Nigella Lawson Gets It Right. For Women, Cooking Is Independence — And Self-Care

It drives me crazy when I hear women say, “I can’t cook.” I’ve been cooking since I was seven years old. EVERYONE can cook something.

To me, “I can’t cook” is the culinary equivalent of women meekly confessing, “I’m not good with math.” It’s weakness. It’s defeat. It’s surrender.

Not being able to cook means that you give over one of the most important aspects of life to other people — to the food industry, to restaurants, to your roommates or spouse or kids.

Put simply, you’re never in control.

This is something that Nigella Lawson beautifully explains in a new essay called, “Home Cooking Can Be A Feminist Act.”

Lawson, to me, is one of the most fascinating women in the culinary world. She’s lived a life full of triumph and tragedy — the triumph of creating beautiful cookbooks, like “How To Be A Domestic Goddess” and “How To Eat.”

She became a household name through her lushly produced television show which made her a star in Britain and the United States, and convinced Ina Garten to create her own show, The Barefoot Contessa.

But Lawson also had a tumultuous relationship with her mother, lost her husband to cancer, leaving two young children to raise, and…