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The Sporkful

Padma Lakshmi Just Wants To Eat Her Samosa In Peace

The Sporkful

SiriusXM Podcasts

Arts

4.63.9K Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Since we first had Padma Lakshmi on The Sporkful in 2016, a lot has changed — in the world, and for her. She’s become a vocal activist, speaking out on immigration and women’s rights, and sharing more of her own personal experience in the process. She created and hosts a food travel show, Taste the Nation, that looks at the immigrant experience through the lens of food. She’s also just published her first children’s book, Tomatoes for Neela, all while continuing to host Top Chef. This week Padma reflects on the rejections she faced when pitching her show, the aspect of her work that she resents the most, and how she’s finally taken more control over her own career. // Get 500+ more great Sporkful episodes from our catalog and lots of other Stitcher goodness when you sign up for Stitcher Premium: www.StitcherPremium.com/Sporkful (promo code: SPORKFUL). Transcript available at www.sporkful.com.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This episode contains references to sexual assault.

0:06.2

I try to make an effort to pronounce people's names correctly.

0:09.6

Seems like a small thing to ask.

0:12.2

And so it's my understanding and I'm sure I'm still not going to say it correctly.

0:17.1

So I apologize.

0:18.1

But the more correct way to pronounce your name would be Padma Lakshmi.

0:22.1

That's correct.

0:23.1

You did a great job.

0:24.3

And so before the last time I was going to interview you five years ago, I was like doing

0:28.2

a focus group with my non-South Asian friends and being like, hey, I'm really excited.

0:32.0

I'm going to interview Padma Lakshmi.

0:33.6

And they said, who?

0:35.4

And I said Padma Lakshmi.

0:36.4

And they said, oh, we love her.

0:38.4

Yeah, that, you know, everything gets flattened.

0:43.3

But you know, I've noticed that even Indian people will pronounce my name as Padma or Padma

0:49.8

versus Padma just so they can be understood by, you know, whoever is listening to them

0:54.8

say my name.

0:55.8

So it doesn't surprise me that that happened to you.

0:59.1

But is this something that you've given thought to?

1:01.4

I've gone through all kinds of feelings about my own name, including changing it when

1:05.5

I was in high school because, you know, I just wanted to be like everyone else.

...

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