Cooking the Nigella way helped me overcome my anxieties
INSPIRED CHEF PUTS MODERN TWIST ON THE MOVIE JULIE & JULIA BY COOKING 365 OF HIS MENTOR’S DISHES – BANISHING HIS WORRIES IN THE PROCESS
Anervous cook is now a super-confident culinary whizz after challenging himself to rustle up a different Nigella Lawson recipe on 365 days, in a modern-day twist on the movie Julie & Julia – gaining the celebrity gourmet’s praise in the process.
After watching a repeat episode of Nigella: At My Table in October 2020, Manchester marketing consultant Nathan Young, 34, was inspired to dust off his cookbooks and make one of her dishes – launching his 365 Days of Nigella website and social media accounts in the same month.
Suffering with anxiety, making three or four of her recipes each week – eating the leftovers on his ‘off days’ – Nathan says that spending at least 10 hours a week cooking up a storm, photographing his creations and writing a blog has improved his confidence, not just about cooking, but in dealing with life.
A delicious boost came when Nigella shared his challenge on her Twitter account on December 15 – leading to comparisons with the 2009 film Julie and Julia, starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as Julie Powell, a blogger who cooked all 524 recipes from Childs’ book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, in a year.
Nathan, who is married to sports massage therapist Marcin Ziolkowski, 38, and plans to complete his challenge within a two-year period, said: “When Nigella first shared my page on Twitter a few months ago it was amazing – I had to pinch myself.
“Getting an endorsement from her adds validity to what I’m doing. You can’t get better than that.”
He added: “I’m so passionate about the project. I never started it looking for any attention, it was something I did for me – but it has been lovely and so encouraging.”
Continuing to show support for his challenge on social media, Nigella has showered her talented follower with praise.
She said: “I’m so deeply touched by what Nathan is doing. I know and love my recipes, which have long been part of my life, but to see someone come to them afresh is always a profound pleasure. Following Nathan’s progress
as he chronicles his cooking of my recipes – and so beautifully photographed – is just so lovely.”
First drawn to cooking by his grandmother Eileen, 83, a former deputy headmistress, he loved ‘baking cupcakes after school and at weekends’ with her as a boy.
A cooking course in Somerset, where he lived at the time, as part of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme honed his culinary skills.
He said: “It was all uni survival kit-type meals, like lasagne, and things ranging from something as basic as a jacket potato to a Hollandaise sauce.
“I became addicted to making Hollandaise after that – every Sunday I’d make Eggs Benedict for my family, which they loved. They’ve always been so encouraging of my cooking.”
Throughout his university studies, Nathan used cooking to relax.
Being a long-time admirer of Nigella, Nathan’s mum bought him the Simply Nigella cookbook when it came out in October 2015 – and fell in love with the way she wrote about food.
He said: “Her passion for food and the way she talks about it just leaps off the page. It isn’t all about kitchen skills and showing off, which I love. I connect with her books in a way that I don’t with many others – they make me feel safe and comfortable.” His collection of her recipes expanded over the years – but, as with many of his other books, he rarely cooked any of the dishes. He added: “I’ve always really struggled to follow recipes. I had all these cookbooks and I would flick through them, admire the pictures, but never dug much deeper.” That all changed in October, when he was snuggled on the sofa with Marcin and their two beagle dogs, watching an episode of Nigella: At My Table. He said: “Nigella made this dish of gemelli – a type of pasta – with tomatoes, mascarpone and anchovies, which I have spent my life avoiding.
“But I thought, ‘Let’s bite the bullet and try it.’ When I made it, it was one of those revelation moments – it tasted incredible.”
With his general anxiety also making him nervous about experimenting in the kitchen, Nathan often stuck to cooking the same meals. But, inspired by his gemelli success, he set himself the challenge of cooking a different Nigella recipe for 365 days. Due to lockdown restrictions, Marcin has been the sole beneficiary of his husband’s wonderful cooking – which he is more than happy not to share.
In between working from home fulltime, Nathan plans the dishes he will make on Thursday and Friday each week, buys the ingredients on a Saturday and blogs the end result a couple of days after cooking it – posting on social media throughout.
But the challenge has eased his anxiety, rather than added to it.
He said: “In the past, I’ve been known to get hot and flustered in shops and just abandon my list.
“But with this, I’ve been able to relinquish control over what to buy – I just follow Nigella’s instructions.
“During that hour or so I spend in the kitchen cooking, I completely shut down and forget about the complexities of everyday life. It has helped me so much.”
Still basking in the glory of seeing Nigella share his challenge on Twitter in December, he was thrilled on March 24 when she plugged his version of her Marmalade Pudding Cake to her 2.4million Instagram followers.
Her post, which included the comment ‘isn’t it a beauty’, received 34,000 likes and boosted his own following on the platform to 1,600 and counting.
Off the back of this growing online presence, he decided to use the £20 he is saving each month from better meal planning to raise money for FareShare, a UK charity that saves good food from going to waste and redistributes it to frontline charities.
With his challenge projected to end in October next year, Nathan has a long way to go – but is enjoying every moment of the journey.
He said: “It will be so satisfying to look back at what I’ve achieved once it is all over. When you’re an anxious person, it feels easier to run away from a challenge – but I’m so proud of myself for what I’ve achieved already.”
• To follow Nathan’s culinary exploits, visit 365daysofnigella.co.uk or check out his Instagram @365daysofnigella and Twitter @nathanyoung86
WHEN I MADE [NIGELLA’S DISH] IT WAS ONE OF THOSE REVELATION MOMENTS - IT TASTED INCREDIBLE