For your pies only

He's smooth, suave and sophisticated and about to reveal his latest bag of tricks in the recently filmed Tomorrow Never Dies. But when 007 takes time out, what does he eat? Does he feast on oysters and caviar, sipping his ubiquitous martini? And who cooks for him?

Peter Titterrell, owner and chef of Buster's Catering, is the man who feeds James Bond, the cast and film crew. A quiet, shy man, he has been chef to many stars over the past 28 years, cooking for screen legends, plus assorted cast and crew, on sets and locations around the world. On occasion, he becomes personal chef to the lead player: last year during the filming of Evita, he was personal chef to Madonna.

This year, it's Pierce Brosnan and the Bond crew who feature on Titterrell's shooting schedule.

Not surprisingly, there are perks to this job. Most of the filming is done at the 007 sound stage, permanently housed in the Pinewood Studios complex near Uxbridge, Middlesex, but scenes are shot on location in exotic places around the globe. So far this year, Titterrell has accompanied Brosnan to the South of France to film the opening scene, and to Phuket in Thailand for another sequence.

At Pinewood Studios, the Bond set is a typical Hollywood juxtaposition: outside, a jumble of motor homes, cars, people and gear; inside, glamorous stars vie with the latest hi-tech equipment for screen supremacy.

Titterrell has an early start each day, up at 4.30am to provide breakfast at 7am for as many as 200 people. He serves a full English breakfast, offering a selection of porridge, bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, potatoes, muesli, cereal, yoghurt and fresh fruit. With the cast having a mere half-hour to gulp down breakfast, it has to be ready on time. Heads are down and chat is at a minimum, says Titterrell.

Lunch timing varies from day to day, depending on what is being filmed and how it is progressing. Generally, Titterrell will know numbers well in advance, but occasionally the studio will up the ante late the night before, giving him a minor logistical nightmare. Titterrell considers it a small glitch.

Lunch is a selection of hot and cold dishes, usually with one hot meat, one fish and one vegetarian dish, a selection of hot vegetables, a cold buffet table and hot and cold desserts. All food is prepared from fresh on site. As soon as one meal is finished, preparation begins for the next.

Titterrell also provides sandwiches and hot and cold drinks throughout the day for the cast, while feeding the editing team on an ad hoc basis. "They are often shut up in the cutting room for hours on end and tend to turn up at odd hours with a request for ‘something fast'," he explains.

It's a busy life, with few breaks during filming. While the filming itself takes place only five days a week, set construction goes on all the time, and Titterrell is responsible for feeding the crew as well. "When they shoot at night, I have to provide food right through," he says ruefully. "I've worked two years straight without a break."

Titterrell has two fixed locations. One is at St Albans, where all the stunts are done using stand-ins and extras, and there he provides as many as 450 covers a day in two canteens. The other is the Pinewood set, where he cooks from a mobile kitchen and uses dining buses, which seat 42 apiece, for sit-down meals. Overall, he can be feeding as many as 1,000 people a day, plus providing Brosnan with a personal service.

Titterrell is relaxed about feeding Brosnan. "He likes healthy food, fruit platters and light meals mostly, with an occasional fry-up for breakfast," he says. "Pierce's personal assistant Adrian Bell will come to the back door of the kitchen, collect the meal and deliver it to the motorhome."

Staffing doesn't appear to be a problem. Titterrell has 20 staff on his books, some full-time and others casual. Keith Mitchell is his number two and is currently in charge at St Albans, while Kevin Williams works alongside Titterrell at Pinewood. Good, reliable staff are the mainstay of his business, as he can't afford to get a reputation for shoddy food or service.

"You're only as good as your last film," he jokes. "My staff have to be adaptable. There are no kitchen porters to clean up, we all have to muck in and do everything. I can feed 250 out of this mobile kitchen. It's very small, so we have to constantly clear away dishes and mess.

"I have five kitchens, two refrigerated trucks and five dining buses overall - plenty to keep me busy! I keep an eye on both locations and do all my ordering and paperwork from home in the evenings. I guess I'm a workaholic, but there are always things waiting to be done," he sighs.

Weather plays a large part in food planning. If it turns cold, Titterrell makes rapid changes to his menu, adding more hot dishes such as rack of lamb. Similarly, when it's hot and humid, the cold platters, such as the grilled Mediterranean vegetable salad (see recipe), are more popular.

Maintaining good relations with his suppliers can pose a problem for Titterrell when he is constantly on the move. "It's hard to get a good system going when you aren't in one place for long," he says. "I look for someone who can supply fresh fruit, vegetables and meat as soon as I arrive anywhere."

Catering in the film industry is catering at its hardest. The hours are long and stressful - Titterrell often works from 4.30am till 7pm in the evening. But he loves the industry. He worked in hotels in his younger days and wouldn't return to that sector. "Here," he says, "I deal with my customers on a daily basis, I'm not tucked out of sight. And I'm mostly outside, too.

"Over the four to six months of filming, we become like a family. With the stars you have to be discreet, they have to be able to trust you. After all, you go into their dressing rooms, so you need to be careful about confidentiality."

Catering on location is where he has his feet firmly planted - if you can say that about someone who seldom spends more than a week in one place. It has become an addiction, mixing with the elite stars of television and movies. "I like the hype of it all," he confesses. "I pick up my gear and I'm off to Bangkok, Hungary or Argentina. I've seen a lot of the world. I've been everywhere and back again. It's a bug - once you do this, you can't stop.

"The sheer buzz of working in this industry is exciting - meeting interesting people, being involved in the making of a film. Sure you have bad days, who doesn't? Most of the problems I face are suppliers in odd corners of the world. I've had occasions where my meat supplier didn't turn up - we had to go with what we had in stock."

Titterrell adds that the money is good, "but the hours are hell. It's not the real world, but you get hooked on it. The pace of it all makes for huge divorce rates. I missed my children growing up.

"I've made good money. I own a pub called the North Star, in Iver [Buckinghamshire], and I've recently bought a 17th century, listed guesthouse in Harmondsworth [London]. It has 11 bedrooms and needs doing up - it's my retirement plan. But for all of that, I wouldn't change what I do."