"For her show Taste the Nation, Padma Lakshmi traveled across the country to cook, eat, and immerse herself in different immigrant communities. Through time spent with Thai immigrants in Las Vegas, the Gullah Geechee community in South Carolina, and more groups of people whose culinary stories have evaded the mainstream, Lakshmi told stories about how immigrants have shaped the United States and become its backbone - all through the lens of food. The show's two seasons earned Lakshmi accolades, though she announced earlier this year that it wouldn't be coming back for another. But given that Taste the Nation started as a book idea, it was only natural for Lakshmi to preserve the project in the form of a book."
"That book, Padma's All American, is out now. As Lakshmi told me via Zoom call, "There was so much love, both critically and with viewers [that] I felt this would be a great record of this thing that we did, which frankly has been the highlight of my professional career so far.""
""I love fine dining. I value it, I respect it, I know the effort and resources it takes, but that is not how I eat and that is not how most people in the world eat.""
A television host traveled across the United States to cook with and document immigrant communities, collecting recipes and stories that show how immigrants shaped American food culture. The project produced two seasons of a program and a companion book combining community recipes and reflective essays from the travels. The collection centers everyday cooking rather than fine dining, elevates underrepresented culinary traditions, and positions immigrant contributions as essential to national identity. The work aims to preserve culinary histories and asserts that mainstream food narratives often overlook immigrant cooks as foundational to American cuisine.
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