Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has sparked a furore by suggesting she would be prepared to kill a bear and wear its fur.

The British author of How To Be a Domestic Goddess and star of TV cooking show Nigella Bites made the comments during an interview on the BBC’s The One Show.

During a discussion on fur as fashion, Lawson said: “I feel going into a shop and buying a fur coat would be an act of weakness, but if I could go out into the woods and kill a bear myself, I would then wear it proudly as a trophy.”

Host Adrian Chiles expressed disbelief that she would do such a thing, saying: “you’re a nice lady who makes chocolate puddings”.

Lawson replied: “If you’re in nature and it’s either you go or the bear goes …”

Asked if she would kill an animal to wear its fur, she backtracked but said: “I might if I lived in Alaska.”

Her comments were criticised by animal welfare groups.

A spokesman for Respect for Animals, which has campaigned for an end to the international fur trade, said: “If she could see the way in which bears and other animals are killed in the wild, then she wouldn’t have been so flippant.”

Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) deputy director Justin Kerswell said: “Nigella should stick to making double-entendres about puddings.”

Lawson’s publicist, Mark Hutchinson, told the Daily Express the closest thing the TV chef owned to a fur coat was a sheepskin-lined jacket.

“She was saying that if in a situation where it was her or the bear, she would kill the bear – but not if she was unprovoked,” he said.