We have a traditional Polish Christmas Eve meal – as it’s a fast day there is no meat, still lots of food, and we have pickled herrings to start, washed down with vodka of course; then soup, mushrooms, then a main course of fish. The really typical fish to have is karp, not too common for British people.

One year my brother brought his new fiance to Christmas eve dinner and to impress her we cooked karp for the first time. It was horrible, tasted of mud…..

They never married!