The power of the review
The Food Chain
BBC
4.7 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What’s the purpose of restaurant reviews?
The Food Chain looks at who is qualified to write a review, how helpful they are today and the impact they can have on a business.
In this programme Ruth Alexander speaks to Giles Coren, restaurant critic for The Times newspaper in the UK, Opeyemi Famakin, online reviewer and influencer in Nigeria, and Ana Roš, chef and owner of the Hiša Franko restaurant in Slovenia which holds three Michelin stars.
If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk
Presenter by Ruth Alexander.
Produced by Beatrice Pickup and Bisi Adebayo.
(Image: from left to right, Giles Coren, Opeyemi Famakin and Ana Roš. Credits: BBC, Opeyemi Famakin and Suzan Gabrijan)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | I'm no longer ravenous. I'll no longer eat until I fall asleep. The Hunger Game, |
| 0:05.9 | a new five-part series exploring the meteoric rise of weight loss drugs. It's been an incredible |
| 0:10.7 | story with these drugs. The uptake, the amount of product that's been sold, the amounts of money |
| 0:15.1 | is cost. What the drugs do, how they work, and the knock-on effects of their widespread use. |
| 0:20.5 | We'll be sitting here in three years' time going, oh, it caused problems that we're now going |
| 0:25.3 | to have to fix. The Hunger Game with me, Professor Gilesio. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.0 | A reviewer walks into a restaurant. Panic sets in. |
| 0:37.8 | A young chef can get stressed that someone's coming in. |
| 0:39.8 | It could be make or break. |
| 0:40.9 | Their chances are it would go worse if they knew I was coming. |
| 0:43.5 | Is the bread fresh? Is the seasoning right? |
| 0:46.2 | And believe me, it can be nights. |
| 0:48.5 | I don't sleep just because of the hinge of soul that somebody thinks it was too much. |
| 0:54.3 | This is the food chain from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:57.6 | I'm Ruth Alexander. |
| 0:58.8 | This week, the power of the review. |
| 1:01.9 | Two leading critics and one of the world's top chefs |
| 1:05.3 | join me to talk about what happens when someone slates a restaurant. |
| 1:09.5 | There was one time that there was so much backlash that my Instagram page was taking down. |
| 1:14.9 | It was painful. I sent away some people. I hired new people. |
| 1:19.4 | All because of this one critic. All because of this critic. You hired and fired people. |
| 1:24.4 | Because he opened a big wound. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.