Domestic Goddess slams 'fun' TV chefs

Parents are under too much pressure to behave like children's TV presenters in the kitchen, according to television chef Nigella Lawson.

The popular presenter, 50, said that when she was taught to cook by her mother and grandmother their culinary efforts were seen as a chore - but it did not stop her learning the ropes.

Today's parents, she suggested, mistakenly believed that they had to make cooking "all fun and recreational".

Ms Lawson said: "My mother was a great believer in child labour. From quite a young age, five and six probably, my sister and I would be propped up on rickety wooden chairs and put to work."

She added: "I think there was a different view of childhood then - we were expected to be useful to our parents. So we were trained up very early and we all took turns cooking my father's (former chancellor Nigel Lawson's) breakfast."

The mother of two said: "Nowadays, I think parents sometimes feel they have to get into children's television presenter mode and make cooking all fun and recreational, whereas we were just required to help get a meal on the table.

"It just felt normal. I didn't realise I was learning to cook."

She told the Radio Times: "My mother was a fantastic cook, but often she would be whipping up a mayonnaise, as we helped, with resentment, because she had four children to tend to and you can't be looking after a family of four and constantly be thinking, 'Oh, this is great."'

The cookery star added: "I remember once when the children were little, I made some home-made pizzas in the shape of giraffes and other animals and they asked me, 'Can we have pizza out of a box like daddy?'."