Nigella Lawson slams low-fat crisps and ‘alarmed’ at the snack’s ‘muted’ flavour

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Nigella Lawson didn’t hold anything back when chatting about one of her favourite snacks at a recent promotional event – confessing she favours an ‘aggressive’ flavour

Nigella Lawson says her favourite salt-and-vinegar crisp flavour has become too bland for her tastes.

The TV chef said she likes the vinegar flavour to be so strong it hurts but that most potato crisps are now too mild.

Instead she has turned to Hula Hoops, which she says “have the most bite”.

Nigella, 61, added: “I am salt-and-vinegar person. But one of the things I have found alarming recently is how they have become more and more muted.

“If it doesn’t hurt the roof of your mouth, it’s wrong.”

She also lashed out at the drive towards reduced-fat versions, adding: “You don’t buy crisps to have a low-fat food.”

She said her old favourites Discos are “no good any more”, adding: “They used to make you wince. Now it’s like they have reduced the fat, the vinegar’s not there – what’s the point?”

At a promotion in Brighton for her book Cook, Eat, Repeat, she said she had finally found joy in Co-op’s salt-and-chardonnay-vinegar flavour.

She said: “Initially I thought it’s not going to be aggressive enough. But they are very good – the best for salt-and-vinegar.”

Nigella added that she occasionally eats her crisps from a bowl to feel fancy after hearing the late singer Dame Vera Lynn said the highlight of her day was drinking a glass of wine accompanied by a small bowl of crisps.

“I do often eat them out of a packet,” says Nigella.

“But if I want to feel like I’m really living it up, I put them in a bowl.”

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