Growing up in Queens in the 1970s, Padma Lakshmi remembers eating a spaghetti dish her mother made with upma, an Indian porridge. The Top Chef host and executive producer, who came to the U.S. from India at age 4, says such culinary mash-ups are common in immigrant kitchens. “Immigrant foods are really interesting, because they’re this third thing: They’re not traditionally like the food in the countries of origin, but they’re not totally Westernized,” she says. “A lot of that, of course, happens because of necessity: When immigrants come here, typically, for the most part, both parents have to work and so they streamline the cooking.” Lakshmi started out as a model and actress, never intending to have a career in food. But she loved to cook and to collect and write down recipes — especially from her relatives. She decided to pitch a cookbook, Easy Exotic , and was surprised when the publisher signed on. “I think they wanted to capitalize on the fact that everyone does want to know
The Y'allywood Reporter
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