Bristol

Richard Bertinet, originally from France, moved to Bath in 2004

A chef and food campaigner from Bath has been chosen as the BBC Food Champion for 2010.

Richard Bertinet, who was born in Brittany in north west France, picked up the prestigious honour at this year's Food and Farming Awards in Birmingham.

He's an expert on bread making, having trained as a baker from the age of 14.

When Richard moved to the city in 2004, he opened a bakery called The Bertinet Kitchen in St Andrew's Terrace - his cookery school followed in September 2005.

But he admitted that winning the award, for which he was nominated by the public, was only "sinking in very slowly".

"It was gobsmacking really," said Richard.

"[We are] really, really pleased because it was voted for by the listener.

"So it was people who come to do our classes and who recognise all the hard work we've been putting in for the past five-and-a-half years with the cooking school".

Despite his successes, Richard said that it's taken years of hard work and dedication.

"Like any business you've got to work hard for it and we do that," he added.

"We have an amazing team with us and the cooking school is going from strength-to-strength.

Richard makes many different types of bread, including these spelt loaves

"We just launched our bread in a big store in London, Selfridges, and a few places in Bristol."

But Richard also admits that getting the public interested in making bread is sometimes a tough challenge.

"We've become a nation of convenience food eaters," he said disappointedly.

"It's easy to buy convenience food and I completely understand - the way we live, the way we shop, [it's] different than what it was 20 to 30 years ago, probably 40 to 50 years ago.

"[However] there's a renaissance of discovering the food of old days and bread is one that's such an ancient food that people want to rediscover the pleasure of it.

"There's a lot of hope for all the small bakers around - and the south west is full of them - which is fantastic".

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