Padma Lakshmi Quotes

I love clothes, but really I don't have that much to say about skirts. Before I was writing, I went to fashion shows only when the designer was a good friend and I was there to show support.

I like me better naked. I don't mean that in a vain way... When you put clothes on, you immediately put a character on. Clothes are adjectives, they are indicators. When you don't have any clothes on, it's just you, raw, and you can't hide.

I know most people use their phones to tell time, but there's something very romantic and beautiful about a timepiece.

I have great empathy for all the contestants that come on 'Top Chef,' whether they go home right away or they make it to the finish line. It's a very vulnerable position they put themselves in and I feel for them.

I grew up a vegetarian. Then, because I grew up in the states, I started slowly eating meat. First it was bologna sandwiches, or pepperoni on pizza.

I don't have any stigma attached to my body. When I'm in my own private space, I have very little on.

I am as omnivorous as it's possible to be. I always say there's nothing I won't eat and nothing I won't wear.

I am a sufferer of endometriosis. I didn't want any young women to go through what I went through. I thought that people should know about it.

From the simple stringing together of lemon garlands for the goddess Durga, to dividing the prasadam or blessed foods for the children first, I came to associate food not only with feminity, but also with purity and divinity.

For a while, I became an atheist; now that I'm grown up, though, I'm not hard-edged enough to be an atheist. Even though I live with a flaming atheist, I love going to temple. I love all the rituals.

For a long time, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was desperate to find something that fit me and I just decided that if I could organically make a professional living out of the things that interested me, then I would be a happy person.

Flowers die and wine gets consumed. Both are lovely. I appreciate both. Wine and roses. I actually had someone bring me a lobe of foie gras once.

Every country I would go to, even if it was just on a modeling job, I would go to their markets. If I went to Morocco for 'Elle' magazine, I would be in the spice markets during my off time and just come back with a suitcase full of stuff that I really wanted to try.

Every city has a Donald Trump; ours is just the Trumpiest.

During the course of filming 'Top Chef,' I gain 15 lbs., so I'm used to needing two dress sizes.

All chefs are like Jewish mothers. They want to feed you and feed you and impress you. It's an eagerness to please.

Where is it written that a smart woman can't also be stacked?

People always comment about my clothes. They don't think a fashionable woman can love food and be knowledgeable and actually cook.

One thing that happens when you're pregnant is that as your stomach starts to stretch. It itches! So I have to keep my belly really lubricated. Every morning, there's a buttering ceremony after I get out of the shower. It's really like basting a turkey with body butter.

I was lucky to have a successful career as a model, but that was just a way to pay off my college loans.

I think wine is such a big universe that it's kind of like food - it's intimidating to a lot of people, myself included.

You don't want your jewelry to make you look fat. A lot of what's out there now does - you just wind up looking like a Christmas tree.

Jewelry should not upstage you. I pick one hot point on my body that I'm going to highlight. Let one area do the singing - you don't want to hear three songs at once.

I'm not attached to things at all. I'm very lucky to have quite a few beautiful things, but if I look back at my life, I was often happiest when I had very little.

I'm the kind of girl who thinks about what she's gonna cook for dinner when she's finishing her lunch.