What Top Chef loses when it loses Padma
When Padma Lakshmi steps down after 17 years on Top Chef, the show will be saying goodbye to much more than a mere TV host
TV Features Top Chef
After 17 years, 19 seasons, and nearly 300 episodes of “Please, pack your knives and go,” longtime Top Chef host, judge, and executive producer Padma Lakshmi announced that she’ll be doing just that following the big Paris-set finale of Top Chef: World All-Stars, which airs on Bravo on June 8.
The multi-hyphenate TV personality—a bestselling cookbook author, a staunch immigrant-rights activist, the possessor of otherworldly cheekbones—revealed the exit via an Instagram post on June 2, writing to her million-plus followers: “After much soul searching, I have made the difficult decision to leave Top Chef. Having completed a glorious 20th season as host and executive producer, I am extremely proud to have been part of building such a successful show and of the impact it has had in the worlds of television and food. After 17 years, many of the cast and crew are like family to me and I will miss working alongside them dearly.”
“I feel it’s time to move on and need to make space for Taste The Nation, my books and other creative pursuits,” she added, referring to her other food-focused series, a James Beard Award-winning Hulu travelog that follows Lakshmi as she explores and eats her way through the immigrant communities that have shaped the American food landscape. (The 10-episode second season premiered on the platform on May 5.)
In all but one season of Top Chef (cookbook author and television personality Katie Lee served as host during the competition’s inaugural season), Lakshmi has been the face of the Emmy-winning foodie franchise. And the show has greatly expanded not only in scope—along with numerous international adaptations, the series has generated multiple spinoffs, including Top Chef Master, Top Chef Junior, and Top Chef: Just Desserts, among others—but also in significance since premiering in 2006, a growth that’s inextricably tied to Lakshmi’s own evolution as a TV host (she has four Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Reality Host) and a food-world icon.
‘An incredible legacy’
“Padma Lakshmi leaves behind an incredible legacy on Bravo’s Top Chef,” an NBCUniversal spokesperson said after news hit of the host’s departure. “Her impact on the Emmy, James Beard, and Critics’ Choice Award-winning series is undeniable. We are grateful to Padma for being a consummate host, judge, and executive producer, and for bringing her ingenuity and exceptional palate to each episode where she ate every bite of food on the series for over 17 years and 19 seasons. She will always be part of the Top Chef and the NBCUniversal family and has a seat at the judges’ table anytime.”
However, Lakshmi’s culinary acumen wasn’t always particularly valued, especially back in the show’s beginnings, despite the fact that she had already penned an award-winning cookbook, Easy Exotic, and hosted the Food Network series Melting Pot and Planet Food prior to joining the Bravo comp. “‘Top Chef’ offers the reliable, although perhaps not always intentional, hilarity of its blunt product endorsements and of its host, Padma Lakshmi, a.k.a. Mrs. Salman Rushdie, a model-turned-actress whose epicurean musings are less riveting than her sluggish, mouth-full-of-molasses style of speech and strenuously come-hither poses,” former The New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni brutally wrote following Lakshmi’s debut in the show’s second season. Ironically, in that very same publication, Lakshmi would later give her reasoning for joining the reality show in the first place: “I liked how serious they were about the food.”
The fact that Padma Lakshmi seriously knows and loves food was always there, a simple truth often eclipsed by her runway-ready appearance. Because she’s not just a supermodel who happens to have a good palate. She’s a real-deal gourmand with a voracious curiosity, a legendary appetite (unlike her fellow Top Chef judges Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, who only taste during Elimination Challenges, Lakshmi is tasked with eating every single dish produced on the show), and an encyclopedic knowledge of seasonings (literally, she wrote 2016’s The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs).
When Padma says something tastes good, you believe her, because she’s not only the Top Chef viewer’s guide through all of the QuickFires and Restaurant Wars and “mise en place” races but also its plate-licking proxy, a through-and-through food geek able to seamlessly navigate cultures. She was born in India, emigrated to Elmhurst, Queens—one of New York City’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods—and raised in the Hispanic-heavy city of La Puente, California. What’s more, she’s fluent in several languages (four, to be exact: Tamil, Hindi, English, and Italian).
Advocacy of international flavors, immigrant traditions
For 17 years, Lakshmi has combined that enthusiastic, everyman hunger with formidable expertise. In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Lakshmi revealed that she personally whipped up a textbook dal (India’s slow-simmered split pulses) on set to instruct the season 20 contestants following a thali-themed comp: “I was surprised by the struggle they had with dal, frankly. There are 1.4 billion Indians in the world. If you’re going to compete on a world stage, and you’re going to London, chances are you’re going to have Indian food, especially with the Indian host. She happens to be one of the producers of the show. [laughs] So you should find out about dal.”
Her decades-long advocacy of international flavors and immigrant traditions no doubt had a direct effect on the diversity of Top Chef’s casting over the years, especially when you remember just how white, male, and French-trained those early seasons were. And as much as she championed the food itself, Lakshmi cheered on the humans behind it, offering up empathy and support through the harshest of judgments and the most heartbreaking of eliminations. (There have been more than a few “Please, pack your knives and go” delivered with tears in her eyes and a wobble to her voice.)
Bravo has already ordered a 21st season of Top Chef, which means the show will literally and sadly go on without Padma. (In our opinion, production should pull a Jeopardy and hire from within the Top Chef family: a former contestant—ideally a woman of color who can hold space for many cultures and cuisines, just like their predecessor—such as Kristen Kish or Carla Hall or Melissa King.) However, it’s fitting that Lakshmi is saying her goodbye after this most recent season, its most global iteration yet, pulling players from Top Chef offshoots all across the planet. It’s a testament not just to how far the cooking series’ influence has stretched over nearly two decades, but also a moving tribute to Lakshmi’s far-flung passion for all things food.
