The cover of Nigella Lawson’s new cookbook, Simply Nigella: Feel Good Food
Cookbook author Nigella Lawson has that elusive strong voice writers covet, the one fans recognize anywhere.
I heard it when I went to hear her speak to promote her new book, Simply Nigella: Feel Good Food. She’s brilliant (an Oxford graduate in medieval studies), funny and intimate.
She wrote interviews and film reviews at first, eventually turning to food. “When I write about food I’m still very aware of the language I’m using,” she said. “The challenge is how to use language to conjure the world and the senses. There is a journalistic element and a writing element. I’m not writing the great novel of the 21st Century but I’m very engaged by what I do.”
Her recipe headnotes reflect her knowledge and interests, which she wants to share with readers. “I always say my readers aren’t stupid,” she said. Her editors were “quite happy with a reference to Macbeth in my beet pickle recipe. What they couldn’t get their heads around was rap.” She also wrote the sentence, “The round radicchio, in all its plump Episcopal splendor, is not to be disparaged.”
Lawson defended her right to both entertain and inform readers about the world and relationships. “The story behind a recipe is essential,” she told the crowd. “As human beings we’re interested in many different things. We’re alive, we’re in the world.”
Even when she writes about entertaining, a common cookbook topic, her strong voice is there. Here’s an example from a recipe for Cauliflower and Cashew Nut Curry:
“You know I am never knowingly undercatered, and therefore are probably not surprised that I am suggesting turning a whole cauliflower into a curry for just 2 people. In my defense, I should say that I once made this for 4 people, and nearly hyperventilated as I saw the first 2 fill up their plates, and featured how meager the portions would be for the 2 of us remaining. Besides, you cannot in all seriousness suggest that a quarter of a cauliflower is really enough for one person’s supper: this is not a vegetable accompaniment; it is the main event. Yes, I know that it would be enough from a nutritional point of view, but blame my atavistic refugee mentality: I just can’t do it. I feel part of the security I derive from cooking is knowing that there will be leftovers for later.”
How does that strong voice come out?
- Her tone. You feel like she’s on the phone, entertaining you. She writes as though you know her.
- She tells a story first, about not providing enough food for dinner. We’ve all been there, and in doing so she becomes relatable. “I have the same worries as my readers and I voice them when I write.”
- She thinks you’re smart enough to understand an “atavistic refugee mentality.” It’s flattering.
- She closes by being relatable again, by admitting she needs to cook enough for leftovers.
“I like to feel that I’m being held by a particular intelligence when I read a book, ” Lawson said.
Would your readers like the same? Do your outside interests belong in a recipe?
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I am always very aware of my voice. And I always assume that, like Nigella, my reader’s are not stupid. And in a world where there are a gazillion places to get good recipes, I don’t assume that people read whatever I am writing just for the recipe. And what I love anyway is the story behind the recipe, my story, someone else’s story, the history of the dish… And I also love language so writing a story is the fun part, playing with the language, the words, and using both to reinforce my voice and vice versa. Maybe this is why I have always loved Nigella Lawson.
Makes sense to me. These are the same things she loves. Thanks Jamie.
Jamie, I hear you! 🙂
Strongly agree!
I like that she is distinct from other writers. She has a voice of reason when it comes to cooking. It isn’t always full of sunshine and rainbows, sometimes its getting food on the plate to stop the hunger. Her recipes are well thought out, and they turn out well. I love her recipe descriptions. She strikes me as your average person rather than a Food Network Star.
I haven’t made her recipes so this is great to read, Stephanie. She did not go to culinary school and came to cookbooks as a writer first, even though she started cooking as a girl. So that makes sense to me, that she would be down to earth. But of course she is not average! Posh accent, gorgeous, well educated, formerly married to an extremely wealthy man, and she did name drop a bit, which was very juicy: What she served Yotam Ottolenghi at the dinner table and the night Salman Rushdie came to dinner.
I love to read cook books like novels. I appreciate it when the author talks to the reader…sets the stage …sets the table so to speak…and after all this…then im ready to actually look at the recipe. I adore her. She is quality.
It is like having a lovely conversation with her, isn’t it. You feel like you’re part of her circle.
I love her. Had the great pleasure of meeting her twice in one week recently, though my own blog article about that couldn’t quite capture how it was to be in her close presence. Her eyes looked into my soul almost, a gaze so intimately direct. She’s quite something and I’m a big fan. Her new cookbook (I have two of them autographed— one for me, another for my youngest daughter) is a delight. I’m attempting her recipe for Pumpkin Bundt Cake at this very moment!
