Welcome from editor: togetherness and inclusivity

Welcome and thank you for joining me this weekend.

It’s December and Christmas preparations are under way. This has made me think about togetherness, spending the holidays with loved ones and of course, sharing food.

Food is a Christmas centrepiece. It brings people together, but it can also pull them apart.

Writing about festive food in today’s feature The nut roast’s out: delicious plant-based Christmas food and drink has reminded me how vegans missed out on delicious traditional festive food for years. These days there are so many delicious plant-based Christmas foods, that those shunning animal products no longer have to go without during Yule, or have to cook everything from scratch and now can be fully included in the festivities.

Professor Tim Lang joins us for a frank discussion about the state of the food system, and shares some ideas on how everybody can do their bit by growing produce or make smarter choices around food.

Should alcoholic drinks get the same treatment as food and display a nutritional label? Many think so. Find out more about this fascinating study by the University of Liverpool in our news of the week.

Finally, feast your eyes on some beautiful pictures of food packaging design through the ages, from the Victorian era to now. Many of these will bring back memories for us all, and maybe a touch of collective nostalgia.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend,

Stef