What’s in a name, you ask? Everything, especially if it is a controversial one. Food writer Nigella Lawson knows it better than anyone else. Which is why, the 61-year-old has decided to drop a certain word from her recipe.
Lawson has removed the term ‘sl*t’ from her raspberries in chardonnay jelly recipe, stating that the word has assumed a ‘coarser, more cruel’ meaning in the last few years.
According to a Daily Mail report, the London-based food writer posted her recipe of the day — Ruby Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly — on her Twitter account. Fans immediately jumped in saying it is one of their favourites.
#RecipeOfTheDay is a dream of a dessert, and so easy to make. If you’ve never tried home-made jelly before, now’s hour chance: Ruby Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly for the win! https://t.co/whJmt3IfyK pic.twitter.com/2tQqJaU0dv
— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) August 22, 2021
Some people, however, noticed that when the recipe had first appeared in one of her books — Forever Summer — it was called ‘Sl*t Red Raspberries in Chardonnay Jelly’.
One Twitter user wrote, “Wonderful recipe (as always!) but it makes me wonder what has happened to this country when we can’t even call that recipe by its hilarious original name. What has happened to our free speech, humour and a sense of fun? I love your turn of phrase Nigella!”
To this, the writer responded: “I feel that the word has taken on a coarser, more cruel connotation, and I’m not happy with that.”
I feel that the word has taken on a coarser, more cruel connotation, and I’m not happy with that
— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) August 23, 2021
Check out some of these other reactions by Twitter users:
I’ve made this on several occasions and it’s always a crowd pleaser ?
— Nicky Chatfield ? (@NickyChatfield) August 22, 2021
We had this served at our wedding – under the original name. Simply because it’s delicious (bonus was shocking my husband’s aunty by having slut red raspberries written on the menu ?).
— ladiesbringaplate ?? (@ladiesbap) August 22, 2021
According to the report, Lawson has often been hailed as a feminist, for trying to break the archaic view that while women are the creators of food, they cannot be the consumers of it.
In the past, she has also been praised for refusing to conform to the idea that celebrities have to be thin. In fact, she even recently said she had to tell American TV and billboards not to “airbrush” her stomach in advertisements.
In 2019, she had said: “I don’t think cooking is a woman’s moral duty, yet, to disparage an activity because it has traditionally been in the female arena is in itself anti-feminist. One of the reasons I started writing about food is because women my age were frightened of cooking, of being shackled to the kitchen. The ability to cook and keep oneself alive, to me, is a symbol of independence. And this fact is not dependent on one’s gender.”
We cannot agree more!
Recently, chef Jamie Oliver had also dropped the term ‘kaffir’ from ‘lime leaves’ after realising its racial undertone. According to a report in The Independent, the word has been used historically as a racial slur in South Africa, and as a result of this, there have been concerns about its usage. Oliver has decided to no longer be using the term in any of his recipe books or TV shows. In fact, his team is even believed to be in the process of editing his online content, so as to remove the word entirely.
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