01/13/2026
On Tuesday January 27th, 2026 from 1-2pm with an encore on Friday January 30th, 2026 from 1-2pm, there will be a screening of Padma Lakshmi talking about her book “Padma’s All American: A Cookbook”
This book is a love letter to the people who create and evolve American cuisine every day. It is also a road map to the foods that give America its vibrant palate.
When Padma Lakshmi arrived in New York City in the 1970s, she witnessed firsthand the cuisines of the immigrant communities around her: uniquely their own and yet quintessentially American. Here, in this very personal book—the result of seven years of traveling and tasting, listening and observing for her show Taste the Nation—Lakshmi compiles dozens of recipes from the immigrant and Indigenous communities she visits, as well as many from her own family, showing us what really comprises American cuisine.
For Lakshmi, food is a lens. Through it, we can explore the influence of an eclectic array of cultures—and come to see, clearly, who we are and how we eat as a nation. Padma’s All American gives us a kaleidoscopic view of the vast range of incredible dishes she delighted in tasting on her travels, from coast to coast, and everywhere in-between.
PADMA LAKSHMI is an Emmy-nominated food expert, television producer, and New York Times bestselling author. She is the creator of the critically-acclaimed Hulu series Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi, and served as host and executive producer of Bravo’s Top Chef for nineteen seasons. She is co-founder of the Endometriosis Foundation of America, a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and an ACLU Artist Ambassador for immigrants’ rights and women’s rights. She is the author of Easy Exotic, Tangy, Tart, Hot & Sweet, The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs, her New York Times best-selling memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate, and the best-selling children’s book Tomatoes for Neela
