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And now a `Top Chef'
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The dazzling Padma Lakshmi says she loves vetta kozhambu, fish, and coconut milk
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REALITIES OF COOKING Padma Lakshmi: ‘Eating brings people together and the kitchen is where the action is.’
Life couldn't have been
spicier for the saucy
Padma Lakshmi. Not
that it wasn't, earlier.
For those of you who have
seen her discover the spice
market in Kochi, drool over
MTR's masala dosa, cook up
meen moilee by the backwaters,
or roll out pappadoms'
on TV earlier, there's
more in store.
The sultry model who
makes the drudgery of shopping
for vegetables look like
buying designer wear, and
cooking look like an exotic
sensual experience, this
food writer and TV hostess
is back with a bang - as hostess
of Top Chef Season 2,
then with her book `Tangy
Tart Hot and Sweet' that
will soon be out in India.
And.she's busy moving into
her own apartment in LA,
now that she's split ways
with author-husband Salman
Rushdie.Food shows
Sitting in LA, she tells us
that food shows are getting
popular because TV is getting
more popular and
there's a good proliferation
of channels and cable TV.
"The world is becoming a
smaller place. Even in Bangalore
and Madras you have
so many different kinds of
restaurants. All are curious
about different cuisines and
now you have access to
them." .
But if lesser people are
cooking, why do they watch
shows? "Everybody eats and
that's what unifies us. Even
if you are not a chef, you
have an opinion." On Top
Chef, a reality show featuring
15 chefs in a competitive
kitchen, Padma plays judge.
The show begins its fourth
season in America this
March. "I'm a cook for sure
but I don't cook for the public,"
says Padma, raised a
traditional vegetarian, but
turned to meats once she
joined college. Back home in
Chennai she loves her vetta
kozhambu and kovakka curry,
and of course, meen moilee.
"I just love coconut
milk. and fish because it's
healthy."
And how does the world
of models and perfect figures
gel with food and cooking?
"You can have a nice
figure if you eat a small portion
and it's healthy," the lady
simply explains. If only
life was that simple.
"I don't cook on the show,
but judge the food and explain
the challenges to the
chefs. I'm not using my
hands, but my talent."
She's not acting at all on
the show, she insists. But
aren't reality shows and
high drama interlinked
these days? "Sometimes you
just have to be sterner. The
drama comes from the
show, not from the judges.
When I'm cooking I don't
approach it differently from
writing for `Harper's Bazaar'
or doing a photoshoot.
It's all creative."
Her latest book `Tangy
Tart.' will have her family
photos, her daily life, all
down on paper. "The work I
do is defined by my family.
My cookbook is very personal.
It's got more than what
you've ever read before,"
says the shrewd author.
Padma admits that she's
not too sure if peeling, grating,
and cooking looks glamorous
when done in one's
own kitchen. "But I'm never
happier than when I'm in
the kitchen listening to music.
It's satisfying to cook something
on your own."
She then goes on to quote
French fashion diva Elsa
Schiapirelli who famously
said `A good cook is like a
sorceress who dispenses
happiness.' "There is magic
in it and its feminine."
Fed up of being asked personal
questions, she says
part of being constantly in
the public eye is you learn
some things on the job.
"People take things out of
context and have a lack of
control."
She says she's a simple
person and while not working
she wants to cook at
home with friends and cousins.
"I'm more normal that
you realise," she concludes.
Top Chef - Season 2
premieres on AXN on
February 28 at 10 p.m.
BHUMIKA K.
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