Arami recalls waking up every morning to the delectable smell of baking. He was always popular with his classmates thanks to the cookies his father sent him off to school with.
At the age of four, his training in fruit-cutting commenced. If he cut his finger, he had a cry and went on practising. One of the basic skills he had to learn, which was to remove the peel from an apple or pear in a single, unbroken knife stroke, took one year to master.
At age 15, he baked his first pastry following his father’s signature choux recipe. Did he use his choux to impress a girl? “Yes,” he said, with a sheepish laugh.