Padma Lakshmi Walks Into a Bar

Plus: Ina Garten’s home-brewed vanilla; “Civil War” as propaganda; and rewriting the story of Haiti. View in browser | Update your preferences Tuesday, April 23, 2024 In today’s newsletter, the beauty and the bits, and then: • Ina Garten’s home-brewed vanilla • “Civil War” as propaganda • Rewriting the story of Haiti Padma Lakshmi Walks Into a Bar Since leaving “Top Chef,” Lakshmi has found herself in a period of professional uncertainty. What better time to try standup comedy? Photograph by Christopher Anderson for The New Yorker When we first encounter Padma Lakshmi in this vivacious Profile by Helen Rosner, she is sporting black lingerie and a pink feather-trimmed boudoir robe. Her body is splattered with whipped cream, and she is surrounded by pastel macarons, tartlets, and bonbons, and posed as though giving birth to a cake studded with glazed berries. The Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue she’d previously posed for had arrived on newsstands; now she was modelling for the artist Marilyn Minter. In between, she had made big news, announcing her departure as the host of the Bravo cooking-competition show “Top Chef” after twenty seasons and seventeen years. Her new focus? Standup comedy. With appearances on “Big Mouth” and “Saturday Night Live,” and as the host of “Padma Puts On a Comedy Show,” Lakshmi was not new to the world of humor. But this pivot marked a purposeful career change. She lives near the Comedy Cellar, a storied Greenwich Village standup venue, and when she’s not travelling she is a regular performer there. “What attracts me to comedy is the same thing that attracts me to men who are witty,” Lakshmi explains. “It’s the matter of how you want to spend your time.” Even when her bits don’t land, Lakshmi is so beloved, Rosner notes, that the audience stays squarely on her side. And she plans to keep practicing. “I don’t care about being the most beautiful woman in the room—I want to be the funniest person in the room,” she says. “That’s who stays with you. Beauty is not an accomplishment, but wit is.” Read the story Further reading: This funny piece, from Taryn Englehart and Jasmine Pierce, captures what it’s like to be a “Top Chef” contestant. Support The New Yorker’s award-winning journalism. Subscribe today » More from the Food Issue Secret Ingredients The Most Treasured Jar in My Pantry There is nothing “plain” about vanilla when your extract is home-brewed. By Ina Garten The Next Food Trend We asked New Yorker staffers to predict the next “it” food—the culinary secret that will, in short order, be everywhere you look. Ryan Gellis, a senior proofreader, offers today’s culinary prophecy. We’ll be featuring more responses all week. Seeds had a moment, for several millennia, as one of the primary protein sources of the Indigenous American diet, before being relegated to adornment on bread loaves and bagels. As the culinary Zeitgeist skews more vegetarian, the humble seed—from sesame to flax, sunflower to chia—is reclaiming space on the center of the plate, ticking all sorts of gimmicky boxes from “protein hack” to “plant-based alternative.” A staple in my house right now, inspired by an invention Tig Notaro dubbed “dyke dust,” is a seed gremolata that improves just about everything it tops: dump equal parts pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds into a food processor, add a few spoonfuls of nutritional yeast, a heavy pinch of kosher salt, and a small glug of olive oil, and blitz until it has the consistency of grated parmesan, then sprinkle on whatever you’re serving. Editor’s Pick Essay The Haiti That Still Dreams The country is being defined by disaster. What would it mean to tell a new story? By Edwidge Danticat Culture Dept. The Front Row “Civil War” Is a Tale of Bad News Alex Garland’s grim political fantasy about secession and violence revolves around a war photographer but has little to say about the making and consumption of news images. By Richard Brody The Current Cinema American Confinement in “We Grown Now” and “Stress Positions” A crisis turns home into a place of constraint in two new independent features. By Justin Chang Fun & Games Dept. Crossword A Moderately Challenging Puzzle Queens squad: four letters. By Erik Agard Shouts & Murmurs Anthropology of the Playground Once you start visiting the playground daily, you will become familiar with the regulars. By Liana Finck Daily Cartoon Tuesday, April 23rd By Mick Stevens Name Drop: Can you guess the identity of a notable person—contemporary or historical—in six clues? Play a quiz from our archive » P.S. William Shakespeare’s birthday is celebrated today. (The exact date, like much about the man, is disputed.) “What drives people to search for bits and pieces of Shakespeareana four hundred and fifty years after his birth into a middle-class Midlands family?” Adam Gopnik asked, in a piece about people who hunt for relics that were once, possibly, maybe, touched by the Bard. “Our fascination with lives and faces alongside verses and pages can’t be cured. The effort may even be inhumane.” Today’s newsletter was written by Hannah Jocelyn. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the daily newsletter from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2024. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.