Nigella Lawson recently posted a photo of a dark dessert on her Twitter, set against a dark background with the caption: "my idea of absolute heaven [...] Liquorice Pudding, in all its moody beauty." She added, "I must declare my deep, almost deviant, love for salted liquorice” although this has proven to be a controversial move.

Lawson isn’t too far off when she described her love of licorice to be “almost deviant” because the flavor that comes from the plant Glycyrrhiza glabra, has an almost medicinal taste. Maria Pelchat of the Monell Chemical Senses Center says, “it's not a learned like or dislike. “[But] it does seem to be something that people are born with," she added.

While the flavor might be divisive, a section of Lawson’s social media followers were willing to change their feelings towards it. One Twitter user said, "after trying licorice ice cream in France I was hooked," while another added, "I'd rather have licorice than chocolate”. Irrespective of how the flavor is perceived, Lawson’s devotion towards licorice remains undeterred.