British foodie queen Nigella Lawson has slammed the current state of food programs on TV as a “theatre of cruelty and humiliation”.
The 62-year-old is the cover star of the latest edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly and comes ahead of her hosting debut for Seven’s rebooted MKR that will see the domestic goddess join Manu Feildel (see lead image) as recalcitrant Pete Evan’s replacement.
MKR is set to launch on Seven post-Commonwealth Games, but no exact air date has yet been confirmed by the network.
The celebrity chef told The Weekly there is “never a need to be mean” and contestants should always be treated with respect. Lawson clearly having a dig at the likes of firebrand cook Gordon Ramsay and our own MasterChef, without actually mentioning either program.
Speaking about the bad tempered cooking show genre, Lawson said: “I don’t like that at all. I think it’s counterproductive.
“It makes people at home feel inhibited about cooking too, because they have this persecutory voice in their heads. I couldn’t be part of a programme like that.
“It doesn’t mean to say you’re not honest, but there’s never a need to be mean.”
Lawson added: “Going to restaurants can be a treat, but for me, the true story of food is told through the cooking we do at home.
“So, to have the chance to champion home cooks and be given the intimate privilege of being invited into people’s homes to eat their food fills me with gratitude and excitement in equal measure.”
The filming for this season’s MKR has all but wrapped up, with Lawson since returning to the UK.
However, she hasn’t rule out an Australian return. “I’m not one of life’s planners. In a way, life happens as it does. You can make plans, but it doesn’t mean they are going to come to pass,” Lawson told the Woman’s Weekly.
