Ever the gourmand, Padma Lakshmi is set to film a ten-episode Hulu show that the streaming platform has described as “a living cookbook made up more from people and culture than recipes.” In each 30-minute episode, Lakshmi will tour the United States, exploring and connecting with the recipes that embody the range of American cuisine.
Padma Lakshmi has always known food. Before she was Top Chef’s smart-as-a-whip hostess, yes, she was a successful supermodel, but did you know that in 1999 she also published an award-winning cookbook?
Each episode of the yet-to-be-named Hulu show will focus on a single dish that spotlights the immigrant and regional communities that preserve and remix tradition. An air date is still pending, but we know that the recipes explored will range from family secrets to top-tier restaurant food items.
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Food shows seem like they are more in-demand than ever. Netflix now offers a smorgasbord of slow-motion food shots courtesy of the Chef’s Table franchise, which includes Chef’s Table: France, Chef’s Table: Pastry and a street food spinoff, Street Food. Celebrity chefs like Samin Nosrat and David Chang are breaking into the mainstream through their TV shows. And it’s not just in the American market; the Great British Baking Show shattered British television records and France, despite its self-seriousness when it comes to cuisine, has its own version, Meilleur Pâtissier.
There seems to be room for everything from slow-burn docu-series to competition shows, which makes us think that surely, it's only a matter of time before our favorite mukbang web series pop up on Netflix or Hulu.
Refinery29 reached out to Padma Lakshmi for comment. We’ll update this story with her response.