Stefan Gates

Stefan Gates (born 19 September 1967) is a British television presenter, author, broadcaster and live-show performer. He has written books about food, cooking and science. He has presented over 20 TV series mostly for the BBC, including Cooking in the Danger Zone ^[1] about unusual food from the world's more dangerous and difficult places. He develops half of these TV series himself, including the CBBC children's food adventure series Gastronuts^[2] and Incredible Edibles.^[3]

Gates presented BBC One's Food Factory.^[4] He wrote and presented the BBC Two series E Numbers: An Edible Adventure,^[5] Full on Food^[6] and the BBC Four series Feasts.^[7]

Gates has also written and presented two BBC Four documentaries: Calf's Head and Coffee: The Golden Age of English Food^[8] on food history, and Can Eating Insects Save the World?^[9] on entomophagy. He appears as a guest on TV and radio programmes including Newsnight, Loose Ends, BBC Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, The Wright Stuff, Iron Chef, Blue Peter, The Alan Titchmarsh Show and This Morning. Gates was a panellist on BBC Radio 4's Kitchen Cabinet^[10] and has made two radio documentaries.

In addition to his television and radio work, Gates runs a popular YouTube channel, Gastronaut TV,^[11] where he shares science-themed videos focused on food, experiments and unusual culinary topics. He performs numerous live science shows and lectures at festivals, theatres and schools across the UK, including his touring family friendly show Rude Science Live!, described as "the naughtiest, funniest, most revolting science show" combining humour with curriculum-linked science demonstrations.^[12]

He is the author of 13 books, including recent titles such as Fartology: The Extraordinary Science Behind the Humble Fart (2018),^[13] Catology: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Cats (2021),^[14] Rude Science (2024),^[15] and Science You Can Eat: Putting What We Eat Under the Microscope (2025),^[16] a children's science book that explores food through interactive experiments.

Gates was born in London. As a child, along with his sister Samantha, he was photographed for knitwear patterns and appeared separately in commercials and TV dramas, including Poldark and Supernatural. They were the child models on the cover of English rock band Led Zeppelin's album Houses of the Holy (1973).^[17]

Gates was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford,^[18] in the 1980s, where he took a degree in English.

After leaving Oxford University, Gates spent the first 16 years of his working life in film and TV – the jobs were varied and included: Assistant director, scriptwriter, director and producer, finally ending up in BBC Comedy as a development producer. Due to his fascination with unusual foods he started writing about them, and this led to him becoming a presenter and co-writer on the BBC Two series Full on Food^[19] in the winter of 2004.

Gates presents food programmes including three series of Cooking in the Danger Zone, which has been shown in 25 countries, as well as broadcast globally on BBC World News. In each episode of the series he visits a dangerous part of the world such as Afghanistan, Chernobyl, Haiti and Burma where the living is not easy and the food is unusual. This has gained him a reputation for travelling to difficult or extreme places^[20] and eating unusual or shocking food.^[21][22] The series won the Slow Food award for best TV series at the 2008 Slow Food on Film Festival in Bologna and was nominated for the 2009 Guild of Food Writers Food and Travel award.

Gates presents a children's TV series, based on his Gastronaut concept, called gastronauts. produced by Objective Productions. The series was nominated for the 2009 Guild of Food Writers Broadcast of the Year award. He wrote and presented Feasts, broadcast on BBC Four in 2009 – it consists of three episodes filmed in Japan, Mexico and India. In 2010 he presented a three-part series on food additives for BBC Two, E Numbers: An Edible Adventure. In 2012, he took over the role of presenting of Food Factory on BBC One, after former presenter Jimmy Doherty left the BBC to join Channel 4.^[23]

He also appears regularly on Five's The Wright Stuff and BBC Two's Something for the Weekend the Good Food Channel's Market Kitchen. In 2010 he presented a documentary for Radio 4, Stefan Gates' Cover Story, concerning his part in the Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy photoshoot.

Gates writes articles for newspapers and magazines including New Scientist and BBC Food^[24] and has written eight books. His first children's book Incredible Edibles^[25] (2012) won the 2013 Information Book Award. His first book was Gastronaut: Adventures in Food for the Romantic, the Foolhardy, and the Brave, winner of the 2005 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards Best Food Literature Book. In 2008 a companion to the TV series Cooking in the Danger Zone was published by BBC Books titled In the Danger Zone. He has also written 101 Dishes to Eat Before You Die, Stefan Gates on E Numbers, which is a companion to the TV series E Numbers: An Edible Adventure and The Extraordinary Cookbook^[26] (Kyle Books 2010).

