UCLA Center for the Study of Women

Nigella Lawson and Lisa Lillien are both self‐proclaimed food lovers who have translated their branded personalities from cookbooks to television. Each has a vastly different relationship with food, which extends from the types of ingredients they use to how they talk about and prepare meals. These distinctions exemplify the power cooking shows have in reinforcing hegemonic views of femininity as well as the complex cultural discourses revolving around “proper” relationships with food. Whereas Lillien exemplifies restraint, guilt, and synthetic substitutions in her relationship with food, Lawson embodies pleasure and indulgence in consuming food as well as the female form.