MasterChef’s Gregg Wallace heads to Kent for the BBC Good Food Show’s first visit to the county. Gregg talks about his love of eating out and recalls some pretty strange food. Helen Geraghty reports.

When I tell Gregg Wallace the press release I have been sent about him refers to him as a 'foodie face’ he is delighted.

“I love that, I’ve not heard that one before, that’s really good,” he laughs. He is on the phone in his lunchbreak at the MasterChef studios. Co-presenter John Torode, audibly close to the phone, is equally amused in the background.

Gregg, 47, who lives in Whitstable, is among the line-up of celebrity chefs coming to the new 650-seat Supertheatre at Glow, Bluewater, for the BBC Good Food Show, when the audience get to watch on-stage cookery shows including Saturday Kitchen Live and a version of MasterChef to include the winner of the recent series.

There will be live demonstrations from names including James Martin, Gino D’Acampo, Gennaro Contaldo and Olly Smith. The MasterChef 2012 winner from the most recent series will be on stage too.

Gregg was born in Peckham and his early career saw him setting up a successful greengrocers’ business, which literally took him through the back door, into the world of the celebrity chef and his first meeting with John Torode.

“I got a job in Covent Garden Market that I really liked, I was supplying produce to restaurants and I just fell in love with the whole restaurant world. I was supplying famous chefs in famous restaurants and liked hanging out and eating out in that world.”

Gregg adores to eat out, rather than cooking very much himself, he says, but if you have ever sat and worried about Gregg and John politely tucking into cold food or melted ice cream for the cameras long after cooking has finished, fret no longer. The speed you see during the cooking continues to the tasting stage.

And if Gregg is to be believed, the tasting is all very by the book, rather than an off-camera nosh-up.

He says: “What we do is we get the cameras to take a shot of ice cream and then we put it in the fridge, so that when we taste it, it is great.

“And the hot food is still room temperature. You have to remember, we are not eating, just tasting. The three things we are looking for are appearance, texture and flavour so heat has nothing to do with it at all.”

And the strangest dish on memory: “Well, there was that South African guy who roasted a quail and stuck it on top of chocolate cake...”

His own favourite food is straightforward roast lamb, with rhubarb crumble for pudding.

He loves oysters, of course, as he should, living in Whitstable. Especially with some shallot vinegar.

But he says he has never ever grabbed a £1.20 mackerel roll for a quick breakfast on Whitstable Harbour, adding: “Are they good? Do you recommend it? I’ll go and try it.”

Today, although time is in short supply with MasterChef and other commitments, Gregg is looking forward to his Bluewater stint as it will keep him closer to home.

For the future, Gregg still keeps his hand in with the world of fresh produce.

He says: “I own a sizeable chunk of a company which grows fruit and veg, we send it into London, a lot of it from a farm in Surrey, but we also commission a lot from other farms.”

I detect John Torode, who will also be at Bluewater, is still close to the phone when I ask Gregg if they are 'forever friends’, in the manner of Ant and Dec.

Gregg says: “We get on brilliantly well. I knew him in the days when I sold him fruit and veg. I am very happy to work with him for the rest of my life.”

“Awww that is just so sweet,” drawls an antipodean voice. And off they go.

The BBC Good Food Show Spring, with on-stage cookery and stands with over 100 food producers is at Glow, Bluewater from Thursday, April 12 to Sunday, April 15. Shows are at 9.30am and 2.30pm. Box office 0844 581 1362. Adults from £16, seniors from £14, children aged six to 16 from £8. Children of five and under are free. No admission of six to 15-year-olds on weekdays. For more information, see www.BBCGoodFoodShow.com