Hunger games

Italy, the land of plenty, has over the centuries often run on empty. But the very hunger that killed thousands and the disease that accompanied extreme poverty and despair have also given rise to extraordinary resourcefulness and the invention of the world's favourite food, pizza. In this episode, John Dickie reveals how the rulers of Italy's centres of power distracted the mob from its hunger by staging extraordinarily cruel food games and how pizza, born in the cholera ridden slums of Naples, was almost consigned to the garbage bin of history. Surveys reveal that the poorer segments of Italian society spend less than 3 euros per person per meal. Together with Bruno Barbieri, a leading Italian chef and host of Italy's Master Chef, John investigates whether eating well is still the reserve of the middle and upper classes of a country that has known more that its fair share of hunger.