TV cook Delia Smith lambasts 'celebrity chefs and their arrogant attitudes'

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Delia Smith has launched an attack on celebrity chefs who she says are 'ridiculing' the public with fussy recipes and arrogant attitudes.

The famously mild-mannered chef, who has become a favourite with housewives since her first book in 1971, has come under criticism from rival cooks such as Gary Rhodes for her 'over-simplistic' methods in the past.

But the well-loved multi-millionaire said her mission has been to encourage everyone to enjoy cooking and slammed the snobby, elitist cookery programmes for making fun of enthusiastic amateurs at home.

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Tongue-lashing: Delia Smith has come out of retirement to cook again, and have make her feelings known about the bullying celebrity chefs

"I do not think I am a great cook. I get satisfaction if people can watch something on TV or pick up a book and say 'I can do that', she said.

"You have all these programmes with amateurs cooking and the chefs looking down their noses saying, 'No dear, that isn't good enough', she said.

" People are watching saying, 'I'm not good enough either.'

"Cooking should not be exclusive or 'cheffy'. It's about sitting down around the table and having a nice meal.

Passion for food: Delia started her career as a television cook with the BBC in 1973

"I think it is great to have lots of cooking on TV, enabling people to learn about different food and ingredients. But what I do not like is amateurs being made to feel like they are being ridiculed," said added.

"I think people should be encouraged if they are watching a programme. It puts everybody off if you have got some very, very top chef saying. 'No that is not right.'"

Having not learnt to cook until her late 20s, Delia discovered her passion for food after going to work in a restaurant.

The best selling author has published twenty books over the past thirty-five years and sold more than 18 million copies. Her first cookery programme, Family Fare, began on television in 1973, and quickly won praise for her basic recipes.

The last ten years has seen an explosion of celebrity chefs including Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein and Heston Blumenthal, all of whom have had successful, primetime programmes on television.

However, many people struggle to adopt the expensive and complicated recipes favoured by the Michelin starred cooks.

In contrast, one of Mrs Smith most popular books 'How to Cook', famously told readers how to boil an egg, something which infuriated chef Gary Rhodes, who said it was insulting and offensive.

"I don't need to be told what boiling water looks like," he said. "And I tend to think that the rest of the population doesn't either."

But Miss Smith, 67, has now decided to come out of retirement with a new cookery book How to cheat at Cooking, and a television programme, which she hopes will mark a return to simple cooking which she helped introduce.

"It was never about me then," she said, "The cult of personality wasn't around then. With me it was about the food.

"I didn't think about cooking until I was about 28 and then suddenly I thought I had better learn.

"But I can still understand how it can feel being thrown out into the wild and not having anybody to help you.

"Everybody struggles with feelings of insecurity and my mission is to say look even if you are a working mum or have a busy working life you can still get a meal on the table at the end of the day and it is going to taste good."

But Delia - who prides herself as a Cook of the People - singled out Naked Chef Jamie Oliver and sexy temptress Nigella Lawson for special praise.

"I really love Jamie. He can do no wrong. I also love Nigella. I think they are both really good at helping people with their cooking."

 

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