SHE was born into one of the most famous cooking dynasties in the country — so it was no surprise that Anjali Pathak wanted to become a chef.

The former Bolton School pupil was one of the main attractions of the festival on Saturday when she cooked in front of huge crowds in the Market Place.

Ms Pathak, the granddaughter of Lakshmishankar Pathak who founded the Indian food empire Patak’s, said she loved coming to Bolton and cooking in front of people from her home town.

The 31-year-old, who now lives in London, said she felt she had a legacy to pass on to people.

She cooked sticky chilli chicken with mustard greens and crushed new potatoes, spiced seabass with chunky cumin and pea puree and cinnamon summer berries with lemon and cardamom cream.

She said: “The festival is amazing.

“It is growing bigger and bigger every year.

“More and more people seem to be coming and they are coming from further afield and it is a testament to just how important the festival is becoming in the North West and the UK.”

Ms Pathak said she particularly enjoyed cooking for local people and was pleased to see some “ethnic” faces in the audience.

“There is such a big ethnic population in Bolton and so being ethnic, and doing ethnic food, and to see so many ethnic faces in the crowd coming to watch me does make me feel incredibly proud. I feel like I am sharing and passing on my recipes to people.

“I grew up with it and from a young age was cooking in the kitchen so I want to share my knowledge.”