Quotes from Padma Lakshmi

She had so little control over her own life. Yet she took control, out of thin air for herself, when she could. I

Foods are like men: some are good, some are bad, and some are okay only in small doses. But most should be tried at least once.

what elaborate lengths we go to fool ourselves)...

I grew up a vegetarian. Then, because I grew up in the states, I started slowly eating meat. First it was bologna sandwiches, or pepperoni on pizza.

I work out all the time! I don't just sit around and eat burgers whenever I want. Oh, if I could I probably would, but I don't.

I'm not attached to things at all. I'm very lucky to have quite a few beautiful things, but if I look back at my life, I was often happiest when I had very little.

The best thing you can do for someone is make them a beautiful plate of food. How else can you invade someone's body without actually touching them?

Wine, like food, is so emotional. If you think about it, so much of the courting ritual is surrounded by wine and food. There's a built-in romance to wine.

I am a sufferer of endometriosis. I didn't want any young women to go through what I went through. I thought that people should know about it.

I'm not of the American ilk that, you know, your lover needs to be your best friend and know you inside out. I think he should know you well enough to please you. Otherwise, what secret will there be to tell him when you're ninety?

In truth, I am a single mother. But I don't feel alone at all in parenting my daughter. Krishna has a whole other side of her family who loves her, too. And so Krishna is parented by me, but also by her grandmother and aunts and cousins and uncles and friends.

I really like to sometimes go into food detox and eat very simply.

Part of my job as a food writer is to describe food. So my work on 'Top Chef ' I feel, is an extension of that. When we give a criticism to the contestant, we want to make sure we tell them why it's not working and why it would work if they did it a different way.

The best thing you can do for someone is make them a beautiful plate of food. How else can you invade someone's body without actually touching them?

Wine, like food, is so emotional. If you think about it, so much of the courting ritual is surrounded by wine and food. There's a built-in romance to wine.

From the simple stringing together of lemon garlands for the goddess Durga, to dividing the prasadam or blessed foods for the children first, I came to associate food not only with feminity, but also with purity and divinity.

One thing that happens when you're pregnant is that as your stomach starts to stretch. It itches! So I have to keep my belly really lubricated. Every morning, there's a buttering ceremony after I get out of the shower. It's really like basting a turkey with body butter.

I never Tweet about my daughter. Never. I just want to be respectful of her privacy. My job as a mom is to know when to open my mouth and when not to.

People always comment about my clothes. They don't think a fashionable woman can love food and be knowledgeable and actually cook.

You don't want your jewelry to make you look fat. A lot of what's out there now does - you just wind up looking like a Christmas tree.

My mom was scared of the old Times Square so I was never allowed to go. Now I'm scared of the new Times Square, so I still never go.

I'm an immigrant kid who came to America from India when I was very young and grew up in New York City with a single mom and really was influenced by all of those immigrant cultures bumping up against each other.

I think wine is such a big universe that it's kind of like food - it's intimidating to a lot of people, myself included.

I know most people use their phones to tell time, but there's something very romantic and beautiful about a timepiece.