Culinary super tastemakerPadma Lakshmiis once again in the running for Emmys, both forBravosTop Chefand herHuluseriesTaste the Nation.
Were in the golden age of television, and its really competitive.
Im sort of the Susan Lucci of reality television, she tells Deadline.
Photo by John Angelillo/Hulu
It would be lovely to win, especially because this is our 20th season ofTop Chef.
Twenty seasons is a long time.
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Over the years, Lakshmi has witnessed significant changes atTop Chef.
Gail Simmons, Padma Lakshmi, and Tom Colicchio of ‘Top Chef’Photo by Stephanie Diani/Bravo
We still have a-ways to go, but were doing great compared to our earlier seasons.
Along with gustatory triumphs, Lakshmi has witnessed some near-disasters in theTop Chefkitchen.
One particular incident stands out for her.
I remember we were in Rochester, New York doing a Thanksgiving special with the Foo Fighters.
They were playing to this huge stadium of 12,000 people.
And our grills went out.
Something happened with the gas lines or the electricity, she recalls.
It was a nightmare because we had all these chefs who needed to cook.
But we worked it into the challenge because they all had the same problem.
Thats whatTop Chefbrings out in you the worst and the best.
Taste the Nation, her unscripted Hulu series, returns on Friday for season 2.
The show, on which she is both host and EP, debuted in 2020.
She took onTaste the Nationseasoned (if youll pardon the culinary metaphor) by her previous TV experience.
It was very hard to getTaste the Nationgreenlit.
Six or seven networks turned it down before Hulu said yes.
In retrospect, Im so glad that [other networks] turned it down.
Hulu is so supportive of me as a filmmaker and as an auteur.
And so I had a good insight into what different immigrants went through and how they lived their lives.
The show doesnt shy away from addressing social issues in a vocal manner.
I was developing another show on immigration and was writing a book on immigrant food.
I showed my producing partner all the research I had done for this book proposal.
He said we should combine these two.
And thats howTaste the Nationwas born.
Lakshmis relationship with food began as a young girl, and she recalls it all started in the kitchen.
I would climb up the pantry shelves like a monkey to get the pickle jars the really spicy chilies.
So I think I naturally always had a physical, visceral connection to food and flavors.
Lakshmi shares some of season 2s voyages to eclectic cuisines and exploration of lesser-known immigrant stories.
As somebody whos not Black, it was something that I wanted to do very carefully.
My producer Nosa Garrick [whos Nigerian American], did such a great job.
Im very proud, and its so close to my heart.
Additional episodes focus on Filipino and Cambodian immigrants in America.
We do an episode on Filipinos from Daly City, [Calif.].
[The] Cambodians came there as refugees illiterate, without knowing the language.
And without having any technical skill, they revitalized this very New England, tawny town.
OnTaste the Nation, its a much more cerebral enterprise and a lot of research, she observes.
Im telling other peoples stories and letting them tell as much as I can of it.
But Im still shaping it for them and with them.
And I take that super seriously.
