大象传媒

Guilty pleasures, cheeky treats 鈥� comedian Sofie Hagen asks why we put moral judgements onto the food we eat.

Clean eating is the diet of the moment. All over Instagram, people post photos of their beautiful plates of leafy vegetables and their artistically framed green smoothies 鈥� #plantpowered, #detox, #cleanlife.

Sofie Hagen is definitely not a clean eater. But she鈥檚 fascinated by the way it frames foods as 鈥済ood鈥�, 鈥渃lean鈥� and virtuous, and, by extension, other foods as 鈥渂ad鈥� or 鈥渄irty鈥�.

This moralising around food doesn鈥檛 only exist in the world of clean eating. It pervades all sorts of diets - most of which Sofie tried between the ages of 8 and 22. And even if you鈥檝e never dieted yourself, you鈥檝e probably seen snacks marketed as 鈥済uilt free鈥�, or considered having a 鈥渃heeky treat鈥� for dessert.

This programme is not about whether a plate of lentils is healthier than a plate of pasta, or the nutritional content of a heritage tomato. It鈥檚 not even about whether you should try to eat more healthily. It鈥檚 asking how what we eat became so tied up with how 鈥済ood鈥� we are as people.

Sofie hears about the 19th century woman who didn鈥檛 eat or drink for five years, why eating soap was once considered a cure for corpulency, and how this might all have something to do with an apple in the Garden of Eden. She鈥檒l talk to former clean eating evangelist Pixie Turner, eating disorder specialist Renee McGregor and advertising exec Rory Sutherland. Does sin sell?

Academic advisor: Jessica Hamel-Akre
Producer: Hannah Marshall
A 7digital production for 大象传媒 Radio 4