Nigella Lawson: My life in five dishes

The internationally-acclaimed food writer and TV cook Nigella Lawson, tells her life story through five memorable dishes. Often filmed devouring food with a showy relish, she tells Emily Thomas how her mother’s bulimia sparked a life-long determination to enjoy eating.

Nigella explains how a series of bereavements has led her to memorialise her loved ones through recipes, and why she’s become more protective of her privacy in recent years.

Nigella’s books and TV shows often give the impression of a gregarious host, cooking for a multitude of family and friends, but her latest book ‘Cook, Eat, Repeat’ and its accompanying TV series, partly written and produced during lockdown, show her on her own. We find out how she’s coped.

(Picture: Nigella Lawson. Credit: Matt Holyoak/ BBC).