Nigella Lawson, after discovering she was the only female in the running for a chef of the decade award, decided to ditch her usual curve-hugging ensembles in favour of a sharp tuxedo.
And last night a spokesman for the chef said the outfit reflected Miss Lawson’s role as a ‘woman in a man’s world’.
"Women of my generation were keen - rightly - not to be tied to the stove, but the ramifications of this were that they felt a sense of dread in the kitchen."
Making his comments after it emerged she was the only female in a list of 10 nominees for the Observer Food Monthly Awards Chef of the Decade Award, the spokesman said: "Nigella was the only woman nominated and so they wanted to do something clever around that."
"Having her dressed in a tuxedo was a quirky way of making that point, sort of like she’s a woman in a man’s world or something."
And Nigella herself seemed keen to make that same point - although she chose to do it in a slightly more surprising way.
In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, she has blamed the feminist revolution for giving women a "sense of dread in the kitchen".
"Feeling comfortable in the kitchen is essential for everyone, male or female. At the time it seemed so many people were fearful of cooking, and that meant home was never more than a stop-off from work."
"Women of my generation were keen - rightly - not to be tied to the stove, but the ramifications of this were that they felt a sense of dread in the kitchen. How can this be good for anyone?"
She added: "I also feel that to denigrate any activity because it has traditionally been associated with the female sphere is in itself anti-feminist."
Nigella also made sure to defend her book How To Be A Domestic Goddess from critics who've slated it as anti-feminist literature, slamming them as deliberately choosing to misread her point:
"When I wrote How to Be A Domestic Goddess, many felt I was saying that women’s place was in the kitchen, but the ironic pictures on the end papers (showing a Fifties housewife) surely undermined that, except for those people who consciously chose to misread my intent."
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