Nigella Lawson is back in Melbourne; here’s where she plans to eat

Domestic goddess Nigella Lawson has returned to Melbourne and is urging us all to feel “zero shame” in enjoying feel-good foods. Here’s why.

Domestic goddess Nigella Lawson says we should embrace the foods which make us feel good, not feel guilty about enjoying them.

Cook, eat, repeat.

It’s how many of us whiled away the hours between homeschooling and work, until the shackles loosened on our lockdown lives.

After the world unexpectedly slowed down and we spent many mundane months at home, Nigella Lawson, like many of us, took stock of her life.

It’s easy to assume life inside the walls of the best-selling author and TV host’s London home (worth a reported $9m) was fabulously filled with food and a far cry from how the majority lived. But like many around the world, Lawson spent lockdown alone.

“I’m enormously lucky as I had a roof over my head, food on my table, outside space, and work that I could do without endangering my health, and that work was a particular blessing,” she says.

While some threw themselves into passion projects as a creative distraction from the world around them, the 62-year-old accidentally found herself writing another book — which she aptly named Cook, Eat, Repeat.

“Despite its title, (the book) was actually not a pandemic project, though it did somewhat spookily rather describe lockdown life,” she says.

“But I did actually write the book, or most of it, during that first long lockdown we had, and being so busy and having such a focus, really helped — and it kept me company, too.”

Cook, Eat, Repeat was released in October 2020 and was adapted into a BBC series of the same name.

The London-born, Oxford University-educated food writer and journalist became the world’s “domestic goddess” after releasing her debut novel, How to Eat, in 1998.

The cookbook — which has now sold six million copies globally — created leverage for the next releases, How to be a Domestic Goddessand Nigella Bites, with her fledging TV shows giving her household name status.

Nigella Lawson never ordered Uber Eats during lockdown, but she did ‘wallow in carbs’ for a while. Picture: Getty Images

She’s been a regular on MasterChef Australia — last year appearing as a guest judge by beaming into the MasterChef kitchen via a life-size screen — and recently “blew up” on social media for her curious pronunciation of the word “microwave” (Mik-ro-wa-vay). You should Google it.

Cook, Eat, Repeatis the longest we’ve had to wait between Lawson releases (her last was in 2017). The pages are filled with a mix of recipes (including a “dark, damp and divinely chocolatey” chocolate and peanut butter cake) and narrative essays delving into Lawson’s inquisitive and intelligent thoughts as she wrestles with topics such as “what is a recipe” and “death to the guilty pleasure”.

“I am most stridently of the view that our pleasures should induce gratitude, never guilt,” she explains, when I ask if she had overindulged and exploited food delivery apps in lockdown like the rest of us. (For the record, she didn’t).

She’s dedicated an entire chapter in the book to those foods we feel we “shouldn’t be eating”, encouraging us to banish those self-punishing thoughts.

The chapter is also home to those feel-good recipes we should have zero shame in consuming, like her fried chicken burger or crab mac and cheese.

Lawson didn’t order takeaway in lockdown, nor did she have a go-to meal she would cook on repeat — although she does admit she “did rather wallow in carbohydrates for the first bit of lockdown”.

Instead, the mother of two spent a large chunk of her time recipe testing.

“I did really throw myself into the ritual of cooking myself dinner every night,” she says.

“And, actually, because of that, I did start adding more recipes for one, what I refer to as ‘solo suppers’ in the book, and became a very vocal proponent of the joys and importance of cooking for oneself.

The domestic goddess relished cooking for herself during London’s long lockdowns. Picture: Neilson Barnard

Cooking for one provided escapism for Lawson, and fuelled her creativity, but it also led to another realisation.

“I have never gone so long without cooking for others,” she says.

“I did miss that, though, I did get into the habit of sending food parcels to friends, or leaving boxed-up bits and pieces on a neighbour’s doorstep.

“I suppose I did cook for myself more often than I do in normal life, but I actually relished that.”

WHERE NIGELLA PLANS TO DINE IN MELBOURNE

After an emotionally taxing two years, Lawson has been left with a deep sense of gratitude.

“It sounds really cheesy, I know, but (lockdown/the pandemic) really left me with a deep sense of gratitude,” she says.

“So many people suffered so very much, and I was very lucky in that respect. And it made me so grateful, too, for the people who gave me a sense of community, that important feeling of being connected.”

“I’m not talking just about the friends and family I FaceTimed or chatted to on the phone, but all those I interacted with on social media (predominantly on Twitter). I cherish that still.”

One person she’s maintained a good relationship with over the years is former MasterChef Australia judge, fellow home cook and delicious. columnist, Matt Preston.

“Matt is such a life force, it’s impossible to be with him without being fired up by his enthusiasm,” she says.

“It goes without saying he loves talking about food; actually he’s pretty keen on talking generally, and once we start chatting we can go on forever.”

Preston is hosting Lawson’s first Melbourne Food and Wine Festival appearance in more than 10 years — a one-off Sunday lunch on March 27 at Federation Square.

Tickets to the event quickly sold out, with Lawson now hosting an afternoon tea and drinks on Saturday March 26, hosted by MasterChef alumni and Melbourne author Alice Zaslavsky.

“The longer I’ve known (Matt), the more I have grown to respect and admire the knowledge and intelligent insights that lie behind the brio,” she says.

Nigella Lawson and MasterChef’s Matt Preston have maintained a close relationship over the years.

“Underneath the swagger lies a deeply reflective person. But I can’t deny there is part of him that will always seem like a boisterous, slightly younger brother,”

“We certainly check up on one another from time to time. I’ve been bombarding him with questions about where I should eat ever since I was invited to the MFWF.”

So where will you see the domestic goddess around town?

“Matt told me I’d love Aru, so that’s top of the list. I need to go for an ice cream at Pidapipo, for sure. But I do want to try new places, too,” she says.

“I’ve been scouring Pat Nourse’s (MFWF Creative director) Instagram for delicious inspiration.”

This trip will be Lawson’s second visit to Melbourne. In 2011, she was invited by the festival to host a cooking demo at The Langham. Understandably, after months without travel or public events, she’s excited to be back headlining our city’s blockbuster food and wine festival.

“I came (to Melbourne) in 2011 and that was my first time, so that means a lot. I am so excited to see old friends, make new ones, and, of course, eat as widely in the city as time affords,” she said.

“I have to try and make myself not just return to places that I know I love, as there is always so much that is new in Melbourne. I feel like a small child just before Christmas! I’m fairly bouncing up and down in excited anticipation.”

While Lawson acknowledges lockdown was a welcome time to pause and reflect, she’s ready to fire things up for the next phase of her career.

“While I loved writing my book during lockdown, I do feel the well is empty right now, and I don’t feel ready to just go on to a new book. That’s why I’m so excited to be coming to Melbourne — I feel I need the inspiration and replenishment it offers.

“Melbourne is a city that crackles with life, and the MFWF reflects and celebrates that — to be part of it, to be able to breathe it all in — feels like a such an expansive joy after all this confinement.”

She’s already got a few irons in the fire, a few more things simmering on the backburner, but first, Lawson has something more pressing she wants to do.

“Chiefly, I want to travel. I’m so ready to explore new experiences, go on new adventures,” she says.

“I’m not one of life’s great planners, but I have grown to accept that. Besides, spontaneity was something that the pandemic hardly allowed for, so I’m ready to wallow in that now! Watch this space.”

Originally published as Nigella Lawson is back in Melbourne; here’s where she plans to eat