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FunTranscript
00:00 I wanted to ask you, let's go back to the beginning.
00:02 What inspired the show in the first place?
00:05 - Around the time of the 2016 election,
00:09 there was a lot of negativity and false information
00:13 and propaganda about immigrants in a very negative way.
00:18 And I started working with the ACRU,
00:21 the American Civil Liberties Union on immigrant rights.
00:24 I'm an immigrant myself,
00:25 and I've grown up in different immigrant communities,
00:27 and I knew that what was being said by Stephen Miller
00:30 and Stephen Bannon out of the Trump campaign
00:33 was so untrue.
00:34 I mean, America is a country that has been built
00:37 on immigrants and immigrant labor.
00:38 So I wanted to do something in my next creative project
00:43 that utilized everything I had learned
00:45 from working with the ACLU
00:47 over the course of several years on this issue.
00:50 And I love food.
00:53 It's the language that people are used to hearing me speak
00:55 on television.
00:56 So I thought it would be a good fit.
00:59 It's a show that goes around
01:01 and gets to know immigrant communities through their food,
01:03 but we don't just talk about the food.
01:05 We also talk about the culture of food and politics
01:10 and what these people are going through
01:11 and what brought them to the state.
01:13 And it's an attempt to have a positive discourse
01:17 about the very big issue of immigration
01:21 and how this country above all others on planet
01:25 has been created and continues to evolve in its modern form
01:30 because of all of the input of immigrants
01:33 and recognizes here.
01:35 - Where did you go for that very first episode?
01:38 - The very first episode in first season,
01:41 we actually just went to Los Angeles
01:42 because there's a big Persian community there.
01:45 This season, we go everywhere.
01:48 We went to Puerto Rico.
01:50 That's our first episode for season two.
01:53 And that's a very political episode for us too.
01:56 It talks about food sovereignty
01:58 and just sovereignty in general.
02:00 I think Puerto Rico is the last colony
02:03 that exists of America.
02:05 And so, people of Puerto Rico really suffer
02:08 because they don't get to vote
02:09 on the people who represent them in Congress.
02:11 And yet they're bound by laws
02:13 that actually make it 25% more expensive to buy food
02:17 in Puerto Rico than on the mainland.
02:20 But it's also a very entertaining and fun episode.
02:22 And that's what I'm really trying to do
02:24 is teach people a little bit of history,
02:27 give them a little bit of the lay of the land
02:30 as what's actually going on.
02:32 Because when you travel this country by road,
02:34 it's really clear how regional America is.
02:37 And hopefully I'm doing it in an entertaining and fun way.
02:41 Also making you drool over the food.
02:43 - So it seems like with each destination,
02:46 there's definitely some homework involved.
02:49 - Oh my gosh, yes.
02:50 Like for the Puerto Rican episode,
02:52 I had to research a very archaic shipping law
02:56 from the 1920s, you know,
02:58 and make it sound sexy and easy to understand
03:00 in 30 minutes or less.
03:02 And so I learned so much on destination every single day.
03:06 I love history, I love local food culture,
03:08 and I love just local history.
03:11 And so all of that is really interesting to me,
03:13 even in the Cambodian episode that we did
03:15 in Lowell, Massachusetts.
03:17 You know, for that one,
03:18 I wasn't that familiar with Cambodian food
03:20 and I didn't know there was such a big community there.
03:22 But that, we went there not just to find out
03:25 about community in it.
03:27 So we went there because there's a story
03:29 of immigrants actually turning the economy
03:32 of a town completely around
03:34 and revitalizing Lowell, Massachusetts,
03:38 which was quite, you know,
03:39 a downtrodden city in the '80s and '90s.
03:43 There was a drug epidemic, gang epidemic,
03:46 but in just one or two generations,
03:48 Cambodian refugees who literally didn't have anything
03:51 or came here with the shirts on their back,
03:53 didn't even know the language,
03:55 have created jobs, have opened businesses
03:57 where storefronts were boarded up
03:59 and are now in municipal government
04:01 and have really resurrected and given new life
04:06 to Lowell, Massachusetts.
