Padma Lakshmi Quotes

Southern barbecue is the closest thing we have in the U.S. to Europe's wines or cheeses; drive a hundred miles and the barbecue changes.

Food is very representative of a city's culture. In order to really get to know a place and the people, you've got to eat the food.

Wherever I go, as long as I get a hot vegetable dish, I am okay. If I am in Gujarat, I have Gujarati food. If it's Shillong, it's northeastern.

The food in the South is as important as food anywhere because it defines a person's culture.

Food makes travel so exceptional, because you get to taste what it's actually supposed to taste like. To eat the real Pad Thai or finally have a proper curry is something pretty amazing.

People are trying to figure out what American food is; it's certainly an amalgamation.

For me, cooking is an expression of the land where you are and the culture of that place.

If you ask what people say what American cuisine is, they cannot really do it. I don't know what it is.

There are many cultural prejudices. For instance, even though fresh fish is a regional staple, Catalans don't like sashimi.

People don't think that bread is part of Asian culture or Asian food culture, but it's quite prevalent in Northern China, and you see it throughout Japan and as you go to Taiwan.

They say that the cuisines of different Chinese provinces arose originally to serve different kinds of constituencies. Beijing was the cuisine of officials. In Shanghai, that was the cuisine of wealthy merchants and industrialists. In Szechwan, the food of the common people. Many great Szechwan dishes originated in street stalls.

Lebanese mezze, Cantonese dim sum and Basque pinchos have all evolved over years and are designed to make sense together.

More than any other in Western Europe, Britain remains a country where a traveler has to think twice before indulging in the ordinary food of ordinary people.

The Da Jing street market is little more than a few narrow intersections, barely six blocks long. But for a visitor, it is a living, breathing education in Shanghai cuisine, a style distinguished by its thick savory sauces spiked with sugar and soy sauce.

You eat a lot of goat stomach when you're in North Africa. You eat whatever's put in front of you. I am a big proponent of that.

American cooking is one of the unknown cuisines in America.

The emotive power of hummus all over the Middle East cannot be overstated, being the focus of some serious tribal rivalries.

There is a saying in Baltimore that crabs may be prepared in fifty ways and that all of them are good.

I take a cooking class everywhere I travel. I find it's the best way to get to know a culture.

I cook British food, but it doesn't mean I'm jingoistic about it. People can cook very good fusion food.

I love American food, but I also love Latin food.

People are always asking me what my favorite food is. I say, 'Food that tells me where I am.'

I really loved traveling the U.S. and seeing regional differences within the same country and how the same ingredients are used in very different ways. I love how the 'old guard' of cuisine are still pioneering so much of the direction of food today.

I grew up watching my mom cook.

Some foods you may say, 'Oh wow, this is not food.' People actually eat that somewhere. I just want people to really understand that and really appreciate it.