Marlow-based chef Tom Kerridge is gearing up to shine a spotlight on British produce in his new TV show.

You might think travelling the country in a vintage food truck would be a glamorous affair, but chef Tom Kerridge admits it was a “temperamental” beast to work with.

For his new TV show, Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain, the chef journeyed across the length of Britain, visiting everyone from Cornish fisherman to Scottish fruit farmers – all in a remodelled 1950s food truck.

“We spent a lot of time on a low-loader – we’d get it moving again and we’d get so far in it, but it was a little temperamental,” he says.

The show puts the spotlight on one of Kerridge’s long-time passions as a chef: local produce. He’s now one of the most prominent names in British food, with a string of pubs and restaurants to his name – including the Hand and Flowers in Marlow, the first pub to win a second Michelin star.

He’s also got 12 cookbooks under his belt – releasing his latest alongside the TV show (also called Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain), packing it full of recipes championing UK produce.

For the show, Kerridge, 50, says he went “up and down the country, seeing as many people as possible – it’s proper old school television”. And of course, he doesn’t just visit the producers – but whips up a good few meals along the way.

“We’d park the truck, hang out somewhere, see the producers and cook some food simply from the dishes that are there that you found. The nice thing about it too, because we would do it outdoors it wasn’t a professional kitchen, or a commercial-based one – or even a domestic one.

“So the recipes that we’ve put together are always accessible, they’re doable, they’re really good – they’re things people can make work at home, because we have to keep it nice and simple, because we’re outdoors in a food truck from the 1950s.”

These include some summery recipes seen in the first episode, such as the beetroot and pearl barley salad inspired by the veg he found in Cambridgeshire, to Kerridge’s ultimate crumble recipe – made from fruits from Kent, known as the Garden of England.

Kerridge says it’s particularly important for shows like his to showcase the British food scene outside of the capital.

“It often seems London-centric, because there’s a lot of restaurants in London and there’s a lot of journalists based there, so people write about it,” he explains.

“However, Great Britain is phenomenal – and a lot of the restaurants use key produce that’s not grown in London. It’s coming from everywhere else, so it’s a wonderful chance to showcase the producers, rather than just the food and the restaurants.

“It is one of those things that if you’ve got a voice, you should definitely use it. You should be using it for good – I find myself in the media, and I can talk about the hospitality industry or, in this case, talk about British farming and producers and how wonderful our produce is and how special these people are that care for it.”

Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain starts on ITV1 on Thursday July 4 at 8.30pm.