Blood, Sweat And Takeaways – BBC Three
When it comes to food, the Brits are spoilt for choice. Many simply take it for granted that it’s possible to buy whatever food they want, whenever they want it, all year round. But what about the human cost of producing all this cheap food for our convenience?
In the follow-up to the Bafta-nominated BBC Three series Blood, Sweat And T-shirts, six young British consumers travel to South East Asia to see just what’s involved in producing the food they take for granted. The intrepid six are fussy eater Jess (19), fast-food fan Manos (20), fitness fanatic Olu (25), luxury food lover Lauren (21), keen cook Josh (20) and ethical shopper Stacey (20).
They must catch, harvest and process food products that are eaten every day in the UK, as they go behind the scenes of the tuna, prawn, rice and chicken industries. They also eat, sleep and live with the food workers in the poorest regions of Indonesia and Thailand and see how they fare living on the same wage – the average for such workers being around £3 a day.
In tonight’s first instalment, the Brits enter Indonesia’s tuna industry in Bitung, on the island of Sulawesi. In the UK, over a billion tins of tuna are consumed each year and Bitung’s canneries supply many of our supermarkets and sandwich chains.
Living with the workers in their basic conditions, the Brits endure the 90-degree heat of the tuna canneries and struggle with the harsh realities of life on a traditional wooden tuna boat in the Western Pacific. The extreme conditions affect them all – as does the hand-to-mouth existence of those they are living with.
After seeing the reality, will biting into a tuna sandwich ever be the same again?
Next week, the food lovers journey on to live and work alongside workers in the prawn industry.
Tuesday 19 May
9.00-10.00pm BBC THREE
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can i just say to all the people who went on and on about olu and manos in particular that the conflict is not the main issue. please every one should support, campaign for and buy fairtrade so that people get a fair wage that they can actually live on, not just exist on.
ps. stacey smith i think what you did after the show writing to people was excellent, id love to see what you wrote as i am going to be doing some work on this for uni
i am very happy that after the show those who took park wanted to bring and show others the importance of fairtrade. A big thank you to Stacy Smith for the article that she wrote, keep up the good work, i would like to have a copy of it, as i am a supporter of fair trade and done a lots to raise awareness, Please i would like to be part of your project, could stacy get in touch;
Really enjoyed this show, makes you realise how bad other people have it. Was proud that all the Brits at least gave the work a go.
Am I the only one who thought James was a bit dishy too? think it must be the hard working ethics he has. Very nice.
Hi does anyone new the song at 54.00/57.04 on blood sweat and takeaway episode 4 chicken
know*
mgmt – kids
Thanks man, I have been looking for this song since heard it on a channel 5 programme but my god I had the video..poor baby that’s all I can say.
Does anyone know the music from 22:38 to 23:05? I recognise it but can’t finger the actual track. It’s doing my head in!
James was my fave, thought he was great because didn’t look down at anyone and always worked really hard. My mum is from a small village in Thailand so i have experienced really bad living conditions like these and i think they were all really brave to do it. I’m glad Stacey had a go at that american man because he was completely out of order! Good on her for writing an article on it, its about time someone did!! xxx
yeah becci james was abit fit! haha xxx
a donkey put infront of a television screen watching this program could easily tell the makers of this program is indirectly or directly (whether admitted or not) A RACIST..
of all the people to get, they get 3 white girls with reasonably strong ethics, 2 bigger white boys, and one small childish south asian boy… later they get a blackman, who obviously has something against south asian people, to attack manos for absolutly no reason.
Manos is consistently being critizised and its obvious they stir it up against him, its pure racism. his consistantly bombarded with people comparing him to everyone else.
pure sneaky, weasel-like under-handed racism… which has been the same since … well for ever in britain.
Can anybody name the track used in episode 1 – Tuna @ 11.20 to 12.30? Can’t find it anywhere.
Link to episode on BBC iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kmtb1/Blood_Sweat_and_Takeaways_Tuna/
does anybody know if any of the cast of this programme are on facebook, myspace etc? i would really love to talk to them!!!!
Just watched this programme for the second time after watching it on BBC3. Stacey is presented as a beacon of light but all credit is due to her for her kindness in a reunion of a Thailand chicken factory worker with her son. It was emotional to see and I wish there were more people like her. I felt sorry for Manos how he was clearly struggling and not belonging to the group because of his accent and Bangladeshi origins. I come from Asia and have always struggled with this subtle form of discrimination, which people will not openly express, but it still there. I really hope this programme brings social awareness of impoverished societies in around S.E.Asia to most of the UK’s public, but sadly I very much doubt it!
I think all the negative feedback about the guys incl Olu (who was apologetic) are undeserved. They all had the good intentions to place themselves someone else’s shoes and endure the tribulations we as a nation place on these good people because of our excessive greed. I thought all the guys (Josh, Manos, James, Lauren and Jess) were just as sincere as Stacey, otherwise they would not have partaken in the show in the first place.