. Listen here on BBC iPlayer, to Alicia talking to Winifred Robinson about how she identified the gap and how she developed Bags of Taste to empower people to improve their own diets.
In it she emphasises how data driven and evidence based our approach is. This initial realisation led her to realise there was a second gap in the market, which is that so many people do not or cannot attend cooking lessons, which then led to the development of our programme to the home-based model we use today.
The Guardian
Bags of Taste and our Founder, Alicia Weston, have been involved in campaigning against the permanent closure of Billingsgate Fish Market, which supplies around 10% of the fish to London and the South East of England.
She was alerted to the issue when the local fishmongers, who serve a very low income market, told her they were going to have to shut down without Billingsgate. In order to stop this, she has taken the campaign, along with the 3 local fishmongers, to Parliament, and together they have spearheaded the campaign to stop this closure of one of London’s most important wholesale markets.
Wholesale markets keep food prices down, and low food prices on healthy foods such as fish help people to eat a healthy diet on a tight budget.
This issue was also covered by an article on BBC R4’s The Food Programme here, in which we were also featured
Bags of Taste was featured in the Riverford Organic Farmers’ magazine, Wicked Leeks recently and the link is below:
https://wickedleeks.riverford.co.uk/news/the-not-for-profit-breaking-down-barriers-to-home-cooking/
BBC World Service
Alicia Weston, our CEO was on the BBC’s World Service “People Fixing the World” together with Errol, referred by the Jobcentre, who has dyslexia and was unable to read and understand recipes.
He found the unique way Bags of Taste delivers our course was able to help him – screen readers, videos and the constant support of his mentor, Natalie, were what got him through the course. A great illustration of how Bags of Taste are able to support those most in need in non-traditional ways.
You can hear the Bags of Taste part on the link below
Or access the full programme below, which is well worth a listen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0kpsxbd
We hope that you enjoy reading and listening! Want to help as many people in need get the support they need?
- Donate to fund more courses – we have waiting lists in many areas
- https://bagsoftaste.org/donate/
- Partner with us to bring the unique benefits of Bags of Taste to your local community.
- Email us at [email protected] or click on https://bagsoftaste.org/contact-us
