Domestic Goddess she may be, but do not be fooled by the endless flirting or the sexual tomfoolery of Nigella's television persona. Our filthy queen of fantastic food has not built an empire on the strength of her eyelashes. She has been making award-winning TV shows and writing best-selling recipe books for over 20 years – to quietly become one of the most successful foodies ever to lick the back of a spoon. How? Because she's good. Of course, she knows her way around a kitchen. Of course, her food is incredible. But most importantly, she knows what you want to eat.
It was when I saw her on television making a Christmas pudding that my defences began to wobble. For a start, she clearly wasn’t a slavish follower of the modern fashion-mag look so many female celebrities feel compelled to ape. Instead of the regulation St Tropez tan and size 8 hat-stand figure, Nigella sported flawless lily-white skin, a cheerful little pot belly and large bouncing breasts. She wasn’t dressed like the demure housewife I imagined her to be, but like a 50s starlet, her hourglass proportions draped in sumptuous velvets and silks, her lipstick always perfect. She gave the impression of being a woman who thought and spoke not for men, or her peers, but very much for herself. For the first time, I could see the appeal of looking polished rather than post-party pickled.Then she opened her mouth and I have to admit, she had me at hello. Not only did she possess the sexiest, throatiest voice I’d ever heard, with a clarity reminiscent of the ‘ping’ you get when you tap a crystal wine glass, but she loved language, and used adjectives to seduce. Nigella’s world was full of ‘treacley’, ‘oozy’, ‘gorgeousness’. How could I not want to live in it?As Victoria Beckham disappears before our eyes, an icon of self-punishment and misery, the more Nigella’s glee as she drips honey into melted chocolate feels like a strike for pleasure over pain, indulgence over restraint.She does all the things health experts tell us not to do, but she looks happier than any of the conforming A-listers, and has never been dogged with rumours of breakdown, drug-dependency or depression.While modern women obsess over miracle diets and tummy tucks, Nigella stands out as a beacon of hedonism and, rather bizarrely, rebellion. Maybe my 16-year-old self wouldn’t disapprove so much after all.
