More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
TV personality Gregg Wallace has hit out at "food snobs" after revealing he was a regular at a Harvester in Kent.
The Masterchef presenter used to live in Whitstable - home to the Michelin-starred Sportsman pub - but says he would often venture over to the chain restaurant in neighbouring Herne Bay.
The 56-year-old told The Sun he used the former Talmead Harvester "all the time", often leaving fellow diners shocked.
He revealed his taste for the budget eatery when telling how he feels there is an unfair perception that cheaper food is unhealthy, and therefore snubbed by middle-class diners.
“I think it’s a class thing," he said.
"There are people that would honestly think Pret a Manger is healthier than Greggs. Why?
“When I lived in Whitstable, Kent, I used a Harvester all the time in Herne Bay and people used to say, ‘I didn’t expect to see you in here’. Why wouldn’t I be in here?
“It’s the perception middle-class people eat in one and working-class people eat in the other, so the working-class one should be bad for you. It’s absolutely rubbish.
“Food is the only snobbery allowed. Imagine pulling up in your expensive car alongside somebody at the lights with a cheap car and saying, ‘Is that all you’ve got?’
“But people do it with food.”
Mr Wallace, who began his career selling vegetables at a stand in Covent Garden, swapped his Whitstable home for the Biddenden countryside, near Tenterden, three years ago.
His former go-to Herne Bay restaurant - the Talmead Harvester - closed its doors in September 2019 before opening a month later as a Miller & Carter steakhouse.
