Food & Cooking
How Nigella Lawson became a home cooking legend
Nigella Lawson never enjoyed being known as any kind of expert. She has often joked that greed is her only real qualification and that she has abysmal knife skills when compared to the multitude of other celebrity cooks. Only because she has been cooking for so long people refer to her as an expert, but she will always shy away from technical questions about cooking.
This is where the core appeal of Nigella and her cookbooks can be recognized. She appeals to people who don’t want to take cooking too seriously, and simply want to have fun making food that they can enjoy.
Nigella was never a professional chef, despite some people thinking she was. She was never even trained as a cook. Her first cookbook ‘How to Eat’ was simply made as an alternative to the very technical and intimidating cookbooks that many professional chefs were releasing into the market at that time.
The book was all about celebrating the pure pleasure of cooking and eating. It did not contain any photographs of perfectly plated dishes for people to compare themselves again. It was all about being fast, fun, and most importantly, approachable. She has said she was inspired to write the book after seeing her friend crying because a dessert she was making failed to set correctly.
While she is best known for her TV appearances, Nigella is an excellent writer. She was an experienced journalist before she started to pen cookbooks. Nigella was only in the midst of her mid-twenties at the time she became a professional restaurant critic. She later went freelance and ended up doing a bimonthly column in the New York Times.
Nigella Lawson is affectionately known by many as the queen of home cooking, and it’s not hard to see why.
Food & Cooking
Top 5 best healthy snacks for your next road trip
Eating healthy during a long road trip is often very difficult. It’s easy to stop off at a random fast food joint and smash a quick feed before hitting the road again. Nonetheless, eating fast food for every road trip meal isn’t great for your health, and it’s a waste of money. For those long road trips, stick to some of the healthy snacks we’ve listed below!
Protein bars
Protein bars are tasty, healthy and filling; however, be warned, there are many brands out there that are pumped with sugar and unnecessary nasties. Looked for brands with natural ingredients and stick to those (even if they are a little more expensive).
Hummus and celery
Hummus and celery are a great combination. They blend together very well and are perfect for when you’re feeling a little peckish. Moreover, hummus has heaps of Vitamin B and celery is low in calories, making it the ideal crudité for dipping.
Walnuts and cashews
Nuts are a great, healthy snack. They are full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, which basically means they’ll make you feel fuller for longer. Nonetheless, steer clear of brands that are pumped full of salt. You don’t need it.
Dried fruits
Dried fruits are also great and very filling. They are easy to eat and share with the entire family—great way to get some healthy sugars into your system.
Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate is one of the healthiest forms of chocolate available. It’s full of antioxidants, which have been linked to reducing the onset of many diseases, like cancer and heart disease. However, that doesn’t mean you should be smashing through a bar every few minutes, but it’s undoubtedly one of the better sweet treats for long road trips.
Food & Cooking
How to make the switch to a vegan diet as painlessly as possible
If you’ve grown up eating meat and animal products, then making the switch to a plant-based diet only will be a challenging venture. This is because your body is conditioned to consuming animal protein (both red and white meat), which is something your body will struggle without. However, as vegan dieting grows in popularity, making the big change will only become more comfortable and easier. Not convinced? Check out the following tips to find out more.
Don’t cut off everything cold turkey
The last thing you should be doing is cutting out everything related to animal products overnight. Make the changes to your diet as gradual as you like. Maybe start by simply removing red meat from your diet, and trialling that for a few weeks. If your body feels okay, then perhaps cut out white meat or dairy, whichever choice seems better at the time.
Maintain your protein intake
When you cut out meat and animal products, the biggest challenge you’ll face will be keeping up your protein levels. Look for high-protein plant snacks to help you get through these cravings.
Do your research
If you want to live by a strict vegan diet, you’ll need to do your research. Animal products can be found in a lot of different products (some you might not suspect), so make sure you’re carefully reading all product labels and ingredients information.
Try some vegan-friendly restaurants
As the vegan trend continues to grow and evolve, more and more restaurants are mindful of this, and as a result, are incorporating vegan-friendly dishes into their main menus. Try out some of the vegan-friendly restaurants in your area, and you might even pick up some nifty cooking tips.
Food & Cooking
How Jamie Oliver became a household name
Jamie Oliver is one of the best-known celebrity chefs of the last generation and got his start at the age of 24 in 1999 with a debut on the show The Naked Chef. The show was popular, especially with the tough demographic of young men, because of Jamie’s relaxed style and avoiding the ‘boring bits of cooking like chopping herbs and measuring precise amounts.
The show ran for there seasons and had three Christmas special episodes. The show was filmed for the first 2 seasons in Jamie’s own home. In the show, he would often have the theme of the episode be around cooking for different occasions such as a birthday or for kids when babysitting. In season 3 Jamie tended to travel around a lot more, and he eventually launched a cookbook from the show’s success that became a bestseller very quickly.
Jamie then moved to a different network and started a series called Jamie’s Kitchen. This series followed his experience opening his own restaurant, and he was recognized by Tony Blair, the Prime Minister of the UK at the time.
Since this initial success, Jamie Oliver has gone on to become one of the most famous chefs in the world. He has released over 26 cookbooks, and you can find them in every corner of the globe. Many of Jamie’s cookbooks focus on simplifying home cooking for people who may have otherwise found it too difficult to attempt.
In this way, Jamie Oliver appeals to people who want cooking to be simple and straightforward. Many men have cited Jamie Oliver as the reason they found cooking more appealing as something they want to get good at. Jamie has also become the face of the Woolworths brand in Australia and opened many restaurants around the world.
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