Nigella Lawson's famous dinner parties are canceled for the most relatable reason

Nigella Lawson's dinner parties may well be the pinnacle of home dining but the beloved chef and writer says she's not doing them anymore

English cook and food writer, Nigella Lawson, attends a book signing and lunch at the Melbourne restaurant, Taxi Kitchen, during her tour of Australia, January 24, 2018.
(Image credit: Scott McNaughton/The Age via Getty Images)

Food lovers may despair at learning their invite to one of Nigella Lawson's dinner parties may never arrive as the superstar chef and writer is no longer interested in hosting the fancy soirees at her home.

After hearing Nigella Lawson on cooking for one, and its merits, we ought to have known that the kitchen is closed at her fabulous home - or at least to large parties. This may be a surprise to her loyal fanbase, who drooled over the fabulous dinner parties that she hosted on her TV show.

In an interview with the Times, the superstar chef opened up about how she now feels about entertaining from her Chelsea home and if we're honest - we totally get it!

Host Jay Leno and gourmet cook Nigella Lawson during a cooking segment on April 29, 2003 -

(Image credit: Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images)

“I’ve got out of the habit of it,” she revealed to the publication. “I’ll have a person or a couple of people over quite often and I keep planning to have people round in a proper, grown-up way but I haven’t yet. I must! I feel a bit guilty because people have had me for dinner and I haven’t had them back.”

Believe it or not, it's been 25 years since Nigella's first book How To Eat and subsequent books and TV series changed the landscape of food television. From eating directly from the fridge with the most luxurious midnight snacks, to hosting the kind of candle-lit dinners you could only dream of, to recipes that just always work.

Nowadays, when hosting a dinner, the chef prioritizes a far more chilled-out way of entertaining. "I’m very happy for a friend to come over in their pajamas to have supper.”

Gone are the days of multi-course meals as Nigella reveals that she favors snacks to begin.

“I recently served Twiglets as a starter,” she revealed. “There were some Americans there and I felt it my duty to introduce them.”

If you're unfamiliar with the snacks, Twiglets, according to the Food of England website, are, "proprietary savory biscuits of hard-baked whole wheat paste sticks, 4ins long, 1/4ins diameter of a highly distinctive knobbly form, strongly flavored with splashes of salty yeast extract, similar in flavor to Marmite."

Nigella Lawson attends 'An Evening For Salman Rushdie' at The British Library on October 13, 2022 in London, England.

(Image credit: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

The snacks of choice may be a bit controversial but for Nigella, it's far easier than having to wash so many dishes and change cutlery for every meal. This, she describes as, 'so unrelaxing' and 'choreographed.'

One thing you're guaranteed, if you ever make the pajama dinner party at her home, is that you won't leave hungry.

“I like to do a big plate of food, taking it out and seeing everyone eat," she told the Times. "I like abundance and I feel that’s easier to do with one course.”

Well, we're not sure about you but we're definitely interested in popping over to Ms Lawson's abode for dinner - especially if it's in our pjs!

Aoife Hanna
Junior News Editor

Aoife is an Irish journalist and writer with a background in creative writing, comedy, and TV production.

Formerly woman&home's junior news editor and a contributing writer at Bustle, her words can be found in the Metro, Huffpost, Delicious, Imperica and EVOKE.

Her poetry features in the Queer Life, Queer Love anthology.

Outside of work you might bump into her at a garden center, charity shop, yoga studio, lifting heavy weights, or (most likely) supping/eating some sort of delicious drink/meal.