Good Bread: An Exploration of Industrialised Grain Testing

What is good bread to you? We all have our own relationship with it, as it’s not just a food but also an anchor point for so many things in our society: farming methods, large scale systems, nutrition, how what we grow impacts our environment. It’s also a food that we often consume with our eyes: bread aesthetics are constantly all over social media.

Earlier this year, I was asked by the truly excellent podcast Farmerama to produce a podcast episode in response to The Body Lab, a participatory arts and research project investigating industrialised grain testing by baker Kimberley Bell and artist Ruth Levene. I’ve spent a few months talking to Kim and Ruth, interviewing other people in their network, and learning about grain and bread and this is what I’ve made: a three part series looking at the current system in which grain has to pass particular metrics in order to be milled to industrial standards, and how Kim and Ruth have considered reimagining this system, from the field to the mill.

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The Body Lab is funded by Farming The Future.

Thanks to Shipton Mill for their openness and generosity in allowing the Body Lab to explore these ideas

Thanks to everyone at Farmerama who has helped on this series in various ways: Jo Barratt, Abby Rose, Dora Taylor, Olivia Oldham, Annie Landless, Eliza Jenkins and Lucy Fisher. The music is by Owen Barratt. The artwork was by Hannah Grace.

If you haven't already listened to Cereal, the previous Farmerama series about bread made by Katie Revell, I really urge you to.