04:07 And so I'm hoping again,
04:09 to show these wonderful triumphant stories.
04:11 We hear so much bad news on TV.
04:14 It's wonderful to be able to say,
04:15 "Hey, there are really cool, amazing, fun things happening
04:18 in this country.
04:19 Let's look at those and not be afraid of change."
04:24 - You talk a few times about the Puerto Rico episode.
04:26 So let's just get right to it.
04:28 I love this episode because I also learned so much
04:32 about the community, but also what they don't have.
04:37 And I was shocked until you told me
04:40 that less than 20% of their food comes
04:43 from local sources.
04:45 Everything is brought in, which was astounding.
04:48 And I loved how you took your journey
04:54 into how to make a pastile.
04:56 Is that how you said it?
04:57 Which is like, it's basically like a pork pie.
05:00 Is that an okay way to refer to it?
05:02 - A tamale.
05:03 A tamale, you know.
05:04 - And you went to find the local ingredients.
05:07 Was it hard to find those places?
05:10 - Yeah, it was.
05:10 I mean, this is a local dish that has a lot of meaning
05:14 to that culture.
05:15 And yet because of how much local farming has deteriorated,
05:18 it's very hard to find the very things
05:21 that make up traditional Puerto Rican food.
05:23 And there was, you know, my message
05:26 and it was a perfect metaphor.
05:28 We also talk about ketchup versus no ketchup.
05:30 Some people swear you can't eat it without ketchup.
05:32 Not basically, and some people only will eat it
05:35 with and all that stuff.
05:36 So, you know, there's a big,
05:38 it's really like this big controversy.
05:42 Like some people want to put ketchup on hot dogs,
05:44 other people don't.
05:45 It's like that, but people are really passionate about it.
05:47 And it became a great metaphor for,
05:49 do you want American interference or do you not?
05:52 Because some people in Puerto Rico think
05:54 they should be independent.
05:55 Other people think we should be a false state.
05:57 So we have all the rights of the states.
05:59 And other people say, leave all and up the lump.
06:02 So it was interesting to be there
06:05 and to travel with this show
06:06 because you really get to meet people from all over.
06:09 And that is a great privilege.
06:11 I'm very indebted to all the participants
06:13 because we wouldn't have a show
06:15 if my participants weren't willing
06:18 to expose their deepest feelings
06:20 and to let us in and have these discussions, you know?
06:24 And I'm really excited and happy that they do.
06:27 - Let me toss to a clip to show a little bit more
06:30 about what this great show is about.
06:32 - So what is the quintessential dish
06:35 of Puerto Rican cuisine?
06:38 - I feel like we don't talk enough about pasteles.
06:40 - Pasteles.
06:41 Okay, tell me why.
06:43 - It's the ultimate metaphor of what Puerto Rico is,
06:47 which is the mix of races that we have going on.
06:49 So you're eating this plantain that's wrapped
06:54 in this leaf that came from Africa.
06:57 And then there's some root vegetables that were indigenous.
07:00 They belong to Puerto Rico.
07:02 Nobody brought that shit.
07:03 That shit was here.
07:04 - It's a no.
07:04 - And then you add the meat,
07:06 which is pork that came with Spain.
07:08 So I have to ask you, some people have told me,
07:13 oh, I love pasteles with hesham.
07:17 And that's United States.
07:20 Que viva la colonia.
07:23 - What you just replied is that I am too Tiki O'Riordan
07:29 on that shot.
07:32 And so is Maria.
07:33 And she's still very eloquent, as you can hear in that clip.
07:39 But we were waiting to shoot,
07:41 and we're just absentmindedly drinking and eating,
07:45 which is, of course, a side effect of the job.
07:48 - Sure, sure.
07:51 My only bummer about these shows
07:53 is that you just make me wanna taste it,
07:55 and we can't taste it.
07:56 So you're gonna have to explain what it tastes like.
