I’m new to Nigella, although a long-time devotee of her clementine cake recipe. We don’t watch much TV, only a handful of programmes, of which Dragon’s Den is one. There is something compulsive about watching the Christians armed with nothing more than some generally scatty ideas entering the arena to do battle with the gladiators, who not only have all the weapons but also the ultimate power of life or death over the ideas.

Anyway, getting back to Nigella. I caught the tail end of her show a few weeks ago, while waiting for DD. She was up during the tiny hours making a sort of sandwich fried in butter and slavered with fruit puree and sugar, which she then took to her bed and ate with much eye-lid batting and lip-licking. (There’s never any sign of Mr Saatchi in these programmes, nor in her bed. I wonder what he thinks when he finds jam on the duvet and sugar in his pyjamas?) After that I was hooked, and have enjoyed watching her create meals made in moments, and saturated in everything we are told is harmful to our health.

When she’s not stuffing herself with fried sandwiches she’s slurping up bowls of noodles, or demolishing a box of honeycomb crunch intended as a gift for a friend. At first I thought this was only for the benefit of the camera, just a quick mouthful; but judging by the way she seems to be expanding week by week, I think she really does spend all day, and periods of the night, eating.

What is there not to love about this lady? She is genuinely beautiful; she’s always cheerful, and seems quite content with her voluptuous body. Who among those of us who love our food cannot relate to her uninhibited gluttony?

She once said that food is a narcotic, and watching her whip it up and gulp it down is indeed like watching an addict take their fix. I sometimes wonder what sadness lies behind the beautiful smile.

Her burgeoning outline is doing wonders for me – I feel like a delicate little waif in comparison.

Sooner or later, methinks, Nigella is going to have to start a new series, and it’s going to be about healthy eating and losing weight. Hopefully the recipes will be as tempting, and together we can share wondrous meals and watch the avoirdupois melt away. Hurry up, Nigella!

By the way, I would like to have the names of the kind people where she shops: they hand over whatever she asks for, and never expect payment.