The Food Programme

Typically British, a comforting ritual and a calorific onslaught - the Sunday Roast is part of the weekly routine for many. Jimi Famurewa assesses the combination of meat, potatoes, sides and all-important gravy to examine why we keep coming back for more.

He visits the Bank Tavern in Bristol where table bookings are harder to come by than Glastonbury tickets. Jimi explores the global appeal of the Yorkshire pudding with food writer Elaine Lemm and takes a trip to a branch of the self-styled "home of the roast" the Toby Carvery.

Along the way food historian Annie Gray explains how roasts cemented themselves in British culture. Also, Irish "roast detective" podcasters Emer McLysaght and Esther O'Moore Donohoe reveal the language they've devised to describe the carvery experience while touring Ireland on the hunt for the perfect roast dinner.

Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Robin Markwell.

The poem "In Praise Of Yorkshire Puddings" written and performed by Ian McMillan

"Roast Beef Of Old England" performed by Jerry Bryant