Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi is an Indian-born American author, actress, model, television host and executive producer. Her debut cookbook Easy Exotic won her the "Best First Book" award at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. She has been the host of the US reality television program Top Chef since season two in 2006, for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program. In 2010, Top Chef won the Emmy Award for...
NationalityIndian
ProfessionTV Actress
Date of Birth1 September 1970
CityChennai, India
CountryIndia
I'm an immigrant kid who came to America from India when I was very young and grew up in New York City with a single mom and really was influenced by all of those immigrant cultures bumping up against each other.
I work out all the time! I don't just sit around and eat burgers whenever I want. Oh, if I could I probably would, but I don't.
It doesn't matter how precisely the onion is cut as long as the person chewing it is happy.
If you like a wine that you drink, now with your phone, it's so easy. Just take a picture of the label. You learn about it. You learn where it comes from and what the soil is like and why you like it. And that'll lead you to another wine.
I've always had a fantasy to write a cookbook, because everyone wants to know what a model eats.
From the simple stringing together of lemon garlands for the goddess Durga, to dividing the prasadam or blessed foods for the children first, I came to associate food not only with feminity, but also with purity and divinity.
Part of my job as a food writer is to describe food. So my work on 'Top Chef,' I feel, is an extension of that. When we give a criticism to the contestant, we want to make sure we tell them why it's not working and why it would work if they did it a different way.
I'm not of the American ilk that, you know, your lover needs to be your best friend and know you inside out. I think he should know you well enough to please you. Otherwise, what secret will there be to tell him when you're ninety?
I don't have any stigma attached to my body. When I'm in my own private space, I have very little on.
I grew up a vegetarian. Then, because I grew up in the states, I started slowly eating meat. First it was bologna sandwiches, or pepperoni on pizza.
I love seafood. I'm not a vegetarian but I'm probably a pescetarian.
I tend to sleep in the nude... I'm a sensual-leaning woman. You have to use the word 'leaning' or it sounds like I'm boasting.
I think eating in itself is the act of great sensuality, so all you have to do is point the camera in the right direction.
I know most people use their phones to tell time, but there's something very romantic and beautiful about a timepiece.