Bread Wars: sliced pan ‘not most nutritious’, says Donal Skehan

Despite a fondness for "a bacon sandwich in a white sliced pan", TV cook Donal Skehan agrees with food writer John McKenna's recent criticisms of white bread. "It is not the most nutritious product on the market, it really isn't, and the things that are going in to it are not the best," he tells Roisin Ingle in this week's 'Roisin Meets' podcast.

“The problem is with these products is that they are convenient and they are everywhere. You do have to go out and seek those better quality products.

“That becomes part of the problem with Irish food, it tends to be convenience over quality. And if we can choose quality more than convenience, we’re in a better place,” he says.

Skehan also speaks about the importance of his growing Youtube fanbase. After joining Jamie Oliver’s Foodtube network, his viewership has grown to 100,000.

He still gets excited when he receives a text from Oliver, who along with Darina Allen was his childhood cookery idol. "I still look up to him like I did when I was twelve," he says.

“He has the balls to do a grilled cheese sandwich on TV, but it s the best grilled cheese sandwich. That for me is a huge inspiration. It’s always to search for that perfection and the excitement behind food”.

He has considered emulating his idol in the campaigning stakes too. “In Ireland the biggest issues we have are with kids, and the knowledge of cooking and choosing good quality ingredients,” he says.

“Trying to figure out a solution to that is something I would love to get my teeth into”.

To listen to the dicussion, log on to the show’s Soundcloud page or subscribe for free via iTunes or Stitcher.