For their infamous reputation of having a rather average food culture, the Brits sure do have a lot of celebrity chefs. In a way, their lack of enthusiasm in the kitchen is probably the main reason for this. These chefs started their TV careers by showing off their own unique style of cooking on screen, but have now evolved into culinary evangelists, striving to show the British public that they can cook and eat well. There is also this new wave of social awareness we are now seeing more and more in these programs, especially within the last few years. It's not just about the food these days, it's about where it comes from and how it gets delivered to your plate.

This season, channel 4 brings us another solid lineup of British chefs doing their thing. We have the usual faces of Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Gordon Ramsay, but this year Fat Duck chef Heston Blumenthal joins the team and makes an immediate impact... well, at least on the advertising campaign. Known for his scientific approach to gastronomy, Blumenthal dons a white (lab coat style) jumpsuit as opposed to the other chefs traditional red, white and blue tracksuits for Channel Four's The Great British Food Fight - a very funny spoof presenting these 4 chefs as some kind of national Olympic team for cooking. It's a great ad campaign because they all essentially take the piss out of themselves.

Because of either TV exposure or commercial success Oliver, Fearnley-Whittingstall, Ramsay and Blumenthal are easily the most recognised chefs in Britain today (not including Marco-Pierre White, but who gives a shit about that tosser anyway). Being an avid fan of cooking, I have found both entertaining and inspirational either watching their shows or dining at their restaurants. So are they any good, or is it just TV hype? Do they really care about the state of food in Britain today or are they just after the ratings and the cash that comes with it. Here's what I think about them.

Jamie Oliver

Everybody knows Jamie Oliver, and for that reason I really used to dislike the guy. He just seemed like a very average cook who got way to much airtime. But after a few years of watching the breadth of his TV programs in London and actually trying out a few of his recipes I've come to understand the whole Jamie Oliver brand. He is a champion for the simple everyday meal and a militant for a better British food culture. He started with a variety of basic cooking shows and now has groomed himself as a TV chef tackling the problems with food in this country. Nowadays, all of his shows revolve around social experiments. He has improved the state of the nation's school canteen meals, detailed the grim nature of the poultry industry, tried to create a viral word-of-mouth food revolution, and will now endeavor to save the country's pork industry.

Despite his slightly egotistical performances from time to time (especially in the middle of his career) I can really appreciate what he's doing now. Not everyone can be a representative of haute cuisine and so Jamie speaks out for the common man. Best of all, he seems to have real passion for what he's doing. He's definitely not a faker.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is probably the least known out of Four's celebrity chef lineup. Like Oliver, he is primarily a TV chef and "real food" campaigner. But unlike Oliver, he presents a very raw style of food documentary. He has a back to basics approach and loves fresh ingredients, so you'll often see him digging up root vegetables from his enormous garden, fishing for a lunchtime meal, he even once picked up and cooked roadkill. Perhaps the most unrefined of his cooking stunts was when he once flambéed and puréed a mother's placenta which was later served as a pâté, and "much enjoyed by the baby's family and friends". I must try to find that episode one day.

Again, he's not a Michelin star type of chef but I find him very entertaining to watch. He has some great ideas in the kitchen and really makes you think about what you're eating and how it arrives on your plate.

Gordon Ramsay

There really is too much to say about this guy for this entry. I'm gonna have to write up something separate about him later. But the long and short of it is that I think he's an idiotic though talented, hypocritical sellout of a potty-mouthed chef who is entertaining to watch on TV.

Heston Blumenthal

Easily my favourite of the four, Heston Blumenthal is in a class of his own. Most people know him for is wacky 3 Michelin star dishes at his Bray based restaurant The Fat Duck (been there!). I like watching him because of he seems like an ordinary guy with a lot of extraordinary things to say about food. He is probably the least charismatic when put up against the Jamie, Hugh and Gordon, but his material is easily the most fascinating. Heston is also an absolute perfectionist, and this comes through a fair bit in his latest series Big Chef meets Little Chef (where he has to create a new menu for a declining roadside chain of restaurants). He just keeps on tweaking, tasting and re-tweaking the most basic of dishes. The place was basically a burger joint before, and he's treating the meals like they were going on his £130 per head tasting menu - it's hilarious. But what do you expect, it apparently took him over 2 years to be satisfied with the black pudding he serves at the Fat Duck. What a legend.

We're going to try his gastro-pub the Hinds Head this Friday!