Fast Food Salvation National Post, Canada - 7 hours ago
Nigella Lawson was a picky eater and a broke university student -- but a trip to France and a bag full of onions changed all that. After learning the basics of French cooking, she returned to school and, instead of spending the few dollars she had on canned soup, used it instead to buy the raw ingredients to make her own.
"Everyone at university gradually learned to come to me when they were hungry," says the celebrity chef and host of the popular Food Network show Nigella Bites. "I was the queen of onion soup. I'd buy a whole pack of them for nothing, really, and be able to feed everyone, and I discovered then that I not only loved food but feeding people.
"And learning to cook with constraints is a very good way to learn," she adds, "because it focuses you. My constraint then was budgetary, but now it's time."
It was with this in mind that she compiled her latest cookbook, Nigella Express, which is full of quick recipes and brought her on an even quicker Toronto media tour yesterday.
But while there are countless other fast food and 30-minute-meal books out there, Lawson stresses that her unique approach involves putting flavour above all else.
"It's just so important to eat well," she says. "I'm very happy with a fabulous piece of cheese and some great bread, but I'm not happy to have a substandard meal. I feel that every eating opportunity has to be made the most of, which is why I like to make every flavour count. So often, with fast food, the only concern is how long it takes -- well, that's important, but it's no good to me unless it tastes fantastic."
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