Something fishy about Rick's new show.

IN an interview in one of the TV listings magazines chef Rick Stein vents his anger against the growth of what he calls "plastic" food at the expense of locally produced, carefully cooked "real" food.

All very worthy, but I can't say he gets very worked up in the first of this ten-part gastronomic pilgrimage around Britain, which celebrates the local produce and regional dishes he champions in print.

He seems to have climbed off his hobby horse to make yet another innocuous TV cookery programme, although admittedly with a nod to the origins of the dishes' ingredients.

His pet hates have been put aside as he celebrates what he likes, namely producers who value the taste of food above profit. The result aims to be a food lovers guide of Britain.

The scenery certainly looks good enough to eat as Stein opens the series perched on a cliff overlooking sparkling blue sea. Rolling hills and green countryside are spotted as he travels around, hunting down gastronomic treasures in his own backyard.

So far he's only cooked fish in his TV series. This time he branches out, first of all with a pigeon dish. This is bad news for the bird which has to be shot first.

Stein offers a word of advice: always look after your game dealer. This is not a cardsharp but the chap who supplies you with dead creatures to eat.

In West Cornwall, he visits The Lizard Pasty Shop, where Ann sells something very tasty. The Lizard is where her place is located not what she puts in her pasties. As we can see, when it comes to decorating the top of the pastry, she can "crimp like lightning".

Dave shows how to catch mackerel in a conservation-friendly way, although the fish probably don't find anything particularly friendly about the process as they're going to be eaten.

Stein can't stay out of a boat. Soon he's at sea with a publican who catches fish and then puts them on the menu in his restaurant. For the fish on the end of the line it's just that - the end of the line.

Pretty soon, our TV chef is rustling up a warm salad of skate. Clearly keeping Stein away from fish is going to be difficult. He's as hooked on cooking it as any fish dangling on his line.