“What the show does, if you stick around long enough, is to tell people your story professionally, right?” Lakshmi told Entertainment Tonight back in 2021, about Top Chef’s enduring legacy. “It shows you a very particular side of these chefs. Not only their professionalism and creativity, but also where they’re coming from, what their philosophies are, and how they handle pressure.” Funnily enough, Top Chef showed us all of that about Padma, too.
25 Comments
Losing a hottie with a great rack
Although I haven’t kept up with the second decade of seasons, I watched all of the first ten, and remember more than one arm chair critic calling Padma out for being a model and famous wife when she was announced as host. But as a viewer, even in her first season, you could tell that Padma knew food. She knew cooking, and she was passionate about it. She cared about what was put in front of her, and when she didn’t care for it, you could maybe disagree, but you couldn’t dismiss.
Always seemed like a total amateur swimming out of her depth to me. Tom has rolled his eyes at Padme’s comments more times than he has at the contestants.
Good riddance. Padme has never added anything of substance to the show, and her judging comments are usually pretty pedestrian. More importantly, she doesn’t seem like a nice person, and is typically dismissive and haughty in a way that adds a sour tone (we already have fussy old Tom, we don’t need another holier-than-thou person on the panel).I’ll be very happy to see her go. Maybe they can replace her with someone who actually tries to connect with the contestants like Tim Cook did on Project Runway, or at least someone who doesn’t come off like a narcissistic primadonna. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
Maybe watch all the other versions of TC-they do quite well, & do not have Padma. Yea, It will take a bit to get use to her not being there. But it will survive. And No to Kish-because she must do Fast Foodies again with her crew-as soon as Justin is ok. King-sorry I don’t see her for the whole thing. A guest yea. Now Carla I like, because she is more uplifting. But I know some have issues with her…
Carla is too extra in her whimsy, even more than Zooey Deschanel.
How many other versions are on the air right now?
I could see them replacing Padma with Gregory Gourdet as well. Much like Kristen Kish, he already does a ton of Top Chef related things, and was a frequent guest judge on recent seasons. My biggest fear is replacing Padma with Richard Blais. What a tool.Sidenote: Taste the Nation is a really good show.
I’m hoping that it won’t be Blais just because he’s on Next Level Chef. I’m all in for Gail getting promoted.
I didn’t realize she was the main host until after several seasons. Her contribution was closer to the Chairman on Iron Chef. Smile politely, and deliver the catch-phrases. At least Mark Dacascos leans into his role as tongue-in-cheek comic relief. With Top Chef, the other judges provided all the narrative substance, and Padme was little more than eye candy. She shines much brighter and seems more comfortable on Taste the Nation.
That hasn’t been the case for like ten seasons now. She has been more vocal and provides a lot of critiques and compliments, often as many as the true judges do (especially with Quickfires).
You obviously haven’t watched the show for years now as none of what you said is accurate.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Padma, and I think her foodie bona fides are unquestionable, but…it should be mentioned how deeply weird her hosting could be. I think it’s all part of her charm at this point, but even after 20 seasons she still comes across as an extremely empathetic alien who’s just about figured out the knack of how to talk like human people. Bravo has already ordered a 21st season of Top Chef, which means the show will literally and sadly go on without Padma. What does the word “literally” contribute to this sentence? Had the show already figuratively gone on without Padma?
People love cutting Padma down. It’s bizarre. In addition to an equally thoughtful host, it would be great to bring back the asshole-ery of early seasons (Jeffrey Steingarten for the OGs).
She loves and knows food, is a terrific TV host/judge, and looks like this. I certainly don’t have a problem with her!
Count me among the people who don’t feel they are losing all that much with Padma stepping aside. I do not mean that as a knock on her, so much as an acknowledgment the past decade-plus has created an abundance of camera-trained chefs / critics who are knowledgeable about their craft. Between Food Network, Bravo / Top Chef, and (to a lesser extent) Netflix, the gap between Padma and the next-best option is marginal.(Gail. The next-best option is Gail.)
I love Padma and I love what she has brought to Top Chef, but in some ways I feel she’s outgrown the show. I’m excited to see what she does next, and I respect her for never shying away from an opinion (so much of modern celebrity household names is about how likeable or palatable you are, and she doesn’t seem overly concerned).
As much as I will miss Padma, I couldn’t agree more about Gail. She has the expertise, the familiarity and most importantly the personality to make me want to see more of her. It’s Gail. Gail for days.
Feels like the biggest possible reality host change other than the OG one if Probst ever steps aside from Survivor. I’m sure the competition and culinary feats will remain fun but the show is definitely going to feel strange for a season or two without her shepherding it.
I kind of want Probst to step aside. With each season of Survivor, it’s become more and more The Probst Show. Seriously, just compare his commentary during challenges from the early seasons to the modern seasons. He barely said anything back then and now he doesn’t shut up.
Same! I rewatched season 1 a few years ago, and the difference was night and day. He didn’t say anything during challenges and it was glorious! Now he’s gotten so bad, the contestants literally tell him to his face that he’s annoying (much respect to Yam Yam for that).
Padma’s “Taste the Nation” is top quality.
Padma is one of the great charismatic and empathetic reality show hosts to me, up there with Tim Gunn and I’m drawing a blank on other ones who don’t suck/ aren’t assholes
Whether or not I watch depends on who they replace Padme with, and what their role is. If Tom or Gail try to fill Padme’s shoes, I’m gone. Neither is a relatable in a good way. Ugh. Padme is always so clear eyed and straight forward with her critiques of the food. I am really going to miss her.
“Please, pack your knives and go,”“Get the fork out of here.” would have been way better.