Building an i386 kernel on amd64 host with make-kpkg

[Cameron Hutchison <lists@xdna.net>]

I am trying to build a kernel for my i386 box on my amd64 host. I want
to do this because the amd64 box build at least 10 times faster than the
target box.

I am using make-kpkg to build the kernel package. I am having the
following problem:
$ make-kpkg --rootcmd fakeroot --arch i386 kernel_image
....
/bin/sh: i486-linux-gnu-gcc: command not found
make: *** [debian/stamp-kernel-conf] Error 2
$

I thought that gcc on an amd64 box can build 32-bit binaries without
needing a separate cross compiler.

Can someone give me some pointers on how to do this?

Thanks