Since it first aired more than 15 years ago, “The Great British Baking Show” has featured some iffy Jewish representation. Aside from the adorable Jurgen, who is practically a Jewish dad (and whom we very much kvell over), there have been challah blunders and bagel shandas.
But now, a new Jewish baked good age is (possibly? hopefully?) upon us!
For the first time, the show is getting a Jewish judge. Celebrated British Jewish cookbook author and utterly comforting TV personality (and Jewish mom of two!) Nigella Lawson will be replacing judge Prue Leith, who, deservedly, is retiring from the show at age 86. (Thank you for your service to baked goods and colorful eyewear and accessories, Prue!)
“I’m uncharacteristically rather lost for words right now! Of course it’s daunting to be following in the footsteps of Prue Leith and Mary Berry before her, great dames both, but I’m also bubbling with excitement,” Lawson shared in a statement, adding that the show “is more than a television programme, it’s a National Treasure – and it’s a huge honour to be entrusted with it. I’m just thrilled to be joining the team and all the new bakers to come. I wish the marvellous Prue all the best, and am giddily grateful for the opportunity!”
Nigella has already gotten the Prue seal of approval. “I was so hoping it would be Nigella! Brilliant choice,” she commented on Instagram. My feelings precisely, Prue.
One thing is for sure: Lawson, a self-proclaimed “Domestic Goddess,” a title she is very much worthy of, is a Jewish food maven. The daughter of Jewish British parents (her father was a baron, and her mother, Vanessa Salmon, an heir to the Lyons food empire), Lawson was raised culturally Jewish more than anything else.
“They were in every way, essentially about the food,” Lawson said of her parents to the Australian Jewish News, “They were totally, culturally, Jewish – from cooking too much, to feeding anyone the moment they walk through the door, and giving them things to take home.”
On her TV show, “Nigella Bites,” she calls chicken matzah ball soup “the real McCoy — or the real Mc-Oy” and “Jewish penicillin” and uses the Yiddish word kneidlach for the comforting Ashkenazi dumpling (maybe she can help explain what challah is to Paul Hollywood?). Plus, she’d written not one but two scrumptious honey cake recipes for Rosh Hashanah.
One puzzling thing: Nigella calls rugelach “scuffles,” a word I have never heard, but one that may be used in Canada to describe the rolled pastry. Her recipe for the baked treat is, however, quite wonderful, and her hack for making them (rolling the dough in cinnamon sugar!) is very much worth trying.
Will we get a “Great British Baking Show” rugelach challenge? Maybe with some milk warmed in a micro-wah-vay? That sure sounds like a dream.
I can’t wait for Lawson — a British and Jewish treasure — to enter the Tent of Dreams in 2026. What a sweet treat.
