Food writer Stefan Gates continues to explore some of the most controversial food issues and dangerous places in the world.
CHERNOBYL
 |
Sunday, 13 May, 2007
1900 BST on BBC Two
Repeated: Tuesday, 26 June at 0115 BST on BBC Four
|
In the Ukraine, Stefan travels to the scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster to see how people survive and eat in one of the most contaminated places in the world.
The explosion in Reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant released 100 times more radiation than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Soviet government imposed a strict exclusion zone around the plant and evacuated tens of thousands of people.
Today it is still extremely dangerous - and illegal - to live in the area, but Stefan finds that many people quickly returned after the disaster to some of the small villages and are living on berries, mushrooms and the meagre produce of their remaining livestock.
Armed with a Geiger counter Stefan sits down with a couple in their 80s who have stubbornly refused to leave their homes and still eat the produce from their garden. They invite Stefan to stay for dinner, but will he ignore BBC safety advice and tuck in to a potentially radioactive supper?
Stefan finally retreats to the "safe" town of Slavutych and picks mushrooms with the town mayor, who assures Stefan that there is no danger in eating them. But, when Stefan takes the mushrooms to be tested, he makes a shocking discovery.
Producer: Marc Perkins
Executive producer: Will Daws
TONGA AND FIJI
|
Sunday, 13 May 2007
1900 GMT on BBC Two
Repeated: Tuesday, 26 June at 0115 BST on BBC Four
|
Why are some people in the South Pacific eating themselves to death?
In Tonga he finds the fattest people on earth - 91% are overweight - and goes kickboxing with the princess who is determined to whip her subjects into shape.
In Fiji, he tries the local narcotic - cava - and slaughters a piglet for lunch.
Producer: Alex Mackintosh
Executive producer: Will Daws
~RS~a~RS~International~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~37~RS~){kind=small}
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~37~RS~)
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
Programme trail
Bookmark with:
What are these?