The BEST episodes of Food Unwrapped
Every episode of Food Unwrapped ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Food Unwrapped!
The food and science series that travels the world to explore the industry secrets behind our favourite produce, industry secrets, and how foods are really made.
#1 - Bananas, Plant Meat, Crisps
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/8/2016
Jimmy visits Ecuador, the largest banana exporter in the world, to investigate remarkable claims that the banana could one day be used in the fight against a number of viruses including HIV and influenza. Kate goes in search of the food industry's Holy Grail: a meat substitute that actually tastes of meat. Scientists in the Netherlands have developed a product called 'plant meat', but does it taste like the real thing? Can these vegetarian steaks, chicken pieces and sausage rolls fool the taste buds of three meat-loving barbecue chefs? What are those green bits you find on some crisps, and are they safe to eat? To find out, Matt visits one of Britain's largest crisp manufacturers, where he sees the high-tech machinery employed to weed out the green ones before they hit our crisp packets.
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Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/1/2016
Kate Quilton heads to Japan on the trail of tofu, wondering how green soy beans are turned into something so white and creamy. Jimmy Doherty investigates reports that supermarket ready meals have nearly doubled in size since the 1950s. He tracks down the ready meals of his childhood and discovers whether bigger plate sizes could also be causing people to eat more. Plus, in Wales, Matt Tebbutt looks into a new kind of milk, which it is claimed is easier to digest.
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#4 - Walnuts, Sour Sweets, Hazy Beers
Season 18 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/2/2020
Helen Lawal searches for the secret to perfectly shelled walnuts in California, while Matt Tebbutt hopes to discover what makes sweets sour. Andi Oliver investigates how the cloud gets into the hazy beers that are so trendy currently.
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#6 - Coconut Oil, Artichokes, Absinthe
Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 6/6/2016
Kate Quilton learns how coconut oil is extracted in Vietnam before heading to the English seaside, where she commandeers a mobile chip van to find out which oil is the healthiest. Jimmy Doherty is in Italy to find out what goes into a supermarket jar of artichoke hearts, while Matt Tebbutt discovers whether absinthe can really lead to hallucinations and madness.
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#7 - Sweet Piquante Peppers, The Plastic Crisis, Yoghurt
Season 14 - Episode 1 - Aired 6/11/2018
Jimmy Doherty, Kate Quilton and Matt Tebbutt unveil more secrets about the world of mass-produced food. Jimmy heads to South Africa on the trail of sweet piquante peppers and discovers a curious case that allow companies to effectively own a fruit or vegetable, while Kate looks into Britain's plastic crisis and discovers one type of very common food packaging that can't be recycled. Matt is in Germany to investigate a new type of yoghurt that claims to be full of fibre, but doesn't have any bits in it.
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#8 - Drinking Coffee, Kombucha, Beef Steak
Season 14 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/16/2018
Jimmy Doherty investigates the popular belief that coffee can sober people up and also looks into new research linking consumption of the beverage and a reduced risk of liver disease. In San Francisco, Kate Quilton investigates trendy new drink kombucha, while Matt Tebbutt examines why supermarket labels don't say which cut of beef thin-cut steaks come from.
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#10 - Oysters, Ketchup, Eggs
Season 18 - Episode 3 - Aired 3/9/2020
Matt Tebbutt investigates an intriguing claim about tomato ketchup bottles, Kate Quilton discovers how oysters turned from a Victorian bar snack to a wallet-busting luxury, and Amanda Byram uncovers the difference between medium and large eggs.
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#11 - London Dry Gin, Macadamia Nuts, Double Dipping
Season 14 - Episode 2 - Aired 6/18/2018
Jimmy Doherty asks what makes a London dry gin a London dry gin. He also finds out about a threat to British juniper berries that could spell the end of gin's recent resurgence. Kate Quilton heads to tropical Hawaii to find out why macadamia nuts aren't sold in their shells. She ropes in some Hawaiian muscle in the Big Island shipyards to help crack the case. At a Food Unwrapped party, Matt Tebbutt grosses out the crew with his notorious habit of double dipping: going back for a second dip in a communal salsa with a tortilla chip that's already been in his mouth. In a laboratory, Matt investigates what germs he may be transferring to the dips, and whether he needs to change his mucky ways.
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#14 - Hangovers, Peas, Grated Cheese
Season 23 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/3/2022
Matt Tebbutt unbottles the mystery of wine sulphites and hangovers, Amanda Byram explores how peas could solve the plastic pollution problem, and Andi Oliver wonders how shop-bought grated cheese doesn't stick together.
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#15 - Brioche, Wine Bottles, Ice Cream
Season 22 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/16/2022
Jimmy Doherty determines whether brioche is bread or cake and why it has become the preferred choice for burgers, and Matt Tebbutt is on a mission to find out why our wine comes in bottles of so many different shapes and sizes. Kate Quilton gets to the bottom of why some ice creams melt faster than others.
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#18 - Poppy Seeds, Cooking Oil, Ancient Grain Bread
Season 15 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/8/2018
Jimmy Doherty finds out if eating too many poppy seeds could make him fail a drugs test. Kate Quilton learns the consequences of tipping your waste cooking oil down the drain. And Matt Tebbutt has a Sicilian bake-off with increasingly popular ancient grain bread.
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#19 - Chocolate, Bedtime Teas, Edam Cheese
Season 13 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/19/2018
Jimmy Doherty tries to find out what the white powdery residue that can form on chocolate is with the aid of the world's biggest X-ray machine, which is 2.3km in circumference. In Belgium, Kate Quilton asks if any of the ingredients in bedtime teas can really help people to sleep, while Matt Tebbutt is in the Netherlands to discover if balls of Edam really were once used as emergency cannonballs. Last in the series.
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#22 - Cheesy Creatures
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/20/2014
Jimmy discovers that there's more to traditionally-matured cheese than meets the eye, thanks to a microorganism that helps give the likes of pecorino their distinctive hard rinds. Matt meets a team of researchers to examine why re-heating rice can make you ill, and discovers what makes the pre-cooked rice stocked in supermarkets safe to eat. Meanwhile, Kate heads to Malaysia to find out how vanilla is grown and how vanilla extract is produced.
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#23 - Black Pudding, Watermelons, Rock Candy
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 7/28/2014
Jimmy finds himself being inspired by one of an old favourite, black pudding, to learn about the properties of blood, and how it is being increasingly used in gastronomy. Kate finds out more about a city of greenhouses in the Andalusian desert where millions of watermelons are grown every year.
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#24 - Ice Cream, Olive Oil, Airline Food
Season 13 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/12/2018
Jimmy jets off to the USA to find out how those big chunks in American ice cream stay so crispy. Kate investigates a rise in olive oil prices, and discovers a disease wiping out olive trees in southern Italy. And Matt finds out why Bloody Marys are so popular on planes - and why airline food tastes very different at ground level.
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#25 - Pearls, Rainbow Ham, Butterflies
Season 14 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/25/2018
Matt Tebbutt visits China to find out how they maximise the chances of finding pearls, and helps to cultivate them from a surprising creature that is definitely not an oyster! Meanwhile, Kate Quilton investigates whether it is safe to eat sliced ham that has developed a weird rainbow pattern, and discovers a bizarre connection between the meat and butterflies.
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