Over a cheeky Nando’s, the maths professor and TV presenter talks about dating, why she won’t eat anything that’s lived in water, and life after serious illness

Prof Hannah Fry is many things – mathematician, author, presenter, podcaster, a trusted expert in many fields – but one thing she is not is a foodie. She was going to suggest a kebab shop for lunch. “I wanted a filthy doner grot-fest,” she says, but opted for Nando’s instead. “I wanted the world to know that I was a classy girl.” You know what you’re getting with a Nando’s, she reasons, as the lunch rush heaves around us. Slightly bashfully, she says yes, she does have a regular order: chicken, chips and slaw. “I was tempted to go for the lemon and herb, just so everyone would know I was a massive wimp,” she admits. “I’ll have medium. It is lunchtime.”

Fry, 39, was born in Essex, and grew up just over the Hertfordshire border, in Hoddesdon, near Harlow, the middle child of three sisters. Her mother is Irish. “I don’t know whether this is uniform across all of Ireland, but certainly, my family are not culinary experts.” Take Christmas, for example. “In the Irish family, there will be roast potato, mashed potato, boiled potatoes. Maybe hash browns and croquettes. That’s what I like to call the Irish mixed grill,” she jokes.

A new freshness to everything in the market means making dishes to celebrate the season’s leafy greens, sprouting seeds and citruses

It is as if the light has been let in. The old culinary year has gone, something that doesn’t happen until April in the kitchen, and there is suddenly a freshness to everything in the market – spring greens, sprouting seeds, the first asparagus, radishes and garlic leaves are here.

This is a collection of light, simple recipes to celebrate the new season: a wasabi-spiked avocado paste for pan-fried chicken; filo rolls with a refreshing sweet-and-sour filling and a herb cream, and a quick stir-fry of spring greens with a hit of gochujang and coriander. To finish, a startling lemon sorbet with the fizz of sparkling wine.