Adam Palmer

1. What was your first job?

Saturday boy working in a menswear shop in Hitchin, Hertfordshire

2. What was your first job connected with food?

Commis chef at Noke Thistle Hotel in St Albans, Hertfordshire

3. What is your favourite restaurant?

Marco Pierre White's The Restaurant, London

4. What is your favourite hotel?

Chewton Glen in New Milton, Hampshire, is a great all-round experience

5. What is your favourite food/cuisine?

Home-made pasta with extra virgin olive oil and Parmesan

6. Are there any foods/ingredients you refuse to cook with? If so why?

The orange, spiky fruit, kiwano. It looks good but has no taste

7. What is your favourite drink?

Badoit mineral water

8. What flavour combinations do you detest?

Avocado and prawns

9. Describe an eating-out experience that turned into a nightmare?

Ever tried not giving a tip in New York? An emotional waiter chased me down 52nd Street!

10. What is your favourite holiday destination?

Austria. I like harsh winters and a pleasant spring

11. What is the best film you have seen?

Fiddler on the Roof

12. What is your favourite book?

Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson

13. What sort of music do you like?

The Doors, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles

14. Who is your favourite supplier of the moment and why?

Stan Williams (tel: 01494 792738) in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, supplies everything. He is particularly hot on deli products

15. Who would be in your ultimate "fantasy" brigade?

Head chef - Marco Pierre White; sous chef - John Burton-Race; commis chef - Eric Cantona

16. Which person do you aspire to be like?

George Best - he's had a good life

17. If I had more time I'd…

Travel to the Far East for the food and culture

18. Describe yourself in five words?

Honest, reliable, impatient, perfectionist, affectionate

19. How would your brigade describe you in five words?

Generous, fair, talented, approachable, sarcastic