WEBVTT - Padma Lakshmi 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.640 The Quest Loft Show is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:24.000 Good People, Good People. Welcome to the Quest Love Show. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:29.200 I'm Questlove your host, so for nineteen seasons strong on 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.960 the Emmy nominated Top Chef and the Excellent Taste of 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:37.080 the Nation. Our guest today has basically changed the culture 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:42.160 and the conversation around food. She is a host, a producer, 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.360 an author, an activist. She is Time one hundreds most 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:51.600 Influential People, and she reframed the American food as an 0:00:51.600 --> 0:00:55.520 immigrant story as the creator and host of a brand 0:00:55.520 --> 0:00:59.360 new show, an excellent show called America's Culinary Cup. She 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.720 raises culinary competition to new heights. I'm very jealous of 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.320 that kitchen set by the way beyond the screen. She's 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:09.040 a New York Times best selling author, cultural bridge builder, 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.959 and a person who understands that food encompasses memory, migration, 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.800 and politics. Welcome to the Quest Love Show. Papa locksmy 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.399 my good friend. I'm acting like weird. We don't know 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:21.759 each other. It's weird. 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.280 Well, it's weird to hear you say all that stuff. 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.520 But thank you, and yes we are friends. A dear 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:28.160 old friends. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.399 Sometimes your friends also have to ring your bell to 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.800 remind you that you know you're the shit, So thank you, 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.240 thank you. So I'm going to do a mixture of 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:38.959 rapid fire questions because I feel like we know of 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:41.760 you what we don't know you per se. So my 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.759 first question to you is, what is the first thing 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:46.080 that you did this morning? 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.360 The first thing I did this morning was try on 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:53.760 some leather pants because I needed them for later tonight 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:55.760 for a party, and I haven't had time to figure. 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:56.240 Out what I'm wearing. 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:56.960 Okay. 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:59.160 Yeah, And I got up earlier than I wanted to, 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.000 but not early enough to go to the gym before pilates. 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.840 So I just decided I would have a little fitting 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:06.200 with myself. 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:07.840 What time do you normally wake up in the morning? 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.040 About seven thirty, okay, And so this morning I woke 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.079 up at I want to say, six thirty. 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:14.480 Well, I was going to ask what time do you 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:15.160 go to sleep? 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:19.359 Sometimes I'd like to go to sleep earlier, but often 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:21.800 I am only going to sleep about twelve thirty or 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:26.440 one am, and you still get up at seven seven thirty. 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:26.920 Okay. 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.400 So I'm probably not going to ask a lot of 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:34.239 beauty routine questions, but I'm certain that people will kill 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:36.799 me if I don't because I mean, you know, you're 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:40.680 this stunning figure in the world and people I would 0:02:40.760 --> 0:02:43.040 naturally assume that you get ten to twelve hours of 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:46.240 sleep or whatever, but you just I would like, basically 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:47.440 just wake up like this every day. 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:49.560 Well, I had hair and makeup today, But you know 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:51.560 you've see me when I haven't. You've seen me in 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:52.640 every state possible. 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:54.600 I'll still look like, thank you. 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.160 I do like more sleep, and I would like to. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.919 I can sleep late, but I can't go to sleep early. 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:03.480 I am a night owl by nature. I always have 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:07.320 been since I was a little kid. And I keep 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.639 trying to go to sleep earlier. So I do get 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.639 more sleep because I do like to have a good 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:15.119 eight hour sleep. I just don't get it done. 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:16.600 Gotcha? Same? 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:22.880 Also same, What is your most treasured childhood memory? Like 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:25.840 before ten, what's a fuzzy memory from your childhood? 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:32.000 My most treasured memories from childhood are of skating in 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.200 New York City, and I'm talking about quads, you know, 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.920 not blades. And when I was little, I was a 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:41.520 latchkey kid and my mom worked as a nurse at 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:45.080 Sloan Kettering, and I would skate up and down East 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:48.080 End Avenue, and I know all the avenues. For instance, 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.839 Lexington Avenue is really steep, so do not skate down 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:53.120 Lexington Avenue. 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:54.240 You found out there are way? 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.480 Yes, I did. In fact, I still have really really 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.760 bad drunk girl legs because of my brothers as a child. Okay, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.040 but I loved it. I think kids who grow up 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:08.960 in the city are really sophisticated and self reliant. And 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.120 I know a lot of people are afraid to raise 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:14.200 the family in the city, but I was raised by 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:17.839 a single mom here. I'm raising my daughter here, and 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.720 I loved having that sense of freedom and mobility at 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:22.719 a very young age. