BBC Radio 4 LW

Food for Thought

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Food & Drink

Nina Myskow discovers how attitudes to food affect individual lives

Series of conversations in which journalist Nina Myskow discovers how attitudes to food affect individual lives

Food for Thought: Series 2

Food for Thought: Series 2: Episode 3: Andy McNab

Episode 3

Episode 3: Andy McNab

Series 2

Andy McNab

BBC Radio 4 - Food for Thought, Series 2, Andy McNab

From fat kid to fit soldier, Andy McNab talks about his life in food with Nina Myskow.

What's the worst thing you've ever eaten? Ex-SAS Andy McNab reveals something unpleasant to Nina Myskow. A frank and personal discussion about how food wins hearts and minds.

'What do you want before the chip shop closes?' was the phrase former Special Forces soldier Andy McNab got used to as a child. In Food For Thought, he describes his transition from a thirty-six-inch-waisted 'fat kid' to fit career soldier, after a spell in juvenile detention. Joining the army meant decent food and regular meal times. You could be up on a charge if you didn't eat breakfast before Queen's Parade. 

Over spam, pick'n'mix and with condensed milk in his cuppa, Andy talks to Nina Myskow about feeling looked after by the army, the daily rituals of preparing dinner in huge Dixie pots and how he cooked on an army Hexy burner in the kitchen sink when he bought his first house. He was worried about the gas bill. These days, he doesn't cook much but makes 'Desperate Dan' sausage and mash for a family special occasion. And, after a life in the military, the novelty of eating out still hasn't worn off. 

Andy also details the realities and deprivations of war time capture and there's a frank revelation about the worse thing he's ever eaten. Not for the squeamish. It's all rather different to the boiled eggs and chocolate given to him by the Red Cross on his release, and the expensive kobe beef he has sampled since.


Producer: Tamsin Hughes
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.

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Journalist Nina Myskow discovers how attitudes to food affect individual lives

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