Nigella Lawson: I'm very much a survivor. Everyone should be

The TV chef and Observers Food Personality of the Year on childhood, family and why shed flunk the Great British Bake Off

• Nigel Slater on Nigella Lawson
  

You once said, I feel that everything I want to say about life, I can say through food. Could you elaborate on what you wanted to say with both your food writing and TV shows?
Because I have a very personal way of writing, writing or talking about food is a way of keeping a diary. My first book, How to Eat, written when my children were babies, has a chapter on weaning, for example; Feast includes a chapter on Teen Feasts.

I have always believed that what is true in the kitchen is also true out of the kitchen (and, indeed vice versa). In other words, cooking is a metaphor for life. When you cook, you need structure and an understanding and acceptance of the rules that actually matter, but just as importantly you need to be able to loosen up and go with the flow.