My Life In Food: David Walliams

Walliams says: 'When you are doing endurance swimming you just need to take in as many carbs as possible to put on as much weight as you can. Basically you can eat whatever you want, which can be quite fun. Everything is guilt-free.' (Getty Images)

What are your most and least used pieces of kitchen kit?

The most used piece of kit in my kitchen is my saucepan. I use it every morning to cook my porridge in. The least used piece of equipment? I'd say a food mixer. I've never used it, I don't really know what they're for.

If you had only £10 to spend on food, where would you spend it and on what?

I'd go to Marks and Spencer and I'd get one of its lentil and tomato soups.

What do you eat for comfort?

When I want comfort food, I buy Maltesers. I like all chocolates, but especially those. You can eat them, and because they're so light, you can convince yourself that they are not actually that fattening.

If you could only eat bread or potatoes for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

I'd definitely choose bread. It's just so much tastier. I could live quite happily without potato dishes, I wouldn't miss them that much really. But I would miss sandwiches.

What's your favourite restaurant?

My favourite restaurant of all time is Mildreds on London's Lexington Street. It's a little vegetarian restaurant and is really fun and healthy, too. It was the first place I went to in London and really liked. That was 20 years ago, and it is still my favourite.

You were in training for nine months before each swim, did you eat a special diet?

Not really, actually. When you are doing endurance swimming you just need to take in as many carbs as possible to put on as much weight as you can. Basically you can eat whatever you want, which can be quite fun. Everything is guilt-free.

What did you eat on a typical day when you swam the Thames?

For breakfast I'd have a bowl of porridge, which is really good because it warms you before you go into the cold water. Mid-morning I'd have a slice of cake. We had loads of them sent to us after I said that's what I wanted on The One Show. A bowl of pasta was my usual lunch. And I also drank loads and loads of flat Coca Cola throughout the day. In the evening, at the various hotels, I'd just eat something bad like pizza. It was a strange dichotomy eating all that to help people who were starving.