Gregg Wallace on MasterChef, his friendship with John Torode and why he loves York

Wallace’s new travel series sees him visit a string of famous cities including Istanbul, Berlin and Rome. He also spent three days in York which is the subject of tonight’s episode, to find out more about a city that is dripping in history.

His visit was filmed last year before the latest lockdown. “I’d been twice before but I saw so much more this time and what stays with me is how much history there is, it’s just incredible. And how friendly the place is. You’ve got to remember I’m a Londoner and we tend not to talk to each other. But what a lovely, friendly place York is.”

Wallace spent time with a local historian learning about the story behind the city’s walls and went to the Minster where he met some of the stonemasons.

“I actually went up on the roof and there may just be a tiny little bit of Gregg Wallace on the roof of York Minster. I know it sounds ridiculous but I’m incredibly proud of that. Next time I’m there with someone I’ll say ‘look up there, I did some work on that.’”

He also met up with Michelin star chef Tommy Banks who cooked him a medley of rhubarb dishes. “Yorkshire rhubarb isn’t new to me. I’ve been a champion of it for years and I put my name to the campaign to get it European recognition, and I’ve met the fabulous Janet Oldroyd numerous times so I’m well aware of the fabulous forced Yorkshire rhubarb. I also know Tommy Banks, who is a real talent, and I got to enjoy a feast of rhubarb put on by him and his team which I didn’t expect.”

Wallace is a bit of a marmite figure, you either warm to his ‘matey’ persona or you don’t. Though he must be doing something right otherwise he wouldn’t have been such a regular fixture on our TV screens over the past decade and a half.

He’s often described as being a former greengrocer, though that’s not entirely accurate. Yes, he was in the business of selling fruit and veg, but he wasn’t a one man band working out of a market stall.

He started his catering business in 1989 at the age of just 24 and built up a reputation for supplying top quality produce. “All the top London chefs and restaurants were my clients. There are even chefs today who still call me ‘Greg the veg,’” he says.

He reels off a list of famous names who were customers of his: “Marco [Pierre White], Gordon [Ramsay], Jamie [Oliver], Michel Roux Junior at Le Gavroche, the River Cafe... I supplied the lot and I was good at it, and I cared about it.”

He started eating out at some of the restaurants he supplied and says that’s where he learned about food.

His move into the world of TV and radio came about, as is so often the case, by happenstance. He spotted food trends before they took off and started working with British farmers and growers to promote their produce.

A trade magazine, The Hotel and Caterer, did a feature on him and the freelance journalist who wrote the article also did work for Radio 4’s food programmes and he was invited in as a guest on one of the shows. This went well and he ended up co-presenting Veg Talk on Radio 4 before moving into TV.

It’s often forgotten that he was the first presenter of Saturday Kitchen, but it was MasterChef that made him a household name. “It’s been the pivotal moment of my life and it made me famous overnight,” says Wallace.