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:25.039 What part of New York did you grow up in. 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:28.440 I grew up in Queens, in Elmhurst, and then I 0:04:28.480 --> 0:04:30.880 also grew up on the Upper East Side because at 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:35.920 that time Sloan Kettering had subsidized housing for their staff. 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:37.480 So if you made it, you know, she was just 0:04:37.520 --> 0:04:39.200 a nurse. We lived in Queens, she made it the 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:41.719 head nurse we moved into the city. 0:04:42.040 --> 0:04:44.000 I'm going to ask a question only because you mentioned 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:48.000 Queens and shout out to my friend Money grip Manier. 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.760 I'm asking this for you. Of the five boroughs, would 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:55.560 you say that Queen's is the better food epicenter. Will 0:04:55.560 --> 0:05:00.479 you get trouble in expressing a preference for a borough 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:02.160 of culinary choice. 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.640 No, But I also will say that this opinion is 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.040 based on the fact that I know Queens much better 0:05:10.080 --> 0:05:12.159 than I know the Bronx. And by the way, I 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.320 have to be honest and come clean and say, you know, 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.320 my knowledge of Queens is also from way back when, 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:21.560 so I don't know what it is now. But you know, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.240 I have a very dear friend who teaches a class 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:27.680 at NYU, is a great writer named Sukaitu Meta, and 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.120 he took me on a food tour recently of Queens 0:05:31.800 --> 0:05:36.839 and I tried literally ten different ethnicities in one afternoon, 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.880 and so he would know. And I think Queens is 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:44.560 still the most ethnically diverse. But I think, you know, 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.120 anywhere you grow up in this city, I don't know 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.040 what Stephn Island is like, but you know, anywhere you 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.159 grow up, you're going to be bumping up next to 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:55.160 a lot of cultures. And I think that's the beauty 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:56.320 of living in New York. 0:05:57.120 --> 0:05:57.320 Yeah. 0:05:57.720 --> 0:06:01.279 You know, when I first got interested in the culinary world, 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:04.359 of course, I went straight to you know, everyone is 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.920 blinded by Miss Lindis and James Beard Debt. And then 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:11.320 Bourdain kind of pulled me to the side and it's like, Okay, 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.400 don't get caught up, like, you know, search for He 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:16.000 put it in a way where I understood it, where 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:17.800 he's like, when I go record shopping, I'm looking for 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.640 the most obscure record that nobody like. Don't buy the 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.920 album that everyone has, like you know, Whitney Houston's over there, 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.120 but also know that over here is you know, Galt 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.360 McDermott or some obscureity. So he told me to look 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:33.760 out for that. So I've taken a few tours of 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:37.800 Queens and I'm still discovering it. I don't know it 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.560 like I normally like I should. I will say though, 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.599 for the Bronx. Though the Bronx says the best food 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:47.080 for after eleven pm, Oh yeah, they do. The best 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:50.080 fish sandwich is the best seafood. You know the size 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:50.880 of my arms. 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:52.760 Jamaican food Swinny Foods. 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:57.400 There's a twenty four hour Jamaican spot in Queen's right 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:01.359 now that just I went there and it's it's a problem. 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.800 I'm glad it's in Queen so you know, because but. 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.000 I mean even in Manhattan. If you're driving around Manhattan, 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:11.880 you ever see a black food truck called jam Rock Jerk, 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.360 please stop. Really, those guys are my friends. I want 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:18.440 to give them a little love. They're great. They're a 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.320 nice young Jamaican couple who were the first ones to 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:24.560 get a license by the city to actually have an 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:29.000 open grill and a drum like like jerk is done. 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:32.880 And so they drive that around and now their business. 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.960 I've seen their business bloom only because of how many 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:38.640 of their trucks I see around. So they're clearly doing well. 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.200 Mister softy of I think, I think so. 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:46.160 I haven't talked around a bit. Yeah, jam Rock Jerk. 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:49.480 All right, I'm investigating that. Do you collect anything? What 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:50.880 do you collect? 0:07:51.480 --> 0:07:52.120 Jewelry? 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:52.840 Okay? 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:56.560 Art? I mean you know, I think jewelry as. 0:07:56.360 --> 0:08:00.280 In like well, I mean real jewelry or like crystals. 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:03.000 Or no, not crystals. My daughter collects crystals, but no, 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.120 I don't really. I mean, I collect jewelry happily, but 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.320 it's not something I go out and seek. But I 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:10.800 used to have a jewelry company years ago, like a 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.640 fine jewelry company, and so I'm very interested in different 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:16.960 movements and periods of jewelry. It's not something people know 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.280 about me these days too much. But I can spot 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:23.560 from what period a Cardia piece is based somehow it 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:27.120 looks like is it a Shindai period? Is it another period? 