Celebrity chef James Martin takes time out from preparing for his forthcoming visit to Hull Truck Theatre to talk about food, cars and a certain Michelin-starred East Yorkshire restaurant to Sue Mason . . .

James Martin leaves his Saturday Kitchen for the stage of Hull Truck Theatre, where he stars in their first-ever food festival

James Martin was just back from a food festival in Dubai and was preparing for one in Hull. “I’m just doing the recipes,” says the chef, who can be seen on BBC TV on his programme, Saturday Kitchen, most weekends.

Foodie fans might have seen James at the city’s Global Food Festival, but it will be the first time he’s stepped inside the new Hull Truck Theatre. “I’m really looking forward to it,” says the 37-year-old.

He’ll be in East Yorkshire for Hull Truck’s first-ever food festival, which will see the theatre’s foyer areas transformed into a huge indoor food market and the main stage – which more usually showcases the work of renowned British playwrights – into an open kitchen.

James will give three cookery demonstrations, no doubt accompanied by his trademark friendly patter, supported by local chef Nigel Brown.

James was brought up on a farm in the shadow of Castle Howard, near York, where his father, Ian, was catering manager and where the youngster had his first taste of kitchen work.

“I started out pot washing at Castle Howard and dreaming of the day when I would be a chef,” he says. “I really enjoyed it”.

At 16 he did his catering training at Scarborough Technical College. He lived in student digs, but says he never bothered with nightclubbing. “It was all work for me,” he says.

His end-of-year cooking exam was judged by veteran TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson, who took the promising youngster off to London to work. By the age of 21, James was head chef at the Hotel du Vin and Bistro in Winchester. His success created a two-month waiting list for the bistro and brought him to the attention of TV producers and since 1996 he has been a regular on countless cookery programmes.

James has filmed several programmes in Yorkshire, including a series for UKTV called Yorkshire’s Finest, in which he sourced and cooked local produce, and ITV’s Castle In The Country, where viewers saw him cook at Castle Howard.

“Even though it’s a fair old trip, I like to do events in Yorkshire,” says James, who shares his Winchester home with his clumber spaniel, Fudge.

“Fudge liked it because he has a bit of land to roam in,” says the chef, who also has space to pursue a couple more of his favourite hobbies at his Hampshire home.

“I grow my own vegetables although we’ve still got snow at the moment,” he says.

“I grow carrots, parsnips, potatoes and masses of fruit.

“It’s a good getaway, a little oasis, but I don’t do chickens.

“I have a gardener who does the flower beds, but I do the vegetable plots. Gardening is something you pick up over the years and it’s good to understand it from the chef’s point of view.”

And he also has enough room for his car collection. Currently he has six, including an Audi R8 V10 sports car.

“My favourite is a pick-up truck, which I use for work. It’s a bloke thing – you feel like Bob the Builder.”

It’s a far cry from his first car, a £20 Fiat bought for him by his dad and in which he used to rally round the fields.

When James went to London at 19 to work for Worrall Thompson, there was a Ferrari dealership opposite the restaurant and the teenager – who now also writes motoring reviews – promised himself he’d have one of his own one day.

His early Ready Steady Cook success meant he was able to go into the Audi dealership in York and, to the astonishment of his mother, write out a cheque for £25,000 to buy an S4 Coupe; on his 25th birthday he bought himself a black Ferrari.

Classic cars are his great love, he says: “I like the history behind them,” he explains.

His first classic car was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing bought at the German Motor Show in Essen; he later sold it, making a profit of more than £100,000.

Other cars went at the same time, to fund the renovation of his house – and the building of two huge, air-conditioned garages big enough to house 12 vehicles.

“There are lots of cars I covet, but as you save up for them, they become more expensive,” he says.

He won’t be bringing his pick-up truck to Hull, but he will be bringing his passion for good local produce.

“The theme for Hull Truck is local produce and good flavours,” says James, whose favourite dish is a plain and simple bacon sandwich. “I’m just working on the recipes now.

“The demos will make it accessible so that people can do the recipes at home. To me, that’s really important and I think that’s why people like Saturday Kitchen,” he says, referring to the popular BBC TV show he presents. His greatest friends in the business are the chefs who regularly appear on Saturday Kitchen, such as Nathan Outlaw and Marcus Wareing.

“We have some great produce in the UK,” he says. “British beef is fantastic, the pork and lamb are great and in Hull you’ve got seafood on your doorstep too, and that’s what I’ll be demonstrating at Hull Truck.

“It will be quality, seasonal stuff and it will probably include fish.”

His visit to Hull will be a flying visit, although he expects to be returning to Yorkshire to see his mum the following weekend on Mother’s Day.

He might even have chance to visit his sister Charlotte. She doesn’t share her brother’s cooking genes, but she does live handily close to East Yorkshire’s first ever Michelin-starred restaurant which, naturally, James has visited.

“She’s officially not a great cook,” he says. “She has the A-Level genes instead and she’s a PA.

“She lives near the Pipe & Glass, which has just got a Michelin star. I’ve eaten there,” he says. “It was good.”

James Martin is the star attraction at Hull Truck’s first ever food festival on Sunday 7th March. As well as the cookery demonstrations at 1.30pm, 4pm and 6.30pm, for which tickets are priced at £20, there is free entry to the foyers, where a whole host of local food suppliers will be exhibiting from noon - 6pm.