Revelations: Adam Banks, head chef, Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Cornwall

What was your best subject at school?
I performed best at English but my favourite was history. Embarrassingly, I wasn't very good at home economics

 

What was your first job?
Selling carpets

 

What was your first job in catering?
Kitchen porter at 15 in a hotel in Newcastle-under-Lyme

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?
Either porridge or sheep's yogurt with buckwheat, dates and apple, sunflower seeds and chia seeds

 

What do you do to relax?
Surf, read cookbooks with a glass of wine, maybe go for a run

 

Which is your favourite restaurant?
Currently, Lyle's in London

 

What's your favourite hotel?
Scarlet in Newquay, I love the fact you get no phone reception

 

Which ingredient do you hate the most?
Cottage cheese. And I'm not a big fan of kidney

 

What flavour combinations do you detest?
Pickled egg in soy sauce. Not sure about that one

 

Which person in catering have you most admired?
I think what René Redzepi does is incredible; he's always pushing boundaries

 

Which person gave you the greatest inspiration?
When I was first at Fifteen Andy Appleton taught me a lot, which inspires how I cook now

 

Cast away on a desert island, what luxury would you take?
Record player

 

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?
An Italian

 

If you had not gone into catering, where do you think you would be now?
I probably would have gone into music. Maybe a DJ

 

What's your ultimate nightmare?
You're cooking a roast at a wedding and when you slice into it, it's still raw

 

Who would play "you" in a film about your life?
Me and Ryan Gosling look pretty similar