Padma Lakshmi, television host, author, and longtime advocate for immigrant rights, said that America's most iconic dessert, apple pie, is not truly American.
"Apple pie isn't American: not the crust, not the filling, not the spices," she told The New York Times in an interview published Monday.
The comment came as she promoted her new CBS cooking show, set to debut ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Lakshmi said that much of what Americans consider national cuisine actually originates from global traditions and imported ingredients.
She argued that many staples of the U.S. diet, from the ingredients in pies to common spices and cooking techniques, have roots in other countries and cultures.
"If we just ate what was native to the United States, we'd be living on desert packrat and ramps," she said, referencing a desert-dwelling rodent and a wild vegetable found in North America.
Having immigrated from India as a child, Lakshmi said she values the opportunities America gave her family, though she believes the nation's strength depends on the labor and creativity of immigrants.
"If you take away the immigrants, the country — the food system, the tech arena, Wall Street, and medicine — will all come to a standstill," she said.
Her latest remarks echoed views she has expressed before about how culture and identity shape the idea of national food.
In a 2020 interview with Variety, Lakshmi dismissed the familiar saying "nothing's as American as apple pie."
"We throw around a lot of platitudes like, 'nothing's as American as apple pie.' Well, apple pie is not American," she said. "Not one ingredient in apple pie is indigenous to North America. Not even the apple! So what are we talking about here?"
According to the Times, Lakshmi has lived in the United States for 50 of her 55 years and is now a naturalized citizen.
She said that during the Trump administration, she again began to feel like an outsider in the country where she grew up.
That experience led her to become more active in immigration issues, and in 2017 she began working with the American Civil Liberties Union to advocate for immigrant rights.
Reflecting on how her experiences shaped her creative work, Lakshmi said she wanted her latest television project to capture the diversity and authenticity of American food culture.
"I was looking for something to do in my creative life that would incorporate the crash education I had gotten from immigrants in different parts of our country," she said. "I didn't want to do a lifestyle show, which is what all the networks wanted.
"I wasn't interested in trying to make something that's fuzzy at the edges.
"I want it to be real, I want to dress like I really dress and talk like I really talk. Why is it that male chefs get to be swashbuckling on TV, and I have to be at home in the kitchen?"
She said her point is that dishes long viewed as American, including Thanksgiving favorites, are the result of centuries of migration and mixing of cultures.
Recognizing those influences, she added, is vital to understanding the role immigrants play in shaping the nation.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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