Padma Lakshmi Shares Travel Rituals, the Secret to Stress-Free Parties, and the Inspiration Behind Her Latest Cookbook

The author expands on the stories and recipes from the award-winning "Taste the Nation" television series in her new book.

After showcasing the foods that make up American cuisine through the award-winning television series Taste the Nation, creator and host Padma Lakshmi is sharing more of her journey through a new cookbook. Padma’s All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation is available to purchase now and features more than 100 recipes along with the stories from the immigrant and Indigenous communities who inspired them. The former Top Chef host caught up with BHG to share the inspiration behind her latest release, what she’s been cooking lately, and her tips for taking the stress out of hosting.

Padma Lakshmi’s House Rules

Q: If you were to hang a list of rules in your home, what would they be?

• The first rule of my house would be to please remove your shoes. We are a shoe-free house. We leave the dirt and distraction from outside at the door.
• The second rule is that this is the sacred space; this is where we live and love, so please treat it as such.

Q: What’s the one thing that makes your house feel like home?

I think home is where the people you love are. It has nothing to do with the walls or the things in your home. That is where home is—where the people you love are. What makes my house a home is the laughter of my daughter, sometimes the tears of my mother when she comes to visit, or the smells of the kitchen when I'm cooking for those I love.

Q: Do you have any rules that apply to just your daughter?

No, I mean, I think you teach by example and you teach by behavior. My only rule, which I still think is slightly hypocritical, is that I have a potty mouth and I prefer she doesn't. But she kind of does, too, so I've only myself to blame for that. But I read a study that says that people who curse more tend to be more honest and forthright.

Q: Are there any rules you grew up with that are passed down?

I mean, I would never have spoken to my mom in the way that my daughter speaks to me, but it's a different generation. It's a different time, and my daughter is growing up in a different world than I am, so I want to cut her some slack. With kids and teenagers, specifically, the internet, social media, being quarantined at home (and in my case, my child was an only child, so she did not see any peers for months on end)—I think that all has to be taken into consideration. Also, especially with young girls, we give them a lot of mixed messages and double standards, and even if you try your best not to do that, society does it, so I want to give my daughter the grace that the world never gave me to become who she is while still reminding her of when she maybe goes too far off the correct path.

The part of me that is most traditionally Indian is probably my own parenting. How that manifests itself is that I have certain things I'm very strict about, like respecting your elders and not calling elders by their name; saying uncle and auntie as a form of respect, but also living it and not just giving it lip service. Then there are other things I'm very lax about, like eating in bed or a bedtime, you know? I figure she'll get tired eventually and learn.

Q: Do you have something that you consider like a motto or mantra for your household?

Do to others as you would have done for you in and out of the household.

Q: Is there something that you like to keep with you or something that you do when you're traveling that makes it feel like home?

One is a tiny little Ganesh deity statue that's literally less than an inch that I carry with me in my purse with my passport and incense, so that I can have the smells at home but also have a little meditation ritual wherever I am in the morning or even in the night.

And then I tend to put really thin sarongs at the bottom of my suitcase so that when I get to a hotel, I can just put them on the couch or chairs. I'm very sensitive to light, so I need light to read or do my makeup, but other than that, I kind of want it to be cozy, so sometimes I'll just throw one over a lampshade if it's too bright. Those sarongs come in handy; they also smell like the detergent we use at home.

I'm a very sensorial person. I think that's why I'm a good cook, and that's why I've been able to replicate the things that I've eaten around the world in my own kitchen. They may not have exactly the same ingredients, but the end result, the taste, will be the same. My sense memory is really strong, so I want to protect and nurture that. I was terrified during the pandemic that I would get COVID-19 and lose my sense of smell, but thankfully again, touch wood, I didn't.

Q: Do you have a list of hosting must-dos before you entertain guests?

My biggest hosting must-do is to plan a menu that is sane and doable and doesn't stress you out and keep you from enjoying your own dinner party or event. Plan a menu that has a combination of things you can do ahead or some things that aren't so temperature sensitive, and just a few things that you can delegate to your guests. Assign them to two different people you think might enjoy getting to know each other. It doesn't have to be like a romantic match-up. They can just be two people you think would be interested in the same things who can help each other with the work. Having a task like lighting candles or helping set the table or making the salad dressing together is a nice icebreaker.

Q: Are you okay sharing your kitchen space with others, or would you rather keep it to yourself when you have people over?

Sometimes, if I’m in the throes of cooking—I have a big kitchen, especially for New York—if there are people chatting right by the stove, I don't want things to burn, so I'll try to push them out into the living room. But as a general rule—again that goes back to the menu planning—I don't want to be majorly cooking by the time people get here because I want to enjoy my guests—that's why I've asked them to come to my home.

