Food on a Pension

Sheila Dillon investigates the food lives of people surviving on the basic state pension.

To fully understand the experience of living on a small income and feeling the limitations of older age, food writer Andrew Webb volunteered to spend a week living as his 80 year old self.

Kitted out in a suit that replicates some of the physical challenges of someone twice his age Andrew shopped, cooked, ate and dined for a week as a pensioner.

His right knee was stiff, he was felt unbalanced by weights placed on his ankle and his eyesight was restricted by a pair of glasses replicating a loss of vision. He was also given a pair of gloves that reduce skin sensitivity and created the effects of arthritis in his hands. Ear plugs made him partially deaf. Dressed like this he heads off on a mission to the shops, and on to cook a meal.

With an ageing population, an increase in food prices and cuts to local council services, The Food Programme investigates what our food future might look, feel and taste like.