Melissa Hemsley on ultra processed foods, the challenges of modern eating, feeding fussy eaters and sustainability without judgement

·39 min·3 clips

UK children eat more ultra-processed foods than American kids, with 70% of their diet being UPFs.

Samuel Goldsmith opens with the Good Food app, the podcast intro, and a review ask before Melissa Hemsley joins him as a food writer and sustainability champion. The chat has a relaxed kitchen-table feel. They talk about ultra-processed foods, then move into the everyday problem of feeding people who are not always easy to feed. Melissa keeps it useful and low-pressure. Fussy eating does not get turned into a moral lecture. Instead, she talks through small ways to make meals easier. Vegetables do a lot of the work. A tomato-based sauce can take carrots, celery, onion, and beans, while peas or broccoli stay visible on the plate. That is the balance she likes: do not hide everything, but make extra veg easier to live with. Then the grater gets its moment. Melissa calls it her favorite bit of kitchen kit because courgette and other additions can disappear neatly into everyday food. Samuel mishears the egg point, which sends them into a Good Food tangent about egg salad, egg wraps, jacket potato, sweet potato, and meal-prep shortcuts. The egg hack comes under friendly suspicion. Melissa explains cracking eggs into a wide pan, steaming them under a lid, sliding them out, and chopping them on a board. Samuel is not quite sold. The shortcut starts to sound suspiciously like chopping a cooked egg, which is why the moment works. Melissa leaves with cooking still ahead, including a Filipino chicken coconut lemongrass number, and Samuel wraps with Good Food housekeeping.

As heard by us

A warm Good Food chat about fussy eating, processed food and cooking with less judgment at the table.

Good Food takes on ultra processed foods, fussy eaters and lower judgment sustainability in the only way this show really can: through the kitchen, not the pulpit.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

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Want calmer, more workable ideas for feeding fussy eaters?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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