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Cooking Couple

Nigella Lawson and Rachael Ray: Separated at birth?


It must be globalization. British TV chef Nigella Lawson, with her lavishly filmed cooking shows, has already made her mark on American TV cookery. Half the shows on today's Food Network are indebted to her Nigella Bites, what with their glossy sheen, loving ingredient close-ups, and closing shots of the chef chowing down with giggling guests. But now Lawson's influence is spreading in another direction. The publishers of her new book, Nigella Express: 130 Recipes for Good Food, Fast(Hyperion, $35), say that it "is her solution to eating well when time is short," that the meals within are "quick to prepare and easy to follow," and that you "can conjure them up after a day in the office or on a busy weekend." That sounds an awful lot like the approach that made U.S. TV chef Rachael Ray famous.

Which has us thinking that although these two couldn't seem more different - Ray is an everywoman from upstate New York who grew up in the restaurant business, while Lawson is a former literary editor connected to British aristocracy - maybe they're more similar than we first imagined. To wit:

Personal Look

Long, flowing currently black hair. Simple tops and lots of jeans. Proudly displays her curves.