The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters 838: Our All-American Thanksgiving with Padma Lakshmi and Dorie Greenspan
16 snips
Nov 14, 2025 
Join acclaimed food writer and television host Padma Lakshmi as she explores the immigrant roots of Thanksgiving and shares her alternative to mashed potatoes: podimas. She reflects on traveling for Taste the Nation and the importance of preserving culinary traditions. Meanwhile, prolific baker Dorie Greenspan discusses her new book on simple cakes, offering a delightful sweet potato loaf for the holiday. She reveals the magic of grated vegetables in baking and shares her cocoa-swirled pumpkin bundt recipe, perfect for any festive table.
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Immigrant Stories Shape American Food
- Traveling across immigrant communities revealed to Padma that individual stories both mirror and diversify the American experience.
- She uses profiles in her book to show how immigrants preserve homeland histories while shaping American foodways.
Kabuli Pulao That Redefined Authenticity
- Padma praises Shamim Popal's Kabuli Pulao at Lapis in DC as the most delicious dish she ate while filming.
- The recipe in her book reflects Afghan abundance memory with raisins, carrots, sugar, and cinnamon.
Use Food To Humanize Immigration
- Padma shifted from activism and op-eds to storytelling through food to change perceptions positively.
- She used Taste the Nation and the cookbook to reach audiences with nuanced immigrant narratives.
