"Taste The Nation With Padma Lakshmi"

Beautiful chiles and tomatillos on a grill in Texas, from the first episode of a new food TV series!

New on Hulu streaming video: "Taste The Nation With Padma Lakshmi." We have watched three episodes, and like some better than others. Padma is of course a fantastically beautiful woman with an uncanny ability to take a seemingly large bite of some exotic food and then assume a dramatic expression of ecstasy!

Padma Lakshmi

Padma travels from one city to another, interviewing a variety of cooks, restaurant owners, food manufacturers, shop keepers and others to show how American food has evolved from many immigrant sources. Sometimes the interviews come across as a little like infomercials, for example about a sausage factory in Milwaukee or about a rather pretentious restaurant in San Antonio. But basically, I think it's an intriguing series, and I'll be watching at least a few more of the 10 episodes!

Our favorite episode so far explores Padma's family's Indian cuisine, including interesting interviews with her mother, with the very famous cookbook writer (and actor) Madhur Jaffrey, and with Preet Bharara, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Padma cooking and tasting with Madhur Jaffrey whose cookbooks made Indian food popular in England.

Dosas in New York City with Preet Bharara. Sitting on a park bench, they discuss issues about American attitudes and
their own family experiences as immigrants.

A very large number of reviews of this series have already appeared in mainstream and online journals, though I have the impression that some of the writers haven't actually watched all of the episodes! I was especially interested in the review in the Washington Post because it has so much information about Padma's entire life and previous accomplishments: "With a new series of her own, Padma Lakshmi is at the top of her game" by Tim Carman. He writes:

"She visits immigrant and Native American communities and asks them to share their stories with a country that has frequently ignored or demonized them. Over the course of 10 episodes, Lakshmi cooks with immigrants from Mexico and Iran, learns to make beer with a German home-brewer, investigates how Native Americans are reclaiming their ancient foodways, and even spends time in the kitchen with her idol, Madhur Jaffrey, the Indian-born actress who would blaze the trail for subcontinental cooking in America."

If you are a Hulu subscriber, I think you will want to check this out. Or maybe get a trial subscription to Hulu and see if you like it. That's my opinion! From mae at maefood dot blog spot dot com, author of this review; © 2020 mae sander.