0:08:27.120 --> 0:08:33.400 You know? So so I love that, But that's also 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:34.640 a very rarefied thing. 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:34.920 You know. 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:38.640 That's not something I'm doing every day. I don't. I 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.640 like to think I collect people. That's what I'm most 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.480 interested in now. Every time, you know, I do a 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.720 big project or something that I have a little chunk 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.480 of change, I will buy myself a piece of art, 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.080 right And you know, now, I don't have any wall space, 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:59.160 and I'm not a no and I'm not an investor, 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.160 so I'm not tying art to make a profit and 0:09:02.200 --> 0:09:04.240 then put it in storage. You know, That's not me. 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.400 But I do like to collect people. My most coveted 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:13.360 activity is to bring a room of six, ten, fifty 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:16.920 sixty people together who I think are interesting and may 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.880 not know each other from totally different walks of life, 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.360 and put them in a room and see what happens, 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:27.200 just to facilitate that. Mostly because I'm a really curious 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.760 person and I think I've always been a lifelong learner, 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.480 so I'm always trying to learn, and the best way 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:37.520 to learn is to find the most interesting, knowledgeable people 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:40.559 you know, and try to squeeze all the info out 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:41.079 of them. 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.559 Yeah, I gotta say, I'm one of the lucky recipients 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:49.280 of your Wili celebration invitations. And I love the idea 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:51.520 of having a live band in the living room. And 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:54.800 you know, well, now I considered, I mean, this is 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:56.320 like maybe the third or fourth one I went to, 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.680 so now I know these you know the deal? 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.040 Yeah, yeah, yeah, so loved doing those parties. 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:05.080 So in your formative years, who was the best cook 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:06.679 in your family? 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:11.320 My grandma? Okay, my grandma, And my grandma was not 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.839 a cuddly person. You know, when you think of a 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.679 sweet grandma baking company and stuff, right now, that's not 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.160 an Indian grandma. That wasn't my Indian grandma. Let me 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:21.960 say that she was a very practical woman. She came 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.720 from a family of seventeen children. She was one of 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:26.360 the oldest, so she had to take care of a 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:29.200 lot of her younger siblings. Oh and there were eight 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.280 or ten people living in my grandparents' house at any 0:10:32.320 --> 0:10:35.360 time in a two room flat in South India and Chennai, 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.400 and she only had two burners, two stow burners, and 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.640 she didn't really get a fridge until her thirties, so 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.000 she didn't know what to do with it, and she 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:47.440 just really used it for ice water because it's hot 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.520 in South India, right, So she was cooking all the time, 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.400 all the time, and so I learned really at her side. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:57.720 I also learned a lot about life that way, because, 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.000 like I said, she was super procded. 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.560 Wow, I'm still trying to figure out the food preservation 0:11:05.679 --> 0:11:07.920 part of nofrigerator in the house. 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:12.480 Well, everything gets eaten, there is no preservation needed. And 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:15.720 also it's a vegetarian household, so you're not worried about 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.360 meat spoiling. Okay, but it's so hot there and we 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.560 certainly didn't have air conditioning. We only got air conditioning 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.559 in one room when I brought my ex husband there 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:26.920 as all, I was like, I don't think he's gonna 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.480 be able to go, So I put air conditioning in 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:32.520 one of the you know, in the back room that 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.320 wasn't my grandparents room. But so, you know, things do 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:38.160 spoil still because of the heat. But like I said, 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:41.000 nothing lasted that long enough, gota. 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.400 How do you rate your culinary skills? One to ten? 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.600 I know too much. I know too much about what 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.840 I don't know, so I would say a seven. 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.160 Okay, So from one to ten? How would your daughter 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:53.880 rate your culinary skills? 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:55.080 In eight and a half. 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.480 She's hot, she loves you, she's tough, but she gives 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:00.000 you a higher rating than you would give you. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:00.640 High rating. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:03.760 Yeah, because she doesn't know enough to give me a 0:12:03.760 --> 0:12:04.360 lower rating. 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:07.440 I got that all right. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:10.960 She would give me a zero in singing capability though. 