During his thirty year career, Marco Pierre White has been famous for many things. In the 80’s it was for throwing customers out of his seminal Harvey’s restaurant; in the 90’s, for being the youngest British chef to win three Michelin stars and then “handing them back” and prematurely retiring from the stove; and in the 21^st century for his unlikely business partnership with jockey Frankie Dettori, a messy divorce and the revelation in his autobiography that he made Gordon Ramsay cry.

Few would argue that White is the most prodigiously talented cook this country has yet produced and that at its best, his French inspired food is unforgettable. Dishes such as tagliatelle of oysters, pigeon en vessie and tranche of turbot mouginoise have become classics. But the one thing they are not is British.

White’s restaurants have never been renowned for serving British food – not at the French influenced The Canteen, The Oak Room, The Mirabelle and certainly not at the straight ahead Italian Frankie’s and Luciano. Even though the menu at Marco’s “country inn” The Yew Tree features shepherds pie and fish and chips, it’s peppered with dishes such as velouté of celery with chervil, oeufs moëllées and chou farci à l’ancienne.

So it’s surprising to find the great man suddenly transformed into Marco Pierre Red White and Blue, hoisting a Union Jack high over the white cliffs of Dover during the title sequence of ITV’s new series Marco’s Great British Feast. “This time my love affair is with Britain,” proclaims a wild haired Marco in the show.  

Putting aside for a moment the remarkable similarity to the BBC’s Great British Menu (chefs travel the UK to find the best ingredients for British dishes to serve at a banquet while Marco travels the UK  to find the best ingredients for British dishes to serve at a feast), its an entertaining enough show.

Eccentric behaviour such as getting his long suffering driver Mr Ishi to turn his Range Rover round on a country road so that he can stroke a donkey he’s spotted in a field, or making a full dining room wait an hour for their starters due to a lack of watercress (“They’re not paying, they can wait”) makes for highly engaging television.

And it’s unquestionably a joy to see White cooking proper food again like the rabbit stockpot he prepared in the first show (the dishes he demonstrated on last years Hell Kitchen series appeared to be aimed more at the housewife than the serious cook).

But is White really the most appropriate chef to be fronting an all British cooking show? Fergus Henderson at St John, Tom Norrington-Davis of Great Queen Street or even Gary Rhodes, chefs that have made a career long commitment to promoting British cuisine, might well feel slighted at Johnny-come-lately Marco’s sudden and convenient conversion to his native cooking culture, especially in light of his reported £1million deal with ITV.   

Marina O’Loughlin, restaurant critic of the London Metro thinks there's an obvious reason for the unexpected change of heart. “I’m a massive fan of Marco. I think he’s fab; a genius chef and a lunatic. He’s been cool for so long, but now he’s doing all this naff telly, I think he just needs the money.” 

Richard Harden of Harden’s guides is equally unconvinced by White’s conversion to British food. “The last thing we reported about Marco on our website Hardens.com was him saying that New York was the most exciting restaurant city in the world. I’m just fed up with all celebrity chef proclamations, they’re ridiculous.”

Are you convinced by Marco’s “love affair” with British food? Is it a long term relationship or just a marriage of convenience? Are there chefs better qualified to champion British food on television than Marco?

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