Wow - wonder why she would do this - satirically making fun of her own culinary image ?
I mean, she's a fashion model, travel host and host of a successful food show - always
curious when I see legitimately talented / intelligent people overtly use sex appeal
for commercial reasons. Then again, there's always the saying, if you got it, flaunt it.
Especially if its your own choice and not exploitative. Gives new meaning to the term
brown meat.

Please. There's no way in hell she really eats this stuff.

I agree with the previous comment. I can't believe she'd eat the unhealthiest of the fast food. (Did she have to sneak a bacon topped burger when she was going out with Salman Rushdie? She was saying something about sneaking food during high school in the commercial.)

It's almost lunchtime on Friday, here in Singapore...I've been on a diet for 3 months now...The nearest Carl's Jr. is 5 minutes away on the number 75 bus route that has a stop right in front my office...BURGER!!!!

Anyone else reminded of the Charlie Sheen/Valeria Golino scene in Hot Shots?

well, I guess indians guys are out then...except maybe the panjabis (according to Port).

Peter Lugers does a Bacon Cheesebuger. I used to order them for lunch for the whole trading floor back in my wall st days. Now, at the time, the bacon was off the menu, so the riffraff couldn't get to it. it was like 3/4 inch thick, and when you'd put it on top of a huge burger (of real dry aged meat mind you) you'd need Sunny Leone, not just padma lakshmi, to do it justice.

those were the days my friends i thought they'd never end.

i highly recommend this portfolio article about the chain.

Abhi- how do you keep a straight face blogging that one. HILARIOUS. To think before this defining burger moment, there once was a rotting old man.

Reminds me of those new Quiznos commercials, seems like weird and over-extended double entendres in sandwich shops are all the rage in the marketing community.

As for Padma and the stage-presence issue- not the first time I've heard that actually. I've only seen her show a couple times, and I guess I was so absorbed in whatever she was prepping that I didn't catch the "stage presence" issue much one way or another. Truth is, I've long had the impression that most cooking shows have a bit of detachment to them, even Emeril tends to focus most of his show on the nitty-gritty when he's not (over)gesticulating. Then again, it's possible that the more flamboyant Food Network types like Bobby Flay, the competitive cooking shows (esp Iron Chef) might be changing the image and expectations.

Sex with hamburgers...PETA did a commercial of women having sex with vegetables which was too risky to run during the Super Bowl...What is all this - people having sex with food? It seems silly. Plus anything that Paris Hilton did, no credible star should follow.

That burger is a great way to have a heart attack without Padma Laxmi.

There's an, um, extended version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSmNTqZ3wV4

he he! my mother is going to implode after she watches this commercial - it's a big ritual for both of us to watch top chef together and as we were watching the finale, my mother commented that she can't believe this tambram woman eats all types of meat, which slowly escalated into an argument about my mother, her judgments, and racism. though thank god for dvr - otherwise i never would have risked missing a moment of TC for arguing with my mom. anyway, she'll get a "kick" out of this.

re her presence - i agree completely. and if you notice during the judge's table, her comments are both insubstantive and completely ignored by the professional chefs. it also does not help that her way of speaking almost sounds slurred - possibly seductive gone wrong?

i actually do believe she eats these kinds of things - in all her interviews, she always talks about how she eats so much and has to work it off, and in a recent interview, she talked about how her clothes becoming less form-fitting as the season goes on because she is eating so much for the show.

Oh. My. Lord. More shots of cleavage and thighs in that than there is of the burger. This is just an upmarket, one-handed version of Sophie Monk's scene in Date Movie. And that was a parody.

14 · ak said

it also does not help that her way of speaking almost sounds slurred - possibly seductive gone wrong?

No, it's because she's often high. :) It helps with the eating of stuff which normally makes her squeamish, too.

As for her "presence", I think it's fine. If some of you find her lacking, you should have seen her predecessor. Now THAT woman had no charisma, energy or anything. And her voice really sucked. She was so blah I don't even remember her name-- just that she was married to Billy Joel. And we can't even blame what was wrong with her on pot! ;)

The few cheftestants I've spoken to from TC like Padma and say she has a good palate (it's one of the first things I ask them). Sometimes, I think her looks or her infamous past life as Mrs. Rushdie overshadow everything else. Eh, you can't please everyone. I think she's lovely and perfect for her role-- which is "host", not successor to Jacques Pepin (who is currently devouring all free space on my DVR). Some of her reactions to dishes created for elimination challenges during the past season were fantastic; I didn't realize the "real" or "professional" chefs had ignored her, because the show certainly made a point of including her appalled expressions and hilarious characterizations of how awful something tasted.

2 · phillygrrl said

Please. There's no way in hell she really eats this stuff.

Actually, like ak said:

14 · ak said

i actually do believe she eats these kinds of things - in all her interviews, she always talks about how she eats so much and has to work it off, and in a recent interview, she talked about how her clothes becoming less form-fitting as the season goes on because she is eating so much for the show.

Unless the people I've spoken to are lying, this is all true. She goes up (at least) a size during the course of a season, and TC's wardrobe people stock/style accordingly.

Blech.

I hope she at least got paid well for that sad, grotesque ad...