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:13.480 Oh, I'm gonna ask about the glitter. You know, I'm 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.800 gonna ask about glitter. What snack is your kryptonite? You 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.079 know you're gonna pay for it in the gym if 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.040 you take it, but you do it anyway. What snack 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.120 is your kryptonite? 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:28.840 A lot of snacks, spiced cashoes, masala cashoes, or chips. 0:12:29.000 --> 0:12:33.720 Potato chips. That's a tough one, especially the halapeno potato 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:38.040 chips from Cape Cod. I can take down a whole bag, 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:39.760 a big bag, without blinking. 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.320 I didn't realize how strong the potato chip addiction was 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.760 in the roots thread. Around January, we start you know, 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:48.440 everyone starts the conversation. 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.160 Of like, okay, what you're going to clean up or whatever, and. 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.560 The challenge, Like for people, the challenge was no more 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:58.280 potato chips. And I didn't realize how much I eat 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.959 them until I went to the tonight show. Like it's 0:13:00.960 --> 0:13:03.120 almost like breathing because they're everywhere. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.760 Oh, I know, it's a nightmare. It's like you can't 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.720 get away from it. I mean, I'm looking forward to 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.640 my daughter going to college because then I can get 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.520 rid of a lot of so she brings the snacks 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.000 in and well, I mean, I want my daughter to 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.040 be able to eat all kinds of foods. I don't 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:22.000 want her body not to know what it's like to 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.480 process a variety of things all the way on one 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:25.720 end of the spectrum. 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:28.000 So I want to know, what's the worst thing in 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:29.559 your fridge right now? Lunchibles? 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:35.320 No? Hell no, hey, don't y No. I mean the 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:37.800 worst thing in my fridge right now is probably protein 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.520 shakes because that's not real food. But it's a necessary 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.280 evil for me because I just don't get enough protein, 0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.120 got it. But I mean I want her to enjoy 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.080 and be able to process her body, able to process 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.160 everything from taco bell, which she eats too often all 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.520 the way to nothing but fruits and vegetables. 0:13:56.520 --> 0:14:03.480 But well, she's also teenagers eventually, yeah, she's sophistication. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:04.920 Comes in and that stuff and she'll but. 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:08.079 You know, we make it a point to eat fifty 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:11.920 percent fruits and vegetables on every plate if I'm cooking 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:15.079 or she's eating at home. Okay, you know, so I 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:19.120 just want to make sure she gets enough nutrition and 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.720 healthy food and all that. Then I just want her 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.920 to be a regular teenager. But when she leaves, all 0:14:24.960 --> 0:14:27.440 that stuff is gonna go. But the other addiction I have, 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:30.240 which is really bad is dark chocolate. 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.360 Really yeah, I want to get into it so bad, 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.560 but to me, it's still like I'd rather have the 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.880 unhealthy chocolate. But what is it about dark chocolate that 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.080 the fact that we can have much more of it 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:44.320 and not pay for it? 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.360 I will? I mean, there have been weeks where four 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.760 or five nights out of seven I have finished a 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:54.440 whole Hue chocolate bar, the salty one or the crunchy 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.720 mint one. Okay, and I have a little dorm fridge 0:14:57.720 --> 0:14:58.520 in my bedroom. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:01.080 Did you not supposed to have with this? 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.160 Next? Exactly tucked into, you know, a little closet, and 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:08.160 I went to the Tin Building and Sean George gave 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:11.440 me a tour and there he's got this obnoxiously beautiful 0:15:11.800 --> 0:15:15.080 candy store in there, and he just loaded me up 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:18.320 with all this chocolate because he knows. And so now 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:20.720 I am armed to the teeth with my own vice. 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.400 I have a question about food rules. Okay, so twice 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:31.600 in my life I've been ridiculed, not even ridiculed, only twice. 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:32.760 No messages with me. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:37.320 No, But I didn't know Chicago's relationship with ketchup. 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:39.240 I what is the ketchup? 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.560 Okay? So I have a theory about it. 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:46.000 No one's verified it, but like, you get no respect 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:48.680 in Chicago if you put ketchup on your hot dog. 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.080 Oh yes, I know about this. Jimmy asked me about this, and. 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.480 They kick you out and they kick you out of it. 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.880 I got kicked out of the establishment because I wanted 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:58.840 to see what would happen. And I pulled out my 0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:01.120 pack and they were like you got to go, Like seriously, 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:05.840 I don't know why I believe that. My theory is 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:09.920 that because the Hines families in Pittsburgh, Oh, that it's 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.440 some kind and there's some rival, yes between well, you know, 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.400 I also know that the various businesses that Capone had 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:21.440 somewhere food establishments that well as well. I know that 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.640 there was a point in the forties I believe like 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:28.360 some Hines products couldn't even get into certain establishments. Oh 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:32.080 but in general, now it's just like yick the other 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:32.520 one of one? 