WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO …

ICAN’T remember a time when I wasn’t in love with cooking. My father was a market trader and used to bring home wonderful food and my mum is a great home cook. Food is tied up in memories: those wonderful times when you are all sitting round the table together laughing.

Growing up in London I had a traditional diet. I remember the first time I tried pasta. My mum made spaghetti bolognaise in the 1970s and I thought this was the most amazing thing: now it is something you dollop out midweek.

I live with my husband Mark and our children Sam, 24, Rebecca, 22, Harry, 17, and Ben, 14. All of my kids can cook so they are very independent that way. Sam and Harry cook when they are hungry, while Rebecca and Ben are both passionate about it.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago and it spread to the liver. I’ve got secondary breast cancer, but at the moment I’m in remission and all-clear, so as long as that carries on then great. I’m one of the lucky ones because I’m here and have a great family.

I don’t know what it means in terms of life expectancy. That is not something I contemplate. It’s about living life the best way you can.

That is why MasterChef was so important to me because I wasn’t “that women who had been ill”. Nobody knew and the further I got, the more important it was that I was being judged simply on my cooking.

Did I imagine I would win MasterChef 2016? Never in a million years. Nobody was more shocked than me when I got on the show.

Ben signed me up. He had been saying for ages I should do it because I’m one of those people who watches MasterChef and shouts at the telly.

There were tough times. When you’re watching you think: “Why are you getting so emotional?” but as a contestant you want to do your best. When it goes all wrong at home you can order a takeaway. You can’t do that on MasterChef.

Different ingredients don’t faze me. People would ask: “Why did you put popcorn with lobster?” but I have learned to think outside the box when it comes to textural elements. I have cooked that way for 12 years since Ben was diagnosed with coeliac disease aged two.

I was worried competing on MasterChef might take the fun out of cooking. After the show finished

I had a few weeks where I needed a rest. That didn’t last and I quickly got back into the swing of things.

Life has completely changed since winning MasterChef. I have gone from being a stay-at-home mum who was getting bored to working full time, writing a gluten-free cookbook and doing food shows. I sometimes wake up and think: am I dreaming? Jane Devonshire will be cooking live at Foodies Festival Christmas, Edinburgh International Conference Centre, 2pm, today. The festival runs until tomorrow. Visit foodiesfestival.com