Padma Lakshmi’s All American
  • Pop Culture

Padma Lakshmi’s All American

Tales, travels, and recipes from Taste the Nation and beyond
Saturday, May 9, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm CTAthenaeum Center for Thought & Culture
  • Audio Description for Blind or Low Vision
  • Open Captions
  • Assistive Listening Devices

Included with Select Ticket Types:

Padma's All American

Padma's All American

By Padma Lakshmi

Event Information

This event is on sale to members Tuesday, March 17 at 10am CT.

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General Public tickets go on sale Thursday, March 19 at 10am CT.

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About the Event:

Padma Lakshmi is the Emmy Award-nominated host, producer, and bestselling author we all know and love from Top Chef and the acclaimed Hulu series Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi. She joins us to discuss the seven years she spent traveling, tasting, listening, and observing for Taste the Nation — and what she learned along the way. Inspired by the show, her new cookbook, Padma’s All American, compiles dozens of recipes from the immigrant and Indigenous communities she visits, as well as many from her own family, showing us what really comprises American cuisine. For Lakshmi, food is a lens. Through it, we can explore the influence of an eclectic array of cultures — and come to see who we are and how we eat as a nation.


  • Chicago Humanities is pleased to partner with Chicago’s Seminary Co-op Bookstores, the country’s first not-for-profit bookstore. 
  • Tickets include a copy of Padma's All American, which you pick up at the event by showing the book voucher in your PDF ticket. Humanist Circle member tickets do not include a book, but anyone can add a book to their cart when selecting their tickets.
  • If you are purchasing multiple tickets for patrons in the same household, call the box office at (312) 661-1239 for additional information about book bundle exemptions.
  • Please visit our FAQ for more information.
Padma Lakshmi

Padma Lakshmi

Padma Lakshmi is an Emmy-nominated food expert, television producer, and New York Times bestselling author. She is the creator of ...

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Ahmed Ali Akbar

Ahmed Ali Akbar

Ahmed Ali Akbar is a food and culture writer who publishes at radbrowndads.substack.com. He won a James Beard Award for an Eater a...

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