Interview with Rick BBC Food asks why one of Britain's best-loved chefs and champions of British produce, Rick Stein, focused on the culinary delights of southern France for his latest television series and book, and why his trusty sidekick Chalky kept his paws firmly on dry land.

For the last five years, Rick Stein has dedicated himself to championing British produce through his hugely successful series Food Heroes. But his latest project is expected to raise more than a few eyebrows among his favoured British producers and loyal supporters, as he heads off on a gastronomic journey through the waterways of southern France.

During three months of filming for his new series, French Odyssey, Rick Stein learned to enjoy a slower pace of life - four miles an hour, in fact, the maximum speed of the barge that became home to him and his crew. He filled his days with a seriously stress-free blend of eating, cooking and contemplating the apparent wonder of food in France. Such an enviable lifestyle has its drawbacks, though, and he admits he soon gained a few unwanted pounds in weight.

"I was having three fantastic meals a day on the barge, and then going off and eating more food all the time for the programme. I pleaded with the director, David Pritchard, that we stopped all this eating. 'I'm getting far too fat, I'm like the side of a house!' I yelled at him."

The only other blight on this otherwise perfect adventure was the absence of his furry friend Chalky who was deemed too old for such a trip. "We took him to the vet to get him microchipped so he could travel overseas," Rick explains, "but the vet said Chalky, who's 16, was too old to go barging through France. So I had to leave him behind in Padstow."

France vs Britain

But this was all water off a duck's back to Mr Stein OBE. When BBC Food went along to meet him, his enthusiasm for the French way of life was contagious.

"French people love food in a natural way, as a part of their culture, which we still don't. We’re having to learn to love food, whereas they’re brought up with it and it’s just reflected in them.

"I think we should change the whole way we look at food in this country and look at it like the French do. We should regard it as an absolutely essential part of everything that we do, from staying alive, to expressing ourselves. It requires a fundamental change in the way we look at life really."

“We spend so much of our time thinking about sex - in love, music, literature, art, as well as basically doing it. Why don’t we think about food in the same way? The two are so similar and yet there’s a lack of romantic respect to food in this country."

He’s the first to admit this is probably an impossible dream, but passionately believes it would make Britain a better place. “It would change everybody so much for the better, if everybody started thinking about food as being a bit more important in their life. That’s all I want.”

Well, just that and a major change in the way food is sold in the UK. He’s particularly vexed by the way in which supermarkets in Britain have taken to marketing some of their produce as being 'ripe' or 'fresh' and wonders 'what condition is the other stuff in?'.

He adds: “There’s a degree of spin about British supermarkets and you see it more and more, the way things are labelled, trying to convince you of something. There’s no spin about French markets. They’re just as they are, and there’s less spin in the supermarkets. The fresh produce is better and there’s more variety. If you go and buy food anywhere in France, you’re in for a treat.”

His other slap on the wrist for Britain is how hard it is to get hold of local produce and, despite years of highlighting the issue, the difficulty in buying fresh fish around this country.

“Why can’t I buy local produce as easily here as I can in France? Why can’t we buy wild mushrooms from the New Forest from stalls in the New Forest? I can get them expensively from the people who supply the London restaurants, but why can’t I buy them locally?

“It’s saying an awful lot about our food culture that we can’t buy these things.”

Passion for France

He rates the elegance and style of the French women as his favourite thing about the country

Rick’s personal passion for France - he thinks the French make the best fine wines in the world, despite being a part-owner of an Australian vineyard - certainly comes across in the series. He rates the elegance and style of the French women as his favourite thing about the country, followed closely by the fact that ‘everything stops for lunch’.

His enthusiasm for France could upset the British producers and produce-lovers whom he has so tirelessly supported in recent years. But he says he hasn’t lost interest in his ‘Food Heroes’ and defends his decision to swap his mud-splattered Land Rover and sidekick Chalky for a polished French barge and an endless supply of baguettes. He insists there is a ‘serious point’ to the series.

“The point of it is to go to France and ask ‘what’s going on over here?’. I want to compare it with what we’re doing back home in Britain. If we want to improve our local produce, let's look to our next door neighbours to see what they’re up to.

The forces of change are afoot in France. Things may not stay as rosy as they are now.

“I feel in a sense that I had to go to France, looking at it now, because what more can you say in England? The forces of change are afoot in France. Things may not stay as rosy as they are now. At least I can say I captured a slice of life in a country where things are pretty close to utopia as far as I’m concerned.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom for Britain. Rick Stein admits that, with the odd exception, the quality of French restaurants is no better, in some cases worse, than those at home. He’s also quick to add that although there’s plenty to love about France, he wouldn’t want to settle there permanently.

“One morning on the barge the crew and I woke up and said 'do we have to have baguettes and croissants? Can’t we just have a bacon sandwich?'. So we did, with HP sauce!"

“I’ve always thought about Britain, as far as food’s concerned, that it’s great. It’s got fantastic food. It’s a constant sort of quest in a way, discovering new British food. I’d sooner be in a country that’s hungry to learn more, than in a country that’s slightly losing what they’ve got.

“I’m sure I’m going to get completely slaughtered for doing this series. But I’ll just say ‘well get stuffed, I had a fantastic time!’.”

• Interview by Louisa Carter, BBC Food