She might have been on the receiving end of some adverse publicity of late - but Nigella Lawson has said that as a rule she prefers to avoid confrontation.
The TV chef, who is set to return to screens in early 2014 in new Channel 4 show The Taste, told the Radio Times that she tried to steer clear of upsetting anybody during filming.
The show, based on a US format, will see Nigella, together with Anthony Bourdain and Ludo Lefebvre, judging competitors' culinary creations on the basis of a single spoonful of food.
And the chef said that the fact the judging was done 'blind' - without knowing who made what - was particularly appealing.
“What I liked, not being terribly confrontational as a person, is that because you taste everything blind, you’re never making any judgements on a person and you’re just talking about the food," she explained.
"So much of reality TV is the theatre of humiliation or in some sense the culture of the breast-heaving backstory, so to have a food competition that is actually about the food is rather pleasant."
Nigella also revealed the difference in temperament between chefs and cooks such as herself, saying the former tended to be more 'conflict-driven' and 'perfectionists'.
She added: "Home cooks tend to be conflict-averse - well, I am - not necessarily risk-takers, and we seek to use food to bring harmony - for whatever reason.”
The Taste begins on Channel 4 on January 7 2014.
