You may have put your 2020 vacation plans on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that doesn’t mean you can’t live vicariously through a new travel cooking show.
It will help you feel like you’re still traveling, even without leaving your home.
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Truly, Padma Lakshmi’s new show on Hulu, “Taste the Nation,” is the perfect thing to watch if you’re missing life on the road.
Lakshmi, who most people will know from being the host and judge of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” is taking viewers to different cities across the country to try to find out what exactly “American” cuisine really means.
America is often described as a melting pot, and Lakshmi has made it her mission to not only find out if that statement is true, but to ask the question: How does the cuisine from different countries eventually make its way into the everyday fabric of the U.S.?
The first episode of “Taste the Nation” illustrates just how Lakshmi will get to the bottom of her questions. She visits El Paso, Texas, which is known for having some of the most authentic Mexican food in the country.
El Paso is also a city that many people from Mexico and Latin America migrated through to come to America, so Lakshmi talks to many chefs and small restaurant owners about their own immigrant experience, and how the city of El Paso wouldn’t be what it is today without the immigrants who brought their culture and food to Texas.
Another episode takes viewers to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to learn how sausages and German food came to the Great Lakes region, and it shows off just how easily German food has woven itself into the food Americans eat on a daily basis.
If you’re a fan of the late, great Anthony Bourdain and his travel shows “No Reservations” or “Parts Unknown,” then you will not want to stop watching “Taste the Nation.”
Lakshmi isn’t doing the same thing as Bourdain did with his shows, but the idea of traveling to different parts of the world and finding out how the locals eat is very much ingrained in Bourdain’s shows and Lakshmi’s.
“Taste the Nation” is also just a great showcase for Lakshmi.
While “Top Chef” wouldn’t be the show it is without her presence, it’s fantastic to see the host venture off into something that is entirely her own. After being a cookbook author and reality TV show host, getting to take the lead on “Taste the Nation” is the cherry on top for this gifted woman.
All episodes of “Taste the Nation” are currently streaming on Hulu.
