The Ark of Taste: The Story so Far

This is a race against time. Earlier this year The Food Programme set out to record stories of foods around the world facing extinction, a project that has provided dramatic accounts from the depths of Anatolian caves to the heights of Indonesian rainforest canopies. In this episode Jamie Oliver, Thomasina Miers and chef Paula McIntyre talk about the tastes, flavours and ingredients which are facing extinction.

The gathered stories all come from the Ark of Taste; an ever-growing list of endangered foods from 100 different countries across the world. Created by the International Slow Food movement, the food NGO founded in Italy 30 years ago, the Ark of Taste is backed by the United Nations as well as the European Union. As the biblical reference indicates, this Ark is on a mission to prevent extinction and protect biodiversity.

The Food Programme is about to start a new mini series of stories found within the Ark of Taste. Each week - in Monday's edition of The Food Programme - listeners can hear about an ingredient or recipe, find out why it is disappearing and why it is important to save. But before he unveils a new batch of forgotten flavours, Dan Saladino plays out some of his favourite stories from our last series.

Produced by Becky Ripley.