• Full on Food BBC Two 2004
• Cooking in the Danger Zone series 1-3 BBC Two and BBC Four 2006-08
• Food Uncut UKTV Food 2007^[27]
• Gastronuts I BBC One and CBBC 2008-09
• Feasts BBC Four 2009
• Gastronuts II BBC One and CBBC 2010
• E Numbers: An Edible Adventure BBC Two 2010^[28]
• Ecomaths BBC Learning 2012
• Incredible Edibles I CBBC 2012
• CBBC's Olympic Challenge CBBC 2012
• Food Factory BBC One 2012
• Calf's Head and Coffee: The Golden Age of English Food BBC Four 2012
• Can Eating Insects Save the World? BBC Four Spring 2013
• Incredible Edibles II CBBC Spring 2013
• Harvest BBC2 and BBC Learning 2013
• Ecomaths BBC Learning 2013
• Food and Drink BBC2 2014
• Disaster Chefs CBBC 2014
• Gastrolab BBC Learning 2015
• The Secrets of Our Favourite Dishes BBC Learning 2015
• The Wright Stuff Channel 5 2015 – 2018
• Jeremy Vine Show Channel 5 2018
• Travel with a Goat Impact 2019
• Supermarket Secrets Revealed Channel 5 2019

Since 2015 Gates has operated the YouTube channel Gastronaut TV. The channel has over 50 videos and over 3,000 subscribers. Videos include recipes, science, things to try at home, and clips from his TV series.

• Stefan Gates' Cover Story Radio 4 2010
• What Would Jesus Eat?^[29] BBC Radio 4 2011

• Gastronaut (2005), ISBN 978-0-563-52272-0
• In The Danger Zone (2008), ISBN 978-1-84607-264-2
• 101 Dishes to Eat Before You Die (2009), ISBN 978-1-4075-6441-8
• Stefan Gates on E Numbers (2010), ISBN 978-1-84091-561-7
• The Extraordinary Cookbook (2010), ISBN 978-1856269216
• Incredible Edibles (2012), ISBN 978-1406339062
• Insects: An Edible Field Guide (2017), ISBN 9781785035258
• Fartology: The Extraordinary Science Behind the Humble Fart (2018) ISBN 9781849499682
• Science You Can Eat: Putting what we Eat Under the Microscope (2019), ISBN 9780241301838
• Catology: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Cats (2021), ISBN 9781787136328
• Dogology: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Dogs (2021), ISBN 9781787136335
• Rude Science: Everything You've Always Wanted To Know About the Science No One Ever Talks About (2022), ISBN 9781787136403
• Loveology: The Explicit and Extraordinary Truth About Love, Sex and Relationships (2025), ISBN 9781837832194

Gates has performed "food stunt shows",^[30] mostly at science festivals such as Cambridge Science Festival,^[31] Cheltenham Science Festival, The Big Bang Fair^[32] and also at schools, theatres and food festivals including the BBC Good Food Show^[33] and the Ideal Home Show.

Rude Science Live!

Starting in April 2024 and touring into 2027, Rude Science Live! is described as "the naughtiest, funniest, most revolting science show" that mixes outrageous, family-friendly stunts—such as fart machines, snot cocktails, and urine-powered fireworks—with engaging science demonstrations.^[34][35][36]

Recent and upcoming tour highlights include:

• 10 April 2025: Leeds
• 16 April 2025: Weymouth^[37]
• 17 April 2025: Monmouth
• 2 March 2025: Tyne Theatre & Opera House, Newcastle^[38]
• 19 July 2025: Darlington Hippodrome^[39]

The shows are promoted as "curriculum-driven adventures" designed to transform biology, chemistry, and physics into hilariously engaging performances for audiences aged six and above.^[40]

Gates is married to food photographer Georgia Glynn Smith. They have two children, Daisy Gates and Poppy Gates.

• Stefan Gates' web site
• CBBC Gastronuts game
• BBC site for 'Feasts'
• BBC site for the first series of Cooking in the Danger Zone
• BBC site for the second series of Cooking in the Danger Zone
• Stefan Gates at IMDb