Hello, my name is David Ronserman and this is Talking Politics. We're coming to you from

the wilderness festival. This is a live recording in front of an audience, many of whom are sitting

on bean bags. We're in a big open air tent. Wilderness is a festival with music, with food

and with talk and we are going to be talking about the politics of food. Talking politics is brought

to you in partnership with the London Review of Books. The magazine that publishes its political

analysis in between essays on art and history, philosophy and technology, Princess Margaret or the

Garden of Eden. Visit lrb.co.uk forward slash talking. We're a reading list of similarly eclectic

pieces to a company today's episode and a special subscription offer for Talking Politics listeners.

Six months of the lrb for just £1 an issue. I have two very special guests with me today. It's

a pleasure to welcome Sheila Dillon, who is the multi award-winning presenter of the BBC Radio

for Food Program. Jack Monroe, best-selling author, blogger and activist. Jack has a new book out,

cooking on a bootstrap. She's waving a copy that's not going to work on the recording.

So there's lots that we could talk about and we're going to get onto some of the more contentious

things including Brexit, exclamation mark in a bit. I just wanted to start by talking about

how politicians talk about food because I think there is a tendency when politicians talk about food

to use a certain kind of language and it is the language of personal choice, personal responsibility.

There's kind of an assumption that what people eat is down to them if they eat well or if they

eat badly, it's a matter of personal choice. Jack, is that the right way for politicians to talk

about food? Is it all about our personal responsibility for what we eat? I think one of the most

political things about food is the fact that a lot of people don't have choices about the food

that they eat and under food that they have. One of the areas that I work in quite closely and

extensively is in food poverty and food banks and there is a complete lack of choice in those

...