Tips from the team: the best things we’ve watched, read and listened to in 2022

How Idan Chabasov Became “The Challah Prince”

This episode on Schmaltzy, a podcast from the Jewish Food Society, tells the story of Idan Chabasov, aka The Challah Prince. This Israeli born Instagram star had never baked anything until he moved to Berlin. Today, he impresses the world with his challah creations. In this podcast, he credits making challah with bringing him out of a dark time and staying grounded.

King’s Hawaiian Rolls

In the podcasts of The Recipe Club, chef David Chang and the other members of the Recipe Club sift through millions of recipes to find the very best way to make the food you want to eat. Each week, they cook one dish, debate it, and figure out ways to make it even tastier. This episode features the iconic King’s Hawaiian Roll, which – in their words – might be the most delicious store-bought bread roll out there. 

Gut feeling

The GastroPod podcast looks at food through the lens of science and history. This episode about Gut Feeling zooms in on the powerful connection between your brain and your stomach, and on how you can use this connection by using food to help heal a whole host of mental illnesses. Listen in for the scoop on how tweaking your gut microbes can change your mind. 

The Icing Artist

Award winning YouTube channel The Icing Artist has almost 5 million followers around the world. The host is self-taught cake artist Laurie Shannon. With her 7 years of experience making cake decorating videos, Laurie teaches how easy it is to make those wow-worthy cakes we're all in awe of!

World Chocolate Masters

On the YouTube channel of the World Chocolate Masters, you can find every livestream and highlight video of the World Chocolate Masters 2022, and also from earlier editions. This world cup for chocolate craft was initiated to advance creative chocolate artisanship and put new talent on the map. In 2022, 18 countries sent their absolute best to bring the chocolate of tomorrow in front of an expert jury, by presenting a clear vision of the future of chocolate, and amazingly tasty creations. 

Proof Bread

Proof Bread is the YouTube channel of a small group of passionate bakers, working in their garages which have been converted into micro-bakeries. This channels offers a modern throwback to a way of life that values small-scale craftsmanship, local community, and creativity. Everything they bake in their videos is made by hand, from the best local ingredients, with no short cuts. From Pumpkin-shaped Sourdough Centerpieces to Sourdough Brioches and from Sourdough Croissants to Sourdough Pastries, it all looks delicious! 

Our Fermented Lives: A History of How Fermented Foods Have Shaped Cultures and Communities 

Fermentation is a popular topic in both food and health circles. In Our Fermented Lives, food historian and fermenting expert Julia Skinner explores the roots of fermented foods in cultures around the world. From sourdough bread and craft beers to cheese, kimchi and coffee. This engaging history is accompanied by 42 recipes adapted from historic sources, including corn beer, uji (fermented grain porridge), pickles and relishes, vinegars, Tepache (fermented pineapple drink), beet kvass and more.

Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them 

This award winning book is an astonishing journey through the past, present and future of food. It is a love letter to the diversity of global food cultures, and a work of great urgency and hope. This book reveals a world at a crisis point: the future of our planet depends on reclaiming genetic biodiversity before it is too late. Author Dan Saladino traveled the whole world for this book, meeting pioneering farmers, scientists, cooks, food producers and indigenous communities who are preserving food traditions and fighting for change. 

Eat and Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being 

Food has the power to nourish your mind, supporting emotional wellness through both nutrients and pleasure. In this ground-breaking and entertaining book, journalist Mary Beth Albright draws on cutting-edge research to explain the food/mood connection. By reading this book, you will learn how certain foods help reduce the inflammation that can harm mental health, how the microbiome and the brain are related and how to develop a healthful eating pattern for life. 

Bread Head: Baking for the Road Less Traveled

The author of this book, Greg Wade, is an expert in the tastes and textures of long-fermented, hand-shaped breads. Bread Head is his guide to making all your favorite professional-level breads, cakes, and pastries at home. The book takes home cooks through foundational recipes like Farmhouse Sourdough and Marbled Rye to more unexpected and delicious bakes like Sorghum and Rosemary Ciabatta, Ethiopian Injera and Indian Parathas.

For the love of bread

A beautiful series of short films that are all about bread: life’s key ingredient, as the makers call it. The episodes of For the love of bread take you on a journey around the planet, to discover the personalities and places behind the different breads eaten by people across the world. From Greece and Malta to Copenhagen and San Francisco. A beautiful tribute to bread and its bakers. 

The Bear

The reviews of TV show The Bear go from ‘fantastic’ to ‘the most stressful thing on TV’. The Bear will either ‘have you pumping your fist or give you a heart attack. Possibly both’, commented Rolling Stone. It’s comedy and drama in one. The show is about Carmy, a young fine-dining chef that comes home to Chicago to save his family sandwich business after the dead of this brother. He is forced to manage a chaotic staff, mounting debts and his own unresolved grief. As he fights to transform the shop and himself, he works alongside a rough-around-the-edges crew that ultimately reveal themselves as his chosen family. 

Follow the food

From conflict to climate change, our food is under pressure like never before. Follow the food is an in-depth multimedia series examining the biggest pressures on the world food system. These documentaries zoom in on all the different challenges that we’re facing, and the solutions to help overcome them. Watch series 3 to learn how farmers, scientists, tech innovators and consumers learn from the recent shock to the food chain and, crucially, how they can build a new system that can meet the twin challenges of population growth and climate change.