Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall tells people to stop putting their meals in the microwave - and says everyone has time to grow their own food

TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has told people to stop putting their meals in the microwave and that we should grow our own food instead.

The 59-year-old criticised the 'stick it in the microwave' method of cooking, saying it means people miss out on a 'huge part of human culture'.

Speaking to Devon Life magazine, Fearnley-Whittingstall said: 'For tens of thousands of years, humans were hunter-gatherers and I think this still speaks to us.

'That's what it meant to be human – we have an emotional connection to knowing where our food comes from and if, instead, we only have industrialised, anonymous, 'stick it in the microwave' food, we're missing out on a huge part of human culture.

'I'm not saying we should go back to be hunter-gatherers or even self-sufficiency, people don't have time for that, but what people do have time for is to grow some of their food.'

Fearnley-Whittingstall has previously said that he grows most of the vegetables he eats at his farm, River Cottage, in Devon and tries to follow a self-sufficient lifestyle.

He has also fashioned himself as a healthy eating champion and has published a number of books on the subject.

Fearnley-Whittingstall said he aims to eat 30 plants a week and grows 11,000 types of edible plants in his vegetable patch at the River Cottage HQ.

Writing in the Daily Mail earlier this year, he said: 'The plant kingdom really is a wonderfully exciting place from which to cook.

'It's where we find the greatest variety of fantastic flavours and textures to bring into our kitchens.

'This presents endless opportunities — whether we're meat-eating, vegetarian or vegan — to fill our plates with all kinds of deliciousness, either as the main event, an exciting side dish, or to be used as tasty ingredients mixed with other scrumptious things.

'This way of eating is simple to follow and will bring us great pleasure, as well as good health, day after day.

'We just need to open ourselves up to the astonishingly wide repertoire that the plant world has to offer — and that reaches way beyond the obvious fruit and vegetables that immediately spring to mind.

'What I'm also including here might surprise you: nuts, herbs, seeds and spices; various dried pulses and whole grains; olive oil and black pepper; even chocolate and coffee — they all count towards your 30-plant tally.

'So, I don't just want you to eat up your greens. I also want you to cram every colour of the rainbow, and all the nutty, pulsey shades of brown, into your day-to-day eating habits.

'There is a huge and growing consensus that including loads of plants in our diets is the very best way to boost our gut health and keep us well.'