We are a nation in love with takeaways, spending six billion pounds on them every year. But did you know Chinese food is currently our favourite? We eat an incredible eight million meals a week.

This week, Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge travels the country to find out what makes the best Chinese takeaway and the trade secrets behind it, while Cherry Healey explores the fascinating stories that shaped our communities as well as our palates. She discovers how the home washing machine kick-started the takeaway and how Billy Butlin introduced Chinese food to the masses for the first time.

Then, three of the nation's award-winning Chinese takeaways are invited to compete in a contest in the heart of London's China Town. Each is passionate about their own style of cooking, but they all have very different ideas about what makes the best Chinese dishes. For one, it is the classic recipes we are familiar with here in the UK, handed down through three generations, for another it is a fusion of styles from across Asia, and for the third, it is traditional Chinese home cooking using exotic ingredients. Each believes their version of the takeaway is the best but it is down to Tom and his expert judge, writer and chef Ching He-Huang, to decide a winner. Show less