Nigella’s Christmas dinner tip: Ditch starters to beat obscene overindulgence
IF you’re partial to a prawn cocktail, Nigella Lawson’s festive advice might leave a nasty taste in your mouth.
The celebrity cook, 62, never serves starters for her Christmas dinner – branding them ‘a madness’ given the ‘obscene overindulgence’ of the big day.
Ms Lawson – who last week divided the internet with her festive Breakfast Trifle – said families can go past finding eating ‘pleasurable’ when they meet up for the occasion.
Nonetheless, she encouraged fans to enjoy ‘celebrating food with your family’.
Speaking on The News Agents podcast, she told hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel: ‘I don’t know why people do starters for Christmas lunch. I never have, that seems a madness. But I also think there is a way in which for many people it does become a sort of obscene overindulgence. So, people are not eating because it is pleasurable.
‘They’re eating because somehow people feel it is when they should be eating non-stop and picking at things non-stop.’
Asked if people ate too much because of ‘greed and gluttony’, she said: ‘Yes, but they can go too far too. You want to feel full up and grateful that you feel full up, but you don’t want to be a bloated wreck.’
Ms Lawson also revealed that she won’t be giving Christmas presents this year.
She said: ‘Celebrating food with your family is something we all, if we can do, should do it and do it gratefully. But I certainly feel I am not interested in this year buying people who don’t need things presents. You can give them a card to say I’ve donated in your name in lieu of a Christmas present, so you can feel like you’re doing something.
‘You want to celebrate being with your family in ways that we haven’t been able to, but you don’t want it to tip into the obscene.’
While overeating is never recommended, experts say Christmas dinner can be one of the healthiest meals we eat all year. Dr Duane Mellor, a nutritionist at Aston University in England, said: ‘It can be one of the few times some people eat three or more different vegetables, not including potatoes, at one meal.’
Last week Ms Lawson suggested Instagram followers should start their Christmas morning with her ‘calming’ Breakfast Trifle recipe – featuring ingredients such as berries, marmalade, seeds and yogurt.