Nigella stirs up some old meal memories

NIGELLA Lawson has lifted the lid on her early experiences with food – insisting mealtimes were “very bad”.

- James Desborough

The celebrity chef, 62, said her parents made her eat every scrap of food on her plate, or have the leftovers served up again at the next meal.

She described the process as similar to “eating aversion therapy”, but said it did not put her off pursuing a culinary career.

Asked what her relationship with food was like growing up, Nigella said: “Very bad, really. Perhaps it’s wrong to say my relationship with food was bad – my relationship with mealtimes was bad. I was brought up in a very old-fashioned way. It was old-fashioned even when I was brought up as a child, and that was very long ago.