Here’s the piece, for anyone who wants to read: http://www.thesensualfoodie.com/2015/11/meeting-nigella-simply-nigella-cookbook/
How did you get such great photos to use of her, Stephanie? I tried to take some with my iPhone but they were not good enough. The two of you look gorgeous.
I bet the Pumpkin Bundt Cake turns out beautifully.
I adore this woman, interviewed her a long time ago and extolled her virtues on a piece recently for the Kitchn. I have several of her cookbooks and have cooked many of her recipes. They work. If they don’t, it’s a typo and the publisher has addressed it. Her voice and her approach in general have been hugely influential in how I write recipes, in addition to her background of coming from journalism and being unabashedly a home cook who knows a few things. 🙂 She’s inspiring and empowering because she feels authentic; she conveys warmth, humor and intelligence. Her headnotes remind of the need and desire for a good story, which is something so many cookbooks these days seem to forget with headnotes; they’re either scant and cutesy or forced and cutesy, more often than not.
Great piece, Carrie. Here it is, for anyone who would like to read it: http://www.thekitchn.com/10-things-i-learned-from-watching-nigella-in-my-pajamas-222674
Yes, today’s headnotes are so different, I agree. Maybe she’s an old-fashioned kind of writer? Whatever it is, I like it.
I love her writing and agree with most of what has already been said. I first fell in love with her very British word “Jumbleberry” for mixed berries and have used it many times since, always giving her credit, of course. There’s just something about that word that is so descriptive and amusing at the same time. It makes me smile.
How fun, Shirl. I had never heard of that word.
This is my favorite type of cookbook. I love it when there is a good story behind a recipe. Nigella Lawson is a great writer, witty and inspiring. I also enjoy her recipes. Sophie Dahl and Nigel Slater also come to mind, their cookbooks always read like novels.
Indeed. I often read cookbooks that way, and may never get to the recipes. I think that’s true of many people. There was a link at the bottom to a story about Slater and Lawson, if you’re interested.
Dear Dianne, I was looking at the many blogging tools available on the Internet for a newbie like myself when I wondered, ‘Where’s the dialogue about content, as in the writing, the words?’ So I came to your website to allow myself to indulge in the very reason I was motivated to start a blog, and I have been deeply inspired by this post and the other two links you suggested. Thank you!
That you so much Christine. That makes my day.
Wonderful 30 minutes with Nigella on the Food 52 podcast Burnt Toast. Live what she says about crowding round a table at a dinner party.
Hah! We had a very crowded table of friends and family yesterday, so I must be living the dream!
This piece of writing answers that little voice of doubt in the back of my head. Yes, we should share our stories and relate to the reader.
I’ll admit I’ve never really watched Nigella, nor read her cookbooks. I guess I didn’t take her seriously because of the title on some of the books (Domestic Goddess?) and at the time she appeared on the American food Network, I was already disillusioned with their programming.
It appears I have underestimated Nigella, and I think I have a lot to learn from reading her books. Great tip Dianne, thank you for more sleepless nights. 🙂
On a side note, the link to Nigella Voice article opened up to a blank page on my mobile browsers.
Yes I know what you mean, Jason. I really didn’t know much about her. Maybe it’s because we are American and she is a Brit? But also when I was Googling her, there wasn’t much information except for the sensational stuff. Speaking of that, link is now fixed. Apologies.
Brilliant review Dianne! Since I was with you at the event, I was looking forward to reading your interpretation.
A well articulated voice can carry that particular intelligence Nigella mentions. I think that is the secret sauce to successful writing, yet there is a variety of ‘tastes’ since readers have their personal favorites among even the most popular writers.
Thanks again for providing the ticket, Rosemary, that inspired this blog post. Yes, I’m sure her particular voice doesn’t appeal to everyone, nor should it. The main thing is that she has selected whom she wants to talk with — and she customizes her message for them.
I love how you point out that “She thinks you’re smart enough to understand an “atavistic refugee mentality.” It’s flattering.” So true!
I feel like so much food writing these days is dumbed down to appeal to the short-attention-span masses and it is super refreshing and inspiring to find prose that’s both intelligent and easy to read.
Indeed, I feel the same way. She’s not going to do well on the readability scores but obviously she has a huge fan base and they don’t care!