07:59 It looked yummy.
08:01 - It's so yummy.
08:02 I mean, I get to taste all kinds of food.
08:05 On both my shows, but specifically this one,
08:08 and it's from all different levels.
08:10 You know, it's fine dining, it's off of a food truck,
08:14 it's anything.
08:15 And it's really fun.
08:16 I'm actually working
08:17 on the "Taste the Nation" cookbook right now.
08:19 So that'll be out in a year.
08:22 And so then everybody can share in those recipes.
08:25 But I mean, it's a fun show to do,
08:27 and I'm learning so much.
08:29 I mean, this is the first time I've had the opportunity.
08:32 I've been working in television for 20 years,
08:34 but this is the first time that I've had the opportunity
08:37 to create a show from the ground up.
08:40 And it is life-changing, and I'm learning so much.
08:43 And hopefully, you know, I think second season,
08:45 we really caught our stride,
08:47 and it's better than first season.
08:48 And I hope I get renewed so that I can go international.
08:52 I can put everything I've learned into that third season.
08:55 I'm over the moon that we got an Emmy nomination.
08:58 We are certainly the underdog in that category.
09:01 If you see some of the other nominees,
09:04 and then of course, you know,
09:05 I have the two nominations as well from "Top Chef,"
09:08 which is my last year on that show.
09:11 But I mean, my hat's off to Hulu.
09:14 They really have been great partners to work with.
09:17 They've been very, very understanding
09:19 and also very helpful when I've needed it.
09:22 You know, I'm a new filmmaker.
09:24 I am still getting my feed
09:27 and my experience in filmmaking, you know,
09:30 not just being talent.
09:31 And they have been really wonderful partners for me.
09:33 - What other adventures do you go on
09:36 for those who have yet to binge the second season?
09:39 - Oh my gosh, we go to Houston with Yvonne Orji,
09:43 who's so funny, to talk about Nigerian food
09:48 and also to talk about blackness in America,
09:50 which as you can imagine,
09:52 as someone who's not African-American,
09:54 I'm very nervous about that.
09:55 But I didn't want to shy away from it
09:57 because it's also very central
09:59 to Nigerian-American experience.
10:02 And so I was happy to have Yvonne help me in that
10:05 and speak from her experience as well.
10:08 That was eye-opening.
10:10 I also loved the DC episode.
10:12 We went to talk to four different generations
10:14 of Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers.
10:17 And I have the best food of my life on that episode.
10:21 I make this huge platter of Kavli pulao,
10:24 which is this feasting dish of lamb and rice.
10:28 And I've eaten lots of biryani
10:30 and different versions of this type of dish,
10:33 but that dish that I made
10:35 with this chef owner of a restaurant called Lapis,
10:38 if you're ever in DC, anybody go check out Lapis.
10:41 It was so delicious.
10:43 And that's the thing, you find all these hidden gems
10:46 that you would never know about
10:47 unless you took a road trip like that.
10:49 - What's this that you went diving for sea sponges?
10:54 Did you?
10:55 - Yes, I did.
10:56 I mean, I didn't dive myself.
10:58 It's very dangerous.
10:59 You have to go very deep.
11:01 But I was on a sponge diving boat
11:03 with this gentleman named Pasos,
11:05 who was kind of very surly, old fisherman type.
11:10 And by the end of it, he also mellows out,
11:13 but it's beautiful.
11:14 There's this lovely Greek community down in Florida
11:17 in a town called Tarpon Springs.
11:21 And I never knew about them either.
11:23 And it's delicious food.
11:25 It's also, I didn't even know how,
11:28 I didn't think I knew how sponges were harvested.
11:31 And that was a real revelation too.
11:33 And we literally caught a fish and cooked it right there.
11:36 And you see us do it with very basic ingredients.
11:39 And that was so delicious.
11:41 It was so clean and savory and so healthy.
11:46 And so it's also wonderful to see how people cook
11:49 in their own home when it's not fancy,
11:51 when they're just feeding their families.
