Nigella Lawson herself says she is not a professional chef. In the introduction to her recent book, “At My Table: A Celebration of Home Cooking” she writes, “It doesn’t matter how many cookbooks I write or how many times I am erroneously called a chef, I will never be a professional”.
She basically says she’s not a professional because cooking doesn’t really require “technique, dexterity, or expertise”. Personally I think she is being too modest and is selling herself short. Anyone who can write and publish ten books on the subject of cooking should be thought of and called a professional.