Ramsay hates being called a celebrity chef

Gordon Ramsay

SYDNEY - British cook Gordon Ramsay doesn't like being called a celebrity chef.

The outspoken chef says he's worked too hard for too long to be labelled that way.

"There is a very superficial glossy image around cooking today," Ramsay told AAP in Sydney.

"Individuals enter the industry to become famous, which is bollocks.

"Having been involved in this for 21 years, I have worked my nuts off to get where I have before any sort of exposure in terms of TV or media interest."

Ramsay, one of Britain's best known chefs, has written more than a dozen cookbooks, most recently Sunday Lunch and Other Recipes from The F-Word.

His autobiography, Humble Pie, was released this month, and he's hosted several high rating TV shows, including Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, Hell's Kitchen, The F-Word and Boiling Point.

He's also lent his name to a range of Royal Doulton tableware.

"I learnt my craft so the word 'celebrity' I will leave to the sort of chefs that want to have three or four goes at it," the 39-year-old said.

"I hate that word when everyone labels you as a celebrity chef."

Ramsay's business empire, run as Gordon Ramsay Holdings, also includes several Michelin-rated restaurants in the UK, along with others in New York, Tokyo and Dubai. He's also planning to open in Los Angeles, Prague, Amsterdam, Dublin and Paris.

"We are not cooking burgers. We are not dressing caesar salads. We are at the cutting edge of cuisine," he said.

Ramsay is perhaps as well known for his heated temper and fiery kitchen antics as his cooking.

But he makes no apologies to those offended by his sharp tongue.

"I am not interested in that, the minute I have to sit back and think about the PC (politically correct) world in terms of keeping everybody happy," he said.

"I quite frankly don't really sit and ponder behind it. I am always too busy looking forward."

He's got plenty to look forward to, and shows no signs of slowing down.

"I suppose in a way I am more scared of stopping than evolving," he said.

Ramsay is also about to have a guest spot on international TV cartoon hit, The Simpsons. He will play himself, teaching Homer Simpson to cook.

"I want something that is sort of slightly angelic," he laughed when asked how he felt about being immortalised as a cartoon character.

"I don't want to see this scrawny, crinkly, wrinkled face like the map of Wales coming out."

- AAP