Confessions of Roger Knysh

Roger Knysh, director of nutrition and food services department at Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, Mass., would work with animals if he weren’t in foodservice but says snakes are his greatest fear.

Q. What is the best part of your job?

My staff.

Q. What is the worst part of your job?

Paperwork.

Q. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Increased customer satisfaction.

Q. What is the most unusual foodservice/catering request you have ever received?

To cook alligator.

Q. If you weren't in foodservice what would you be doing?

Working with animals.

Q. Which talent would you most like to have?

Play a musical instrument.

Q. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Save more, spend less.

Q. What is your greatest fear?

Snakes.

Q. Which living person do you most admire?

My mother because she always says and does the right thing without effort.

Q. What is your guilty pleasure?

Ice cream.

Q. What will people always find in your refrigerator?

Yogurt, salad and fruit.

Q. What food fad do you wish had never started?

TV dinners.

Q. What is the weirdest food you have ever eaten?

Fiddleheads, a fernlike plant in the Northeast.

Q. What do you consider to be the most overrated foodservice trend?

Prepared convenience foods.

Q. Are you a morning or evening person?

Morning; my family all work the early shift and we have two dogs that make sure we’re up early.

Q. What are your words to live by?

There is no “I” in team.