Padma Lakshmi's New Book Celebrates America's Immigrant Food Stories

Padma Lakshmi's Culinary Love Letter to Immigrant America

Renowned television host and author Padma Lakshmi has just released her third cookbook, "Padma's All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond," a heartfelt celebration of America's diverse immigrant communities and their culinary contributions. The cookbook serves as a companion to her award-winning Hulu series "Taste the Nation" and comes at a particularly poignant moment in American history as immigration debates dominate the national conversation.

From Top Chef to Immigrant Stories

After decades as a fixture in the culinary world—most notably as the host of "Top Chef"—Lakshmi felt compelled to explore a different side of American food culture. "The biggest instrument was wanting to go deeper and deeper into the issue of immigration," Lakshmi explained in a recent interview with Eater. "I love fine dining. I value it, I respect it, but that is not how I eat and that is not how most people in the world eat."

"Taste the Nation" premiered in 2020, taking Lakshmi on a journey across the country to document immigrant communities through their food. The series featured episodes on Thai immigrants in Las Vegas, the Gullah Geechee community in South Carolina, and numerous other groups whose culinary stories had largely evaded mainstream attention. "It was my 'Trojan horse,'" Lakshmi told TIME, "a show that used food as a way to make people curious about America, its people, and its history."

A Cookbook with a Mission

"Padma's All American" is more than just a collection of recipes—it's a cultural document that preserves the stories Lakshmi gathered during her travels. The book features over 100 recipes designed specifically for home cooks, with Lakshmi carefully balancing accessibility with authenticity.

"I was dealing with many cuisines and a lot of them were cuisines from ethnicities that I'm not a part of, so I felt an enormous responsibility to do justice to these foods," Lakshmi shared. "I had to toe the line between making something accessible enough that people outside the community would be able to recreate it in their own kitchens while still preserving what about the dish made it so beloved to the people from where it came."

Claiming Americanness

In today's political climate, Lakshmi felt it was essential to reclaim the word "American" from those who would seek to exclude immigrant communities. "I am an American of Indian heritage and I've spent my life working in this country and paying a lot of taxes and contributing in every way I can," she stated firmly. "I think that flag and that word belongs to more of us than some of us would like to accept. I'm not reclaiming it; I'm just claiming it."

"I hope that the book will be a positive way to counteract all the hate. By expanding our palates, we'll be more amenable to getting to know our neighbors, and more likely to bridge the ever-growing divide between Americans of all types."

— Padma Lakshmi

Recipes and Reflections

The book is filled with profiles of the people Lakshmi met during her travels, including a Gullah Geechee chef in South Carolina, a Peruvian dance teacher in New Jersey, and an Iranian restaurant owner in Los Angeles. "The book is really not about me; the book is about them," Lakshmi emphasized. "At most, it's about my experience of getting to know them and what that journey was like, but it's really centering, not myself."

Many of the recipes reflect the "third-culture food" that emerges when immigrant communities adapt their traditional dishes to American ingredients and sensibilities. "It's not the most traditional way to make a certain Afghan dish, for example, but it's also third-culture food, because this is American immigrant food; it's another thing entirely," Lakshmi explained.

Looking to the Future

While "Taste the Nation" won't be returning for another season, Lakshmi hasn't finished exploring these themes. "I'm in the business of making television. I will always make television and I will find my way through the market as best I can, but I would love for a 2.0 version of Taste the Nation to come back," she said.

Meanwhile, Lakshmi is busy with her new cooking competition show, "America's Culinary Cup," set to premiere on CBS next year. "I'm really excited for people to find out about the challenges, and also see what world-class chefs we have competing," she shared with TIME.

At its core, "Padma's All American" is an invitation to embrace America's diversity through food. "Make it an activity of discovery for you and your family," Lakshmi suggests. "On a Saturday or Sunday, go out to a neighborhood you are not familiar with. Go to a Latin market, go to an Asian market, and then make a dish at home with a buddy for the first time."

As Lakshmi continues her work, she remains optimistic about the power of food to bring people together. "I think we are seeing more movement in humankind than at any other point in our society's history and that commingling of cultures is really interesting to me. I think that is where creativity and magic happen."