This Tam Bram sashays ramp, rack and rasta with ease. Her modelling, acting, hosting, writing and travel sojourns have made Padma Lakshmi a storehouse of experiences, and with her new book Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir, the juggler goes further into sharing that body of knowledge that she calls ‘life’. The former wife of Salman Rushdie tarries along, albeit with hurt and learning from the past.
For the Top Chef host and Emmy nominee, whose earlier book Easy Exotic, a compilation of international recipes which was awarded Best First Book at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards at Versailles and Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet was released in October 2007, the new cookbook is a candid memoir of her life. For the gorgeous lady who was recently awarded The Ellis Island Medal of Honor (awarded to exceptional immigrants who have become naturalised citizens), it all started in the kitchen, where the doe-eyed little Padma, looked curiously at her grandmother dishing out the simplest tastiest fare.
The home cook shares, “When I cook with my daughter, it takes me back to (when) my grandmother made chutneys and the hierarchy of women that ruled my childhood kitchen,” Padma recalls. So it’s not surprising that she admires her grandmother not just for her culinary skills but also because of the strong, fierce woman she was. What prompted Padma to start an autobiographical memoir as a cookbook, we wonder.
Love, Loss, and What We Ate : A Memoir by Padma lakshmi Rs 699, pp 366 Ecco, Harper Collins
“The book started out as a healthy eating guide, I used my life experiences to talk about food and healthy eating. Somewhere along the line, as I dug deeper into my relationship with food at different junctures in my life, I found what really feeds me. It’s a toss up between the recipes and stories from my childhood!” she explains.
If anyone were to encompass the foodie moments that shaped life, it would fill several pages, for Padma too, the best part of the book is the most difficult, thanks to those typical yearnings that made life easier to bear, “It’s so hard to pick. I think it would be a tie between kichidi, kumquat and ginger chutney recipe. Kichidi as it’s so comforting and I eat it every week, and kumquat and ginger chutney as it helped me pick myself back up after a very rough time in life. My kitchen secret is knowing how to use herbs and spices, something I’ll share with everyone in the next book,” says a wiser Padma Lakshmi, adding, “It took me four years and it was the most difficult thing I’ve had to do, except for birthing my daughter! Now that it’s written and out, I’m very proud that I was able to finish a memoir and it’s given me the opportunity to look back and appreciate life,” she adds.
Most failures have shaped the people we are today, and for Padma too, this is what shaped her, “I think my failures helped in shaping me, my mentors helped me grow and mature, but the most enriching moment was when I became a mother,” she says. Padma loves waking up on a Sunday morning, clad in pajamas, sitting in bed with a cup of tea reading newspapers cover to cover. Detail-oriented, she finds it difficult to sleep on incomplete tasks and frequently has her friends coaxing her to relax.
“Someone very close to me once said ‘everyone is just doing the best they can’ and that has been incredibly impactful. As I grow and mature, I try to live my life with a lot of empathy and understanding as to why someone may say or do what they do. And it’s very true, even if someone is not being their best self at a moment, we’re all doing the best we can,” she adds, a lesson Padma has imbibed, advising further, “Push against the open door. If you had told me in college that I would be host of Top Chef or a model travelling the world, I wouldn’t have believed you. Many of the best experiences in life have happened as I pushed against an open door instead of sticking to a plan religiously.”
With speculation rife about her split with her famous novelist former husband, it’s a tough road back to serenity, but she has learnt to find it amidst the hullabaloo, “You know, you have to just shut it out and concentrate on important things. I have a beautiful daughter and a loving, supportive circle of family and friends. They keep me grounded and know the real me. Next to them, everything else just doesn’t seem as important.”
She feels her mother who defied conventions to eke a life for them in the US, and the other women in her life have instilled a good work ethic, and have made her well-rounded. About motherhood, she smiles, “My daughter loves to experiment! She’s a great baker and wonderful at rolling out dough – it’s because she has such small hands. We’ll cook anything — salad to a tart to yogurt rice. It’s important to get your children involved in the kitchen. They’re more likely to eat healthy if they’ve taken part in making the food.”
Yet, the biggest lesson in relationships has been “empathy.” She mulls, “In order for a relationship to work, I think it’s important to understand why someone does what they do and understand the intent behind actions.” She’s working on another book. “I have an Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs coming out on October 4.”
So how does she get time to stay svelte? “It’s not easy! When I’m trying to lose weight after Top Chef, I cut out flour, sugar, meat, alcohol, and dairy and carbs. I eat lentils and vegetables. After that, it’s just a matter of exercising. I love to box, so I box a couple of times in a week and gym the days when I’m not boxing. While I’m on the Top Chef, I do push-ups or walk up and downstairs so I can stay fit,” says Padma. With a good book on a rainy wintry day (a habit inherited from her grandfather who was a voracious reader), her daughter and her cooking forays stay foremost on her mind.
