Nigella Lucy Lawson

Is an English journalist, food writer, broadcaster and television presenter. After graduating from Oxford, Lawson worked as a book reviewer and soon became the deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986. She then began work as a freelance journalist. Lawson wrote her first cookery book, How to Eat, in 1998; this became an instant bestseller and sold 300,000 copies. She followed this up with a second bestseller, How to be a Domestic Goddess in 2000, winning her a British Book Award.

Her career progressed in the United Kingdom in 2000 when she hosted her own Channel 4 cookery programme, Nigella Bites, which was accompanied with another bestseller. She also hosted a less successful chat show on ITV in 2005, which was followed by two successful cookery series on BBC Two. Lawson also enjoys a successful career in the United States where Nigella Feasts has been aired on the Food Network. Her own cookware range is reportedly worth £7 million a year, and she has sold more than 3 million cookery books worldwide.

Television

Following slots as a culinary sidekick on Nigel Slater's Real Food Show on Channel 4, she eventually went on to host her own television cookery series. Her interest in food was originally sparked after a visit to Paris as a teenager, after which time she looked upon food as source of enjoyment.

Throughout Lawson's programmes, which are broadcast worldwide, she emphasises that she cooks for her own pleasure rather than to please others, and that she finds cooking therapeutic. She has adopted a laid-back and relaxed approach to cooking and says "I think part of my appeal is that my approach to cooking is really relaxed and not rigid. There are no rules in my kitchen." She has become renowned for her flirtatious manner of presenting, but she has stated, "It’s not meant to be flirtatious. I don’t have the talent to adopt a different persona. It's intimate, not flirtatious." Lawson is also infamous for her vivid and adjective-packed food descriptions in both her books and television programmes, as one critic wrote "her descriptions of food can be a tangle of adjectives." She is not a trained chef nor does she like being referred to as a "celebrity chef".

The television series of Nigella Express was subject to criticism from The Daily Mail when it emerged that a bus Lawson was seen travelling on during the programme was hired and filled by extras. The producers responded by saying, "This series is a factual entertainment cooking show, not an observational documentary and it is perfectly normal procedure." It was also revealed that the kitchens in which Lawson was seen cooking are in two separate locations; one in her home and the other in a television studio in Battersea, South London. Lawson herself also came under criticism when viewers complained that she had gained weight since the debut episode of the series.Critics criticised the series for containing what they described as "scenes of gluttony not seen since the golden age of the Cookie Monster."

The rights to the series have since been sold to the Food Network in America, and to Discovery Asia.

Awards

2000: British Book Award - Author of the Year for How to be a Domestic Goddess

2001: WH Smith Book Award - How To Be A Domestic Goddess shortlisted for Lifestyle Book of the Year

2001: Guild of Food Writers - Television Broadcast of the Year for Nigella Bites

2001: World Food Media Awards - Gold Ladle best television food show for Nigella Bites

2002: WH Smith Book Awards - Lifestyle Book of the Year for Nigella Bites