A home is about the people who live there; a party is about the people who come together. You don't want to be so frazzled that you can't partake in the conversation or spend quality time with your friends. That's also about curating a really good guest list. I have friends of all different types, of all different ages and walks of life, and you want to create an interesting mix of people. They don't have to know each other, but they have to be curious about each other. The best sign of a good party is when people start exchanging phone numbers and keeping in touch because you brought them together. That's my favorite thing to see happen. 

Q: Is there anything you do before guests arrive to set the mood in the house?

Yes, yes, I try to finish everything at least 45 minutes to an hour before everyone gets here. I light candles. If it's not too cold or rainy out, I open the windows so it doesn't smell like food. Then I'll go have a shower at the end so that I don't smell like food. I'll get dressed, and as I'm doing my makeup and waiting for guests, I put music on and I sip that first glass of wine. So that I'm calm, I'm relaxed, and I'm smelling good, and I'm ready to enjoy the evening, too. 

I think it's important to remember when having people over, not only to do something nice for them, but hopefully do something pleasurable for you, too. It doesn't really matter what you serve. You could just make one big casserole of lasagna and a salad or spaghetti with tomato sauce.

You could even order takeout and just put it in nice dishes; nobody cares. I mean, obviously, if you're in the food world, people will look forward to having your food. But it's not about the food. As much as I love food and have dedicated my career to it, it’s really about community, and about finding ways to connect in real life in the world we live in, which is hectic and largely digital.

Q: What’s something a house guest should do to be invited back?

I'm usually prepared either way, but I can tell how people have been raised because they're like, ‘Oh, let me help you clean up,’ or ‘I can fill the dishwasher,’ or just offer that way, or you don't even have to ask. They see you doing something, and they just naturally want to lend you a hand—I think that's nice.

I have a full bar cart that never gets used up because I'm not that big of a drinker, so I'm not a big bartender, and I don't make cocktails, but my cousin Manu does. So whenever he comes over, I always say, 'Okay, you're taking care of the drinks,' or his wife will be in charge of the Christmas punch because I taught them how to make it. It's in the cookbook, by the way—it's called the Company Cocktail, and because citrus is so much better in the winter, at least here in New York, we have a citrus punch with tequila and we just make a big punch bowl of it. We have a pitcher of the stuff that is non-alcoholic for the kids and my aunt who doesn't drink.

And now my other cousin has gotten really into smoking meat, so he's gonna bring over a big brisket, and that’s just a given. It's nice when you have rituals and yearly traditions, and everybody takes over a part of the meal or tasks, and it makes it feel more convivial. I love that word convivial, it comes from convivir, which means ‘to live with or to live together.' I think that's what you want to do more and more of; we're so alienated, and to live together in community is the greatest gift. 

Q: It sounds like you end up being the host for big events like holidays.

Yes, and I ask for it. I mean, I'd rather be the host and have everyone come to my house than go somewhere else on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. I much prefer entertaining, and our things happen to be very casual. I'm not a very formal person. I don't have any rigid rules. I want everybody to feel comfortable, and you'd be surprised at how much just the act of taking off one's shoes makes people relax. You are different. You behave differently when you're barefoot than you do with shoes on, and it creates an instant intimacy and friendship that's nice.

Q: Do you have a current go-to cuisine or style of cooking you’re making a lot of these days?

If you look at not only this new cookbook, Padma's All-American, but my other cookbooks as well, or even my spice book [The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs: An Essential Guide to the Flavors of the World], you will see that I'm a pretty international cook and that won't change. You want to make sure that the things go together. So I might not make a Korean sundubu with a Moroccan tagine. I decide which way I'm going.

For instance, Thanksgiving is a great example; we always make the turkey exactly the same way, and we make it with a lot of gravy so that we can use it to make turkey pot pie the next day. And we pretty much make the same sides. We have potatoes and stuffing, roasted vegetables and green beans, but we are doing those things with different spices. So, one year if it's Moroccan, we would use Ras el Hanout, preserved lemon, saffron, and Harissa. Another year, we might do a rice stuffing—which is also in Padma's All-American—with shiitake mushrooms and Chinese sausage. And then we might have the turkey rubbed a little bit with five spice and add a little Sichuan peppercorn and soy to the roasted vegetables. Just something to change it slightly so that it still feels familiar, but it also feels new and fresh. Other years, we've made Mexican; we made a cornbread with pickled jalapeños, shallots, and oregano. It just makes it more fun.

Q: What was the biggest inspiration behind Padma’s All American?

The biggest inspiration was really to show how beautiful and delicious and exciting immigrant food in this country is and how it shapes and evolves American cuisine as a whole. And rather than wag my finger at people and tell them immigrants are such a vital part of this country, actually, they are the country, let's just say that. Unless you are a First Nation native person, you, too, are part of some immigrant diaspora. It might date back 300 years versus 30 but you're still a descendant of an immigrant. We forget that in this country, and I wanted to remind people of that from a food perspective, but also obviously branching out beyond food.

