Wood, Smoke and Science: Cooking over fire
Marnie Chesterton and guests explore the chemistry of barbecue and explore how cooking over fire helped shape human evolution.
For this special festival recording of BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science, the fire pit is our science lab. Marnie Chesterton brings a sprinkling of chemistry and just a squeeze of paleoanthropology as we invite you to explore the science and human history of cooking over fire.
Recorded at Abergavenny Food festival 2025 with chef Sam Evans of Hangfire BBQ, archaeobotanical scientist Dr Ceren Kabukcu and Dr Joanna Buckley from the Royal Society of Chemistry
For more fascinating science content, you can head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton.
Producers: Tim Dodd and Clare Salisbury.
Programme Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Editor: Martin Smith
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BBC Inside Science
A weekly programme looking at the science that's changing our world.
