Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver have the same purpose to entertain and share their love of cooking but they go about it in different ways. Lawson and Oliver differ in many ways, for starters Lawson is all about sharing the “pleasure” of cooking whereas Oliver wants to prove that cooking is easy and it is not difficult or a long process to make a simple healthy meal, especially for parents cooking for their kids.
Their accents are very different as well, Nigella has quite a posh RP accent and she has a large range of vocabulary whereas Jamie has a “Mockney” accent and doesn’t use as wide of a vocabulary as Nigella. Jamie uses quite a few fillers and colloquial language in his shows like “Erm” and “so look what we got yeah”. This makes him come across as more normal, friendly and relatable which is more appealing to the viewers he also sounds very spontaneous and a bit more like he’s talking on the spot and as if its unscripted unlike Nigella’s cookshow.
Nigella uses a lot of personal references like talking about her mother or kids which makes her come across as more friendly but she still comes across on her shows like it’s been scripted. She spends a lot of the time talking about herself other than the food which is appealing for people who watch the show to be entertained but not for those who want to learn to cook; these people will be turning towards Jamie. He is keen to help as much as he can for the viewer to cook the food which his viewers love about him.
The Essay on Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver is a chef who has made a number of television programmes for Channel 4; in most of these programmes he is cooking and instructing the audience, although he is sometimes part of documentaries about food, for example in schools. His style of speech is very different to many of his contemporaries: he uses his distinctive style to present himself as a down to earth, friendly TV chef. ...
Nigella uses a lot of words in the semantic field of “pleasure” and uses words like “fabulous” and “luscious”, she also uses a lot of metaphors like “a final sprinkling of gold dust” and “a molten pan of golden caramel” It seems that her main purpose on her cooking shows is more to entertain than inform. Jamie on the other hand is both entertaining and informing but again doesn’t have as wide a range of vocabulary as nigella or as posh of an accent but is still a good presenter of his show which is reassuring to the viewer and makes him come across as more relatable and friendly.
Also when he’s commentating over his cooking it has more of a spontaneous feel, he may have an idea of what he needs to say but not as prompted and scripted as nigella. His aim is to prove that cooking well and healthy is easy and not hard to learn, he talks a lot about how “Easy” it is to cook. His show is aimed for everyone especially young parents who want to cook something easy and healthy for their kids. He uses a lot of direct address like “but you can pretty much use anything you like”, this makes it feel as if your cooking with him and is very reassuring.
Nigella doesn’t use much direct address she just talks about herself most of the time which is entertaining for those who watch it for that purpose but not very helpful or reassuring. Nigella uses a lot of descriptive language, metaphors and similes etc. “It’s like putting golden nuggets inside a jewellery casket” This makes her sound like she has an even more sophisticated vocabulary and can be quite reassuring to the viewer to let them know that she knows what she’s doing.
She never uses colloquial language or fillers making it sound more scripted but also loses that reassurance that she’s just like anyone else. Her show is mainly suited to the people who want to sit down and be entertained not learn to cook, this is because she talks more about herself and the “pleasure” of cooking using phrases like “Indulge myself” and talk about herself or her family than more about the making of the dish itself.
Jamie doesn’t use as many metaphors or similes as Nigella but still makes up for it with the detail he goes into when talking about cooking the food. To conclude Jamie’s show is more about learning to cook and helping that community whereas nigellas is to entertain, Jamie’s show isn’t scripted but helps him to be more reassuring especially using a lot of direct address. Nigella speaks more professionally but not to the viewer but sounds a lot more like she knows what she’s talking about.
The Essay on The Cooking animal
Michael Pollan’s article The Cooking Animal, describes the decline of home cooked meals and its effects. Cooking, he says, is what separates us from animals. It’s how we became civilized. By making us come together and share food, we learn about each other and ourselves. Although its importance, cooking is rapidly declining in modern times. What was once a daily ritual is now becoming a special ...
