Podcast Corner: New show offers chats about food sustainability issues 

Over six episodes, Ellie O'Byrne delves into topics such as beef production and infant formula 

Ellie O'Byrne has produced six episodes of Green Bites. 

Journalist Ellie O'Byrne, who writes regularly on these pages, has just wrapped up the first six episodes of her food-sustainability podcast Green Bites. 

She explained how the seed was planted: "While there are plenty of food podcasts and plenty of environmental podcasts, I couldn't find one that dealt with the Irish food landscape in a way that I'm increasingly coming to see as vital. The Covid lockdown raised all sorts of questions for people about what we consider essential and I came up with the three Fs of Food, Family and Future."

The first episode, 'Losing the Plot', offers insight into the red tape that hit allotments during Covid-19, O'Byrne opining, after a fascinating discussion with food historian Regina Sexton, "it seems as though the Covid-19 lockdown was the first time in history that the Irish government responded to a crisis by preventing people from growing their own food".

What are you up to for the weekend? Whether you’re baking, gardening, staycationing or just mooching, all four back episodes of #GreenBites are there to keep you company! Spotify, Apple Podcasts or on the web player: https://t.co/hOBFFP0pKP HAPPY WEEKEND 💚💚💚 pic.twitter.com/yZl8cfGU9c

— Green Bites Podcast (@GreenBitesPod) July 25, 2020

With the surge in home baking, from banana bread to sourdough, during lockdown, episode two, 'Flour Power', ponders why most of Ireland's milling wheat is imported. Irish bakers might be left pounding their dough in anger on hearing, later that episode, French baker Ben Lebon of Cork's Natural Foods Bakery dismiss soda bread as cake. 

For me it's a cake because you use soda, you don't use any yeast, so there is no fermentation. When you think about it, you just mix everything and throw it in the oven. I'm not saying it's bad - I myself love soda bread - but you can't really say it's bread, it's more like a cake.

The episodes centre on long, informative chats with similar minds to O'Byrne, who believe that a sea change in how we think about food is needed. From smallhold farmers in Kerry to farmed salmon, Green Bites will leave you at the very least questioning whether you should pick up that 49p bag of carrots at the supermarket or pay that bit more at the local farmers' market.

I asked O'Byrne what she herself had learned from the series so far. "I particularly loved Clive Bright's insights into beef in episode four; his assertion that farmers are no longer part of a food system but a commodities market is a particular kind of revelation. The infant formula episode has also been a really important one."

Green Bites is available at all the usual podcast places. The next episode is out September 4