Swale’s community chef Mike Spackman is now officially Britain’s best after clinching the coveted Cook of the Year title in the BBC Radio Four National Food and Farming Awards.

He picked up the prize – an engraved chopping board – with his assistant Sally Miall at Bristol’s City Hall on Wednesday night.

The competition was judged by chef Allegra McEvedy, who co-founded the Leon restaurant group and visited Mr Spackman and his team when they were serving lunch at The Quays homeless hostel in Crown Quay Lane, Sittingbourne.

The awards were presented by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who dubbed them the Oscars of the food world.

Two days later, Mr Spackman, 61, was back at work at Rose Street Primary School, Sheerness, teaching youngsters how to make healthy meals on a shoestring in a partnership with the Oasis Academy.

Mr Spackman, who delivers meals from a converted Ford Transit food wagon, said: “This award is about Sheppey and its diverse communities. It needs to be used to draw attention to the huge variances in the quality of people’s lives in terms of health and wellbeing.

“The project has, for the first time, suffered its biggest single funding cut from the KCC children’s centre budget.

“This is at odds with the health statistics, which still paint a gloomy and worrying picture for too many parts of the Island.”

The father-of-four, who has two grandsons and lives on Romney Marsh, said: “When I started on Sheppey in 2008, there were areas on the Island where people were dying 10 years earlier than others in Swale. Much of this was down to poor lifestyles and bad diets.

“We have done a fantastic amount of work but the job is still far from finished.

“I wince when I see youngsters going to school clutching energy drinks or buying packs of sausage rolls. This is not just about teaching people to cook. It’s more complex than that.

“I hope this accolade will validate all we have achieved.”