It’s not just the foodies tuning into Nigella

TV Watch with Bernie Ni Fhlatharta

No doubt many viewers tuned in to Channel 4’s new competitive cookery show, The Taste on Tuesday night just to see Nigella Lawson.

Of course this series was filmed months ago, long before she was a witness in a High Court case in London which put her marriage and private life under the microscope with allegations that she took cocaine, did drugs with her children and lived in fear of her husband (now ex) Charles Saatchi.

The Taste chose 12 cooks from a panel of 25 who had to impress the three judges, Nigella, American food writer Anthony Bourdain who travels the world, eating all sorts of food, for his own programme, No Reservations, and Ludo Lefebvre, a French Michelin stars chef who is a big name in Los Angeles where he lives.

The first night was tame enough but the cook most lauded on the night was Barry Johnson, a native of Ballinasloe who lives in London.

In fact Ludo couldn’t believe that the best food he tasted off the spoons were all cooked by what he describes as “home cooks”. Already Nigella has berated him for his snobbishness and his surprise that he would find good food in the UK.

Anthony was playing it cool on the first night though I suspect we will see the three judges showing more of their personalities when they start mentoring their team of four in the kitchen in the coming weeks.

Of course there will be eliminations, rages and no doubt tears. I would imagine Ludo will easily fly off the handle and that Nigella will be nurturing. We already saw her comforting an18 years old boy who cried when he was rejected.

I don’t know what to expect of Anthony as I have only ever seen him eat his way around the world and never seen him cooking. In fact, I ate at his restaurant Les Halles on Park Avenue in New York many years ago – and yes it was as you would expect, fantastic but more importantly affordable for the type of cuisine on offer.

So, if you are a foodie but also like a bit of drama, I recommend you tune in for the next few weeks on Tuesdays at 9pm.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.