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.160 Or do they put on their hot dog anything anything? 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:37.600 But no ketchup is allowed on a hot dog, like 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:41.960 just mustard relish onions. But it's absolute sin to put 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:43.000 ketchup on a hot dog. 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:46.400 I also think it's because there are a lot of 0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.880 Polish immigrants that settled in Chicago, and so sausage is 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.280 really big in Chicago, so they might think of hot 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:58.200 dogs as sort of a you know, descendant of the sausage. 0:16:58.760 --> 0:17:02.480 And no one wants to put ketchup on an actual kilbosa. 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:04.720 Got it? Okay? I will though anyway. 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:09.840 The other thing, of course, is with black twitter. Some 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:14.240 people have revealed that they'll take their grits also with 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.960 butter and sugar. Now here's oh the way you're you 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:18.800 just scouted at me. 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:22.520 It's not the butter is the sugar, Okay? 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.359 So listen, have you ever had cream of wheat? 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:26.320 Yeah? 0:17:26.720 --> 0:17:28.479 I mean, come on, I mean yeah, I mean. 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:32.040 Look, it's like, look, I'm not a big oatmeal fan, 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.720 but people put maple syrup on that, so I guess 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.919 the sugar is a version of a sweetener, like a syrup, Right, 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.880 So I can get with that, But no Southern person. 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:47.480 Look, ninety five percent of the time I will eat 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:51.720 grits savory as they should be, but sometimes I'll have 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.960 like I'm not a I'm not a still cut oatmeal fan, 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:59.920 but if there's a grit option, I will somehow program 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.840 my brain to okay this, I'll make this like cream 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:06.920 of wheat. But my whole thing was, is there a 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:12.119 food rule that you've abided by that you also break? Like, 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:15.080 is there another tradition that's not supposed to happen. 0:18:15.560 --> 0:18:18.720 I'm not that steadfast with rules like that. 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:19.480 Okay. 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:24.080 I don't generally have sweet breakfasts unless I'm having like 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:26.440 a big bowl of yogurt, which is some maple syrup 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:27.080 and cinnamon. 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:27.800 Got it. 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:31.960 My breakfast tend to be very minimal or. 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:33.240 Savory, gotcha. 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:36.600 Like even cottage cheese to me, is a savory thing. 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:37.920 I always thought it savor. 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.439 Some people put weird stuff in it, like pineapple, and 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.360 I mean I put pomegranate teeses on it. I still 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:44.120 think it's savory. 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:58.520 I gotta try that. Yeah, I never try that. What 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.720 is the most idiot proof that a person could make 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:04.040 and never lose? Even the worst chef in the world 0:19:04.080 --> 0:19:05.680 can make this end? Absolutely? 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:08.800 I mean I think everybody should be able to scramble 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:10.040 some eggs and make some toast. 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:13.240 Got it? Okay? So that's basic one on one level. 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:16.119 Yeah, Like I had a rule when Krishna was young 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:18.440 that I wasn't going to be a short order cook. 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.119 So whatever I made for dinner, that's what was for dinner. 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:24.639 She didn't want to eat that, she could either have 0:19:24.720 --> 0:19:28.280 leftovers if there were any, or she could have a 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.960 scrambled egg wrapped in a tortilla with some raw veggies 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:35.479 like celery, bell, pepper's carrots, whatever, because that way, at 0:19:35.520 --> 0:19:38.000 least she would get some protein, some veggies and some starch, 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.080 got it. And even she could make that as of 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:43.680 about you know, she can cook. 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.600 Okay, all right, So for those that are in the 0:19:47.680 --> 0:19:49.960 if you've seen in one competition show, you've seen them 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:54.840 all back sell me on the not the difference between 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:59.080 Top Chef and America's Culinary Cup. But what is it 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:00.600 that we will see on this sho show that we 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.160 didn't see on Top Show. 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:05.320 Well, I want to say first, I am not comparing 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.120 this show. I know everyone naturally will because I used 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:11.320 to host that other show. I don't see my competition 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:14.920 as my old house. I see my competition as every 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.840 other food show, you know, every other competition show, from 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:22.120 Gordon Ramsey to whoever's on the Food Network, to Netflix 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:24.760 and stuff. So that's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking more globally. 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.400 But I'll tell you the big difference. There's a few. 0:20:27.880 --> 0:20:31.200 One is the million dollars. Okay, that's a big difference. 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:35.760