Chef Profile: Nigella Lawson

1. Chef Profile: Nigella Lawson Introducing the English food writer and television cook Nigella Lawson If you have any interest at all in fine food and dining, then you’ve probably heard of Nigella Lawson. This beautiful British chef is an international celebrity who’s been making a name for herself for many years now. She’s the bestselling author of eight books which, altogether, have sold more than six million copies around the world. She has a high-profile cooking show on the Food Network, and she even has her own iPhone app. At the same time, Nigella stands apart from other celebrity chefs. Unlike some of the chefs you might see on TV, Nigella Lawson isn’t the least bit fussy, finicky, or pretentious. Her food rarely involves hard-to-find ingredients or trendy new techniques. Instead, her recipes focus on big, satisfying flavors and the kinds of robust meals that are perfectly suited to a family feast. She’s especially interested in traditional British home cooking and, of course, in the classics of French cuisine. Over all, Nigella’s style is warm, welcoming, and down to earth. Her fans might call her a “domestic goddess,” but Nigella never takes herself too seriously, and she never hesitates to laugh at herself. That might be why she’s such a popular figure and a household name Where is Nigella Lawson from? Nigella was born on January 6, 1960 in Wandsworth, an affluent suburb in southern London. She was the daughter of Nigel Lawson, a conservative politician. Her mother, Vanessa, actually had connections to the food business; Vanessa’s family owned the famous J. Lyons and Co. food and catering company. So in a sense, Nigella was born into a family that cared about the finer things in life, especially ​good food and drink​s reopening online resturants.

2. Nigella ​attended Oxford University​, where she studied Modern Languages. Years later, she confided to a journalist at the ​Oxford Mail​ that some of her best memories from her university days were centered around food. Nigella reminisced about eating Malaysian food at a local restaurant, and shopping for ingredients at Oxford’s Covered Market, and then coming back to her kitchen to make a batch of French onion soup. She admitted that she “would go into people’s rooms and steal whatever liquor or bits of cheese they had to go in the onion soup – Benedictine I had to use once. That’s when I realized I was someone who liked feeding people, which I enjoyed, although it wasn’t such an eating-out culture as it is now.”. Today, a portrait of Nigella hangs in one of the colleges at Oxford University as an inspiration to today’s students. ​Authorities said​ that they had hung up the portrait female students who have “led lives of distinction,” because they might serve as role models for the young women studying at Oxford today. How did Nigella Lawson get started in the food business? Nigella got her start working ​as a journalist​. At the age of 23, she landed a job writing book reviews for The Spectator. She eventually moved to the Times of London, where she rose to become the deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times. However, she was not interested in getting into management-level work; she preferred to do creative work. That’s why she became a freelance writer, focusing on, you guessed it, food and other lifestyle issues.

3. Nigella never trained as a professional chef. In fact, she has often said that she doesn’t like being called a celebrity chef at all. She has described herself as a “kitchen klutz” because, she says, she’s just not naturally organized or graceful in the kitchen! For her, cooking is something she does for her family and her loved ones. Her philosophy is that food is something to be shared among those you’re closest to. Cooking is an act of love. That’s what Nigella was trying to get at when she wrote “How to be a domestic goddess,” a cookbook which focuses on creating a warm, loving atmosphere and, of course, on exquisite baked goods.