Love, Loss, and What We Ate

A Memoir

By: Padma Lakshmi

Narrated by: Padma Lakshmi

A vivid memoir of food and family, survival and triumph, Love, Loss, and What We Ate traces the arc of Padma Lakshmi's unlikely path from an immigrant childhood to a complicated life in front of the camera - a tantalizing blend of Ruth Reichl's Tender at the Bone and Nora Ephron's Heartburn.

Long before Padma Lakshmi ever stepped onto a television set, she learned that how we eat is an extension of how we love, how we comfort, how we forge a sense of home - and how we taste the world as we navigate our way through it. Shuttling between continents as a child, she lived a life of dislocation that would become habit as an adult, never quite at home in the world. And yet, through all her travels, her favorite food remained the simple rice she first ate sitting on the cool floor of her grandmother's kitchen in South India.

Poignant and surprising, Love, Loss, and What We Ate is Lakshmi's extraordinary account of her journey from that humble kitchen, ruled by ferocious and unforgettable women, to the judges' table of Top Chef and beyond. It chronicles the fierce devotion of the remarkable people who shaped her along the way, from her headstrong mother, who flouted conservative Indian convention to make a life in New York, to her Brahmin grandfather - a brilliant engineer with an irrepressible sweet tooth - to the man seemingly wrong for her in every way who proved to be her truest ally. A memoir rich with sensual prose and punctuated with evocative recipes, it is alive with the scents, tastes, and textures of a life that spans complex geographies both internal and external.

Love, Loss, and What We Ate is an intimate and unexpected story of food and family - both the ones we are born to and the ones we create - and their enduring legacies.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2016 Padma Lakshmi (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"The host of 'Top Chef' narrates her memoir as if she's telling her story to a trusted friend. She sounds expressive and vulnerable--revealing mistakes with a tone of regret, letting her love shine through the voices she creates for beloved family members, and enthusing about her passion for food, fashion, and travel." ( AudioFile)

An Unexpected Treasure!

This was such a lovely and unexpectedly warm, and grace - filled book. I'd always sensed there was more to Padma Lakshmi than a beautiful face, and a knack for food.

Beautiful Voice & Story

Love the recipes described by the Author at the end of the book! A wonderfully described cultural narrative.

Top Chef of a story

I'm glad the author narrtorated the book. I'm also glad she decided to share her story. Especially wanting to just date. And her daughter is such a miracle.

Great food memoir

Padma is surprisingly open about some of her most vulnerable moments, including divorce, her endometriosis, and ugly custody battle. But her discretions of food, especially her favorite Indian foods, are really what make this book great. Beautifully written, a great book for anyone who loves Top Chef or food.

I absolutely loved this book.

Beautiful story by a beautiful woman, with a lovely voice...I've always loved Top Chef but I feel a new appreciation and respect for Patma who seems to be just as beautiful on the inside as on the outside.

Interesting story

Would you try another book from Padma Lakshmi and/or Padma Lakshmi?

Yes

Any additional comments?

Padma has led an interesting life and didn't shy away from sharing very personal stories that put her in a bad light, which is sort of a double-edged sword. I started to get annoyed with the way she handled the situation with her daughter's father and wanted to shout back at her. But everything ended well.

Passion, Culture and Personal Stories Full of Flavor

I really enjoyed this book and Padma‘s reading. Learning more about her family and her experience growing up as a third culture child in the United States was fascinating. Also her raw and honest sharing of relationships full of challenges and love. And of course there was amazing descriptions of flavors and food!

Excellent in every way.

I loved this memoir. Padma Lakshmi writes beautifully and so evocatively about her life and about food. Don’t pass this one up.

Now I ain't saying she a

Her voice is soothing to listen to. The beginning was triggering for me. I thought she achieved her success through being a gold digger. Marrying that old guy. I assume she's just going to brag how she married a rich man and living a good life in her 20s. I was ready to return it, but I gave it another chance. I kept listening to it. Three chapters later, I started to like her story. It's a story about an Indian girl growing up in the state as an immigrant with a mom that always found a new man. Insight on her tv show, modeling gig, insecurities, tragedies, relationships, struggles, daddy issues (still triggered), American school.

Wow! This was really a great book

I was ready to enjoy this book because I enjoy Parma, but I did not expect this to be so well written. She is a born writer. Her descriptions were vivid and lovely and emotional. I really enjoyed it and of course her narration was wonderful too.