Chef Marco Pierre White has made an astonishing attack on British cooking and accused restaurant owners of being "greedy". He also lambastes young chefs for just wanting to be celebrities and brands the public "idle" because they do nothing to protest. Britain, he says, has an atrocious food culture; dishes served up are often depressing and totally unacceptable. Good food is not "embedded in our culture" the way it is in France, Italy or Spain. White particularly singles out motorway service stations as "appalling with terrible food". Too many are run by "conglomerates selling so-called cheap sandwiches that cost over £3". He compares Britain unfavourably with Spain and says if you stop in a small café there off a main road "you can rely on getting good coffee and a proper sandwich from a place run by a family". But last night motorway service operators claimed that White's remarks were out of date. They insisted there had been a "huge rise in standards" over the last five years. The Sunday Telegraph 20/11/05 page 9

Topics