When it comes to Christmas dinner, Nigella Lawson is pretty much the Queen – but her opinions on what you should ditch are sure to divide opinion.
Every year there’s a debate over the best part of Christmas dinner – is it the roast potatoes? The turkey? Perhaps the Yorkshire puddings?
But now, TV cook Nigella, 62, has thoughts on starters. In fact, she doesn’t believe they’re necessary at all.
Chatting about ‘obscene overindulgence’ over Christmas, the food writer advised people against eating too much to avoid becoming ‘a bloated wreck.’
She told The News Agents podcast hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel: ‘I don’t know why people do starters for Christmas lunch. I never have, that seems a madness.’
Nigella continued: ‘But I also think there is a way in which for many people it does become a sort of obscene overindulgence.
‘So, people are not eating because it is pleasurable. They’re eating because somehow people feel it is when they should be eating non-stop and picking at things non-stop.’
When Jon asked, ‘We’re talking greed and gluttony here?’, she responded: ‘Yes, but they can go too far to, when you want to feel full-up and grateful that you feel full up, but you don’t want to be a bloated wreck.’
So, what do we think, starters or no starters?
Elsewhere on the podcast, Nigella revealed she won’t be giving gifts this year and instead will donate to charity.
She told Emily and Jon that she’s ‘not interested’ in gifting presents to ‘people who don’t need things.’
‘Celebrating food with your family is something we all, if we can do, should do it and do it gratefully. But I certainly feel I am not interested in this year buying people who don’t need things presents.’
Nigella recommended gifting loved ones with a card to say you have ‘donated in your name in lieu of a Christmas present’, rather than shopping unnecessarily.
This way, it allows people to ‘feel like you’re still doing something.’
‘You want to celebrate being with your family in ways that we haven’t been able to, but you don’t want it to tip into the obscene.’
Listen to the full interview on The News Agents podcast this evening on Global Player.
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