11:54 I went to Daly City and I actually carved a whole pig's head,
11:58 which is, you know, I've been in food for a long time,
12:00 but I've never butchered a pig.
12:03 I just go to my butcher and get it.
12:04 I'm not a chef, I'm a food writer,
12:06 but I learned how to do it.
12:08 I thought it was important for me to understand
12:10 where this dish comes from and why.
12:12 And it was US Army was throwing away these pigs' heads
12:16 in the army base in the Philippines.
12:18 And so Filipinos were taking the heads,
12:21 using the meat from the head to make a very traditional dish
12:24 called fisig in Filipino food.
12:26 And so I learned how to do this.
12:29 You literally see me break and separate the jaw of this pig
12:33 into I've never done something that graphic,
12:36 but it was an experience I will not forget
12:39 for the rest of my life.
12:40 - Padma, what if you eat something
12:43 that you don't really like?
12:44 Will you say so on camera?
12:46 Like Padma no likey this.
12:48 - Well, it's different than being on "Top Chef," right?
12:51 In "Top Chef," they're asking for my judgment.
12:54 We feature food that I'm genuinely excited about
12:59 on "Taste the Nation,"
12:59 'cause if I'm not excited about it,
13:01 the audience isn't going to be excited about it.
13:03 But at the same time, of course,
13:05 there are things in every cuisine
13:08 that if you didn't grow up with,
13:09 you may not gravitate toward.
13:11 And I just try to be, you know, I don't lie,
13:15 but I try to be a nice guest.
13:16 I try to be a gracious guest.
13:18 This person has cooked this food for me
13:20 and I'm in their homes.
13:21 And, you know, as somebody who is a culinary spelunker,
13:25 I am interested in the foods of the world.
13:28 And so I'm game for trying anything once.
13:31 - One last thing about the Puerto Rico episode,
13:34 and then I'll let you go.
13:35 I'm not surprised that you didn't use the ketchup,
13:38 but it did make me wonder,
13:40 is your palate so sophisticated now that,
13:44 you know, you don't need salt.
13:45 You don't need pepper to add that little something.
13:48 - No, no, you always need salt and pepper.
13:51 It's like part of making a balanced dish.
13:54 I just wanted to try the best sellers,
13:56 how they're without ketchup, without the colonialization.
13:59 And to my mind, I would have rather put a few shots
14:02 of some hot sauce than ketchup,
14:03 but I love ketchup and I am not a snob about food.
14:07 I'm a snob about some types of food,
14:09 but, you know, I want to eat how most of our planet eat.
14:13 I want to know how people feed their families and live.
14:17 And so I'm endlessly curious about that
14:20 because I think if you look at how a person eats,
14:23 you can tell a lot about them and their community.
14:26 And that's what Taste the Nation is about.
14:28 It's about showing how, yes, we all may have, you know,
14:32 different names and speak different languages
14:34 with our grandmothers, but at the end of the day,
14:36 there's more that is similar to all the communities
14:41 and that we share as Americans than there is
14:43 that tear us apart.
14:45 And I just wanted to do something that was fun,
14:47 that was escapist, that was beautifully shot
14:50 and also didn't lack in profundity.
14:53 You know, it's not a lifestyle show.
14:55 It's not just about, oh, look at me,
14:56 I'm so fabulous in this weird city
14:59 or this, you know, glamorous location eating food.
15:01 No, it's about something more substantial
15:04 that affects all Americans.
15:06 And so I hope, you know, one thing that's been really a joy
15:09 to see is how many schools from elementary
15:12 all the way to college are showing Taste the Nation
15:15 in their classes to their students.
15:17 I mean, I have so many teachers that have written to me
15:21 Jose Andres showed it at his university class,
15:23 the American University,
15:24 and I've had middle school teachers write to me.
15:27 And that has really been such a, I don't know,
15:30 it's such a, put a real bounce in my step.
15:33 - Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi,
15:37 thank you so much for joining us today.
15:40 - Of course, thank you for having me.
15:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]