You can tell a lot about a people by what they eat, and what Americans are eating is all kinds of things from Thai food to Mexican food to Peruvian rotisserie chicken to Korean food to Middle Eastern food, whether it's the shawarma or halal truck or falafel, borscht to baselka with bereniki dumplings. And that's exciting to me; it's such a wonderful aspect of American culture. It's why I love America so much. It's nothing to thwart or discourage; it's actually our greatest strength. So I wanted to get that message across in a positive and delicious way. 

Q: Are there any examples you can share?

We all get a lot of Thai food when we're out, but we may not necessarily cook it. One example of that is we all love pad thai, which is kind of a made-up Thai dish that came about just a few decades ago. But we love pad thai because of that tamarind sauce. In the recipe development, rather than give you just another recipe for pad thai, which you can get on any takeout menu, I do something different and a little healthier. I make the exact same sauce. Literally once you make the sauce, it will last in your fridge for a month, and you can just go and get any fillet of white fish that you like—cod, sea bass, halibut. You can poach that fish in that skillet literally in about four to six minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, and then you just turn it off and throw in some baby spinach leaves and put the lid on so that the spinach wilts and you serve that over a simple bed of steamed white jasmine rice, and it's a healthy meal that has starch, protein, and vegetables that's really flavorful and will give you that same tangy sweet lovely flavor of eating a bowl of pad thai.

Q: Was there anything in developing the book that you were particularly excited to learn about or incorporate into your own cooking?

I grew up going to high school with lots of Filipino kids, and I had never eaten Filipino food at a restaurant, but I did eat it at my friend's. When I filmed Taste the Nation, I knew I wanted to do an episode on Filipinos in the Bay Area and Daly City. When I went there, I got to see that now there are Filipino restaurants. I sort of rediscovered that cuisine of my childhood neighbors and friends, and so I forgot how easy cooking chicken adobo is, or arroz caldo, which is this wonderful warm, comforting rice porridge with chicken in it.

Now, my hairdresser is Filipina and she traveled with me and showed me how to make the arroz caldo in the book. But we add things that are a little bit different, like jalapeño and cilantro stems. Even she, who was Filipina and grew up eating it, was a little scared, like, ‘Are they gonna roast me because I'm adding jalapeño because that's not traditional?’ And I was like, ‘It's okay. If everybody wants a very traditional recipe or something, they can always look online.'

What I'm trying to do is curate a body of food that is eaten across this nation and standardize it in a way that retains the essence of what people from that community love about it, while at the same time making it more approachable for someone to cook who is out of the community and may not have grown up with it. That was the real hat trick of this book and the thing that I was most concerned about, whether it was an Afghan dumpling dish or a Nigerian rice dish.

Rapid-Fire Questions with Padma Lakshmi

Q: Top sheet or no top sheet?

Top sheet. Absolutely a top sheet.

Q: Faux or living plants?

Living.

Q: Should the toilet paper roll go over or under?

Over.

Q: Do you clean as you cook, or do you clean up at the end?

I do not do well when things are messy or disorganized. I will clean before I cook, during cooking, while I'm cooking, and also after. I think it's respect for your environment. It goes back to that this is a sacred space; keep it treated as such.

Q: Rinse dishes first, or put them in the dishwasher as-is?

Oh, this is a tough one. I try to resist rinsing them first because I'm told by all the experts that you shouldn’t rinse, but something in me, deep and visceral, is having a really hard time not rinsing. I'm gonna be honest.

Q: Colors or neutrals in home decor?

Color. My cabinets are Moroccan red, and the walls are sky blue. It’s based on an Edward Hopper painting at the Whitney, and I have the clay-colored mix. 

Q: Coffee or tea?

Tea. 

Q: Fruit desserts or chocolate? 

I don't really have dessert, but I like a bar of dark chocolate before bed. So I guess that’s the answer. But I don’t like rich desserts. Just throw a bar of dark chocolate at me and I’m fine.

Q: Spicy or mild? 

Spicy. 

Q: Spice tolerance on a scale of 1 to 5?

Honestly, it's diminished over the years, because you know, I think I abused my digestive system so much for travel and work. It used to be five, but now it's probably a 3.5 to 4.

Padma’s All American

If you’re just starting your home cooking journey, Padma recommends starting with a menu of Kale-Pomegranate Salad, Chicken Adobo with steamed rice, Sabzi (sautéed greens), and Blackberry Slump-ish. Find these and more delectable recipes adapted from Padma’s travels—along with the stories of those that inspired her along the way—in Padma’s All American, $40, available to purchase now.