You expect Martin Blunos to speak with a thick Latvian accent to match his long hair, impressive handlebar moustache and Iron Chef persona.

So when he comes out with a West Country burr the celebrity chef is immediately less intimidating.

Think WWF wrestler meets Viking and you’ll be spot on, and yet appearances can be deceptive. Sure he’s ambitious and passionate about what he does, but intimidating he’s not – he's got a heart of gold.

But then you can find this out for yourself if you get down to Oxford’s first ever Foodie Festival in South Parks this Bank Holiday weekend where Martin will be cooking in the chef’s theatre. And after all, freestyle is what Martin’s good at.

The Channel 4 Iron Chef series saw him taking on equally brutal looking chefs in a kamikaze style kitchen, more theatre than cooking, but equally as entertaining.

So does Martin, 49, mind his fearsome reputation?

“The way I look at it, if you’re not on the platform you can’t catch the train, or someone else will get the gig. So if I wanted to sit around relaxing on a Saturday rather than being on TV, I wouldn’t have gone for it. And if they want rough viking rather than soft and smiley they can have it,” he says.

“And yes, I think people are a bit scared of me until I open my mouth, and then they think I’m alright,” he smiles. “But you need to be a bit different. That’s how Gordon Ramsay got where he is. And yet if you meet him in real life he’s not like that, it’s all for effect.”

As for the moustache, is that for effect as well?

“I actually shaved it off recently,” Martin admits, “but when I went into the TV studio they said no one would know who I was without it, so I had to grow it back,” he laughs.

Martin is used to being a bit different. His parents moved from Latvia when it was still a Soviet state and settled near Bristol.

“I’d go to school and the other kids would ask what I’d had for supper last night and I’d say ‘stuffed cabbage with rye bread’ or ‘pig tail soup with gherkins’ and they thought I was an alien or something. But that’s what I was brought up on.”

Having held two Michelin stars for more than 15 years he was famous for serving Baltic food with a twist at his restaurant Lettonie in Bath, and is now an executive chef in West Wales, allowing him time for the TV work and food festival appearances.

Having met his wife cheffing, Martin says their current arrangement – Sharon looks after their three kids and writes successful cookery books – is much more family orientated.

As for the Foodie Festival, will Martin play the mad Latvian on the stand or stick to West Country chef?

“I’ll just wander about, choose my produce from the stalls and have a go. But I like chucking a few anecdotes in as well, like when I cooked for The Queen. The crowds love that.”

* Martin Blunos will be appearing in the chef’s theatre at the Foodies Festival at South Park on Saturday at 2pm. Go to foodiesfestival.com/ oxford for details