Pierre White: 'Delia should be a Dame'

Chef Marco Pierre White has called for Delia Smith to be made a Dame.

The Hell's Kitchen star said criticism of Smith's recent How To Cheat At Cooking series was out of order.

"Delia did more for cooking in this country than anybody else," he told The Sun.

"She's had a kicking but she’s not telling you to do it. She's telling you how to do it if you want to. It might inspire people to cook. She should be Dame Delia Smith, in my opinion."

White blasted Joanna Lumley's suggestion that all chickens should be free range, describing it as unsustainable.

"She's a fantasist," he said. "Tesco alone go through something like 40 million chickens a week. Where are we going to grow all these organic chickens? Who can afford them?

"There's a lot of people out there who earn £20,000 a year and have to bring up a family on that. They can't afford to go organic."

He added: "If you're going to question chickens, you have to question food across the board.

"Let's not just have a quick snipe, an easy snipe, at battery chickens to try and relaunch our careers and look like a goody-goody."