to send me off with a packed lunch on the train. There was always fresh fruit. Do you have any cooking heroes? Pellegrino Artusi, the author of a famous Italian cookbook called La scienza In Cucina E L'arte Di Mangiare Bene (The Science of Cooking

What was your favourite food as a child? My grandmother’s home-made ravioli served in a chicken broth.At what age did you start cooking? I started at around four, helping my Italian grandmother make the ravioli. My grandparents lived in a small

, and Ilyas, six, whose names are both Berber. My daughter Louize, who is two, has a European name but we decided to spell it with a ‘z’ to give it a Berber twist.Couscous is for Algerians what pasta is for Italians. We eat it with everything. As a child, I