Culinary culture, gastrobrands and identity myths: 'Nigella', an iconic brand in the baking

This paper investigates ways in which celebrity functions as a mode of economic production whereby cultural resources are celebritized in pursuit of marketplace appeals. We explore those issues through developing case material that consists of representations of a celebrity chef which are available for consumption through a collection of superior photographic print images situated within a contemporary 'lifestyle' cookery book to explore how an evolving iconic brand can be understood not merely as a way of structuring competition, but as a 'media object' which is the product of the logic of celebrity culture and the celebrity gastro brand of 'Nigella'.