LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Celebrity foodie and author Padma Lakshmi is returning to the world of competitive cooking. She's best known for the show "Top Chef," where she was a judge and co-host for 19 seasons. Since leaving the program, Lakshmi has written books and hosted the food and travel series "Taste The Nation." Now, she's back as creator and executive producer of her own cooking competition, "America's Culinary Cup."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICA'S CULINARY CUP")
PADMA LAKSHMI: At the end of this competition, one of you will be walking away with $1 million.
FADEL: The show premieres tonight on CBS, but Padma Lakshmi says it took some arm-twisting to get her to come back to the world of competitive cooking.
LAKSHMI: I had the head of CBS take me to dinner, and she really wanted a food show for CBS. And I just was like, I don't want to do it, 'cause I was really feeling the effects of eating all that food - as high-class a problem as that is.
FADEL: (Laughter).
LAKSHMI: But I (laughter)...
FADEL: I mean, it looks like a delicious problem.
LAKSHMI: Yeah.
FADEL: (Laughter).
LAKSHMI: But she did get me thinking. She said, yeah, but you could do it the way you wanted to, and you could make it your own and everything like that. And I thought, OK, well, let me see what I can do.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AMERICA'S CULINARY CUP")
LAKSHMI: Chefs, are you ready for your first cook?
UNIDENTIFIED CHEF #1: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED CHEF #2: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED CHEF #1: Let's go.
LAKSHMI: It's simple. All you have to do is make your best dish. The dish that defines you as a chef. You will each get 75 minutes. Your time starts now.
UNIDENTIFIED CHEF #1: Let's go, let's go.
LAKSHMI: This was my love letter to professional chefs, as well. I am not a chef. I know people like to call me that sometimes, but I'm not. I'm a food writer. And so I wanted to create an arena that chefs would be excited to compete in.
FADEL: The competitors are accomplished chefs - James Beard Award winners...
LAKSHMI: Yes.
FADEL: ...From Michelin Star restaurants.
LAKSHMI: Well, I think that has a lot to do with the prize money, to be frank. You know...
FADEL: It's a lot of money.
LAKSHMI: It's a million dollars. It's a lot of money for anybody. A million dollars brings out a lot of chefs that wouldn't normally consider competing. And that's what I was trying to create - a new institution that chefs would be proud and actually aspire to cook in, in the way that athletes aspire to win an Olympic medal, or an actor wants to win an Oscar, or a singer wants to win a Grammy, etc.
FADEL: It also creates a dynamic of mutual respect. Not a how-do-I-undermine-my-competitor, but how-do-I-beat-the-best-in-the-business?
LAKSHMI: That's correct. It's not that first generation of reality programming that pits people against each other. You know, that was something I was never interested in, and...
FADEL: Yeah.
LAKSHMI: ...I'm glad we quickly moved away from that even on "Top Chef." But I did think the genre was ready for a refresh. I tried to take away any of the tricks or gimmicks - just make it purely about the cooking. And then you can say, OK, these are the best of the best, and let's see who actually is the best. Not because we tried to thwart them or throw obstacles in their way or ask them to cook with sub-par equipment, but because they really came out on top when every effort was made to make the terrain not only fair, but as pristine as possible.
FADEL: You and I spoke last year about your book, "Padma's All American," and it was this beautiful celebration of the cultural diversity of this country through food. And in some ways, this show feels like an extension of that. I just want to play a moment between two of the competitors, Diana Davila and Emily Yuen.
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DIANE DAVILA: I cook Mexican cuisine and, like, dedicate my life to my heritage, like, storytelling of my ancestors and just gets passed down from generation to generation.
EMILY YUEN: My style is adding a little bit of Japanese ingredients in everything that I do. Japanese French-ish.
FADEL: I love that.
LAKSHMI: (Laughter).
FADEL: Japanese French-ish (laughter).
LAKSHMI: She's adorable.
(LAUGHTER)
LAKSHMI: She is so good. Yeah.
FADEL: I mean, how purposeful as you chose the competitors and who would be on this show was where they drew their inspiration from?
LAKSHMI: Super purposeful. I wanted a pool of contestants that reflected our country. Yes, we have two Bocuse d'Or winners, but we also have people who have been incarcerated before.
FADEL: A science background.
LAKSHMI: Yes, people who are of Cambodian descent, Chinese descent. I wanted to make sure we had a diversity of cuisine, because that's what's reflective of the way the nation eats.
FADEL: It's Ramadan, so I'm fasting this month, and all I like to do is watch food shows or think about food when I'm not eating during the day (laughter).
LAKSHMI: That's so funny. That's kind of masochistic, Leila (laughter).
FADEL: A little bit. But I'm just, you know - as I was watching, I was like, oh, I have to try that. And, oh, man, I need to - but there's not enough time in the day. And I was just thinking, you know, as you think about what people walk away from this show with, what do you hope they will take away in their eating hours (laughter)?
LAKSHMI: I hope they'll appreciate the effort and imagination that goes into the plate before them. And so I wanted to have a show that really exalted the craft of what they do. Twemty-five years ago, I published a little tiny cookbook that was called "Easy Exotic"...
FADEL: (Laughter).
LAKSHMI: ...And I cringe at the title, you know? But honestly, in my defense, what I was trying to do there in my 20s is the same thing I'm trying to do today - which is demystify the foods of our neighbors because I truly believe that the food of our nation is the most interesting because it is a microcosm of all that the world has to offer. And I think that's something to be celebrated.
FADEL: Yeah.
LAKSHMI: I don't think that's something to be afraid of. I think it is one of our greatest strengths that we're a nation that's joined by a set of values that we're collectively believing in, that are democratic values based on the Constitution - not on any one ethnicity, you know, which is, of course, not how everyone in power feels today.
FADEL: Padma Lakshmi, her new show is "America's Culinary Cup." She's the host and executive producer. Thank you so much.
LAKSHMI: Thank you. It was lovely to talk with you.
FADEL: Lovely to talk to you. This was a great show. And it premieres tonight on CBS.
LAKSHMI: Yep, 9:30. Right after "Survivor 50."
(LAUGHTER)
LAKSHMI: So no pressure. Yeah.
FADEL: (Laughter).
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