CELEBRITY CHEF Phil Vickery last night urged people in Dundee to join the fight against obesity and go for healthier eating choices.

He demonstrated how easy it is to cook up nutritious meals at the Food Standards Agency Scotland Recipe for Success roadshow at the Bonar Hall to a capacity crowd of 450.

“I’m bringing to people’s attention the amount of salt in our diets, whether that’s in processed foods or what we sprinkle in foods,” said Phil. “It’s getting them to look at what they eat.”

The Ready Steady Cook star made his point with half a 390g pizza, containing 2.5g of salt, almost half an adult’s daily average intake.

He said 75% of our daily intake comes from salt hidden in such products.

“Coupled with that we touch on sugar and fat content, but basically it’s trying to show people a healthy balanced diet using different flavours, trying to bring out the flavour of food rather than just chucking salt at it.

“We’re not saying you can’t have it; we’re saying it’s okay in small amounts, and look at what you are putting into food. Then a bit of exercise, don’t smoke, don’t drink too much and you’ll live to a ripe old age.”

Phil said he hoped the event would urge more people to make healthier eating choices, take up cooking at home and try new dishes. He rustled up several dishes —mushroom soup, spicy pork and prune patties, haddock stew and steamed bananas with apricot sauce.

Other hot topics included labelling and latest information on diet and nutrition. And Dundee United players Barry Robson and Derek Stillie teamed up with Phil to talk about a typical footballer’s diet.

FSA Scotland assistant director Lydia Wilkie said, “Our research shows many people take an active interest in the food they eat so these events are important.”