New season of Great British Baking Show

The flour has barely settled in this new season of the Great British Baking Show. The tent is still at capacity, only one cake has toppled over, and the viewing public is still sizing up the show’s newest judge, Nigella Lawson.

Viewers describe her bites as huge and awkward

Following the premiere, one particular asset of Lawson’s charm successfully pulled focus from Mr. Hollywood’s Chenoo eyes: the way she samples the bakes. Specifically, viewers described her bites as " huge and awkward ", possibly due to " poor table manners" or dental work.

Lawson’s signature eating style

Many are simply unfamiliar with Lawson’s game. Particularly that she, as one of the foremost living public appreciators of food, has a signature way of consuming it: joyful, guileless, and without shame.

Y2K-era television debut

She’s been this way on camera since her Y2K-era television debut, on the aptly named Nigella Bites. It’s the show that transformed the career journalist and food critic into a legendary doyenne of home cooking, as well as a constant tabloid fixation for legions of perverts with bylines.

TV Dinners episode

In one episode called TV Dinners, Lawson hastily slaps together a pantry riff on mozzarella in carrozza with her signature do-what-works-for-you candor. While holding the fried pocket above her head, she chomps at it repeatedly, coaxing several impressive cheese pulls with her teeth.

“Look at that, cheese-flavored chewing gum”

Lawson’s eating style described

Lawson has withstood a decades-long vivisection of her body and sexuality. To critics, she’s a seductive vamp, the " queen of gastro-porn, " who they accuse of over-sexualizing cooking and speaking in constant innuendo, despite her continued frustration.

Cultural paradox of eating

It’s an interesting ongoing cultural paradox. While it’s never been more acceptable to be guiltlessly self-indulgent, the way we eat food has also never been more precisely and self-consciously codified, particularly when done in front of a camera lens.

Lawson’s philosophy on food

In her book Cook, Eat, Repeat she wrote: "No one should feel guilty about what they eat, or the pleasure they get from eating; the only thing to feel guilty about (and even then I don’t recommend it) is the failure to be grateful for that pleasure."

“No one should feel guilty about what they eat, or the pleasure they get from eating; the only thing to feel guilty about (and even then I don't recommend it) is the failure to be grateful for that pleasure”