What gratuitous nonsense! I can't believe the level some people go to in order to sell products. I have better things to do than to sit here and watch this over and over again... going out for a burger

maybe it's a generational gap thing - but i found the ad quite ugly. especially the part where she sucks her fingers and licks up the ooze off her shin. gah... i was shuddering right then. is this the equivalent to a career jumping the shark? plus the thing is these things taste quite nasty. it's the city guys or the idiot demographic who think this stuff is 'all american'. the farmers i've met usually eat much more sanely. and not just the mennonites in my hood. it's true of the rancher and beef farmers i've known.

and you wont seem them using a walker and trundling an oxygen container into a hardee's either.

maybe it's a generational gap thing

With her two bites, and a lick, Padma has exceeded her calories count for a month. Work out time!

"Is this the same woman I dated ?" - Salman Rushdie

where she sucks her fingers and licks up the ooze off her shin

Shoving a giant sandwich in an overstretched mouth

just to be clear. i am aware of the messaging around oral sex and am fine with it - though it is disturbing that a 14 yr old is in the papers today for posting her naked pix online and cant help but wish that some imagery had best be kept behind closed doors - it's the hygiene (or the lacke thereof) that i ffound ugly. the woman went to a hardee's opened the door, paid with coin, picked up the envelope, got off public transit, picked her skirt out of her ass cleavage, sat on the steps and started sucking her fingers. the best thing about religion, especially among the muslim, hindu and jewish peoples i've known, is that the articles of their faith are manifest in their personal habits. go orthodox boys and girls. the urban alterna rats are jut that - vermin.

I pose to Khoofia the parallel of Karunanidhi sweeping his eversilver plate with rightous paw, and in his haste to bring watery sambar to a waiting palate, allows some "Sambar juices" to run down his forearm...which necessitates a long and disturbingly tender lick of the same...I leave you to construct the scenario in which droplets find their way under the veshti and onto his shins.

The thickburger is gross, I agree, but I don't think she would get the same endorsement dollars from Laura's Lean Beef in KY or some artisanal producer of boutique cattle breeds.

I still remember the Carl's Jr.\Hardees slow ride from a couple of years ago. I think slow ride beats the Padma and Paris ones.

it is a GREAT ad, and she looks awesome, sexy, sultry. who cares whom she was married to once? she has an enviable career of her own and she is fantastic.
i am going out and getting a hardees for myself now.

At least I have not seen so far any haterade in this post on PL as a sold out to the West or worse. Only disgust at the ad shown by some commentors which is understandable. After all everyone, including PL, should be free to pursue their interests and profession in the US without some one pointing out if they are conforming to an imaginary south asian standard of conduct. Mention Bobby Jindal in these posts and it is a different matter.

24 · khoofia said

though it is disturbing that a 14 yr old is in the papers today for posting her naked pix online and cant help but wish that some imagery had best be kept behind closed doors

it's not more disturbing that there's a strong possibility that she'll be labeled as a sex offender and charged with the relevant law for what is typical teenage own-goal?

here you go nayagan.

14-year old faces sex offender registry after her pics meant for boyfriend flagged by police

the best thing about religion, especially among the muslim, hindu and jewish peoples i've known, is that the articles of their faith are manifest in their personal habits.

Whereas Christians are, in Christina Auguilera's words "FILTHY and NASTY".

PMSL!

Whereas Christians are, in Christina Auguilera's words "FILTHY and NASTY".

*have a jalebi. but wash your hands first.

Not feeling the religion angle. Will point you to Naipaul, Manto and countless Yiddish authors who have little patience for religion-hygiene combo platter. Will leave it at that. Hate to ruin stress-free Friday thread.

Not feeling the religion angle. Will point you to Naipaul, Manto and countless Yiddish authors who have little patience for religion-hygiene combo platter.

I've watched it 12 times so far. This ad is genius.

Whereas Christians are, in Christina Auguilera's words "FILTHY and NASTY".

conrad. i didnt mean to offend anyone up there by my exclusion. just to explain why i excluded 'Christian' from my list of religions - i am somewhat particular about what i eat when i am not the one cooking. if in india, i would prefer to eat from a so called 'vaishnava' eatery - elsewhere, though i prefer to eat vegetarian - when the only options are meat, i would prefer to eat halal or kosher food rather than go generic. my belief is that the folks in charge of the food preparation are 'believers' than they are more fearful of going to hell or to purgatory or to whatever equivalent than of health laws. axually, i buy eggs (and occasionally raw milk) from a mennonite farm for much the same rejun. so i guess i could stretch my list of people with orthodox faith.

So essentially, you are saying Christians are filthy and nasty. Just most politely than Christina.

I feel a song coming on...

[Padma]
I like 'em round, and big
And when I'm throwin' a gig
I just can't help myself, I'm actin' like an animal
Now here's my scandal
I wanna get you home
And ugh, double-up, ugh, ugh
I ain't eating no veggie
'Cause without meat I get real edgy
I want 'em real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Lakshmi's in trouble
Beggin' for a piece of that bubble

...

Eat enough of those and she'll be an LA face with an Oakland booty for sure.

Nice rhyme,

Eat enough of those and she'll be an LA face with an Oakland booty for sure.

you say that like it's a bad thing.

khoofia - relax, I was kidding. When I start quoting Britney, that is when I am serious.

I pose to Khoofia the parallel of Karunanidhi sweeping his eversilver plate with rightous paw, and in his haste to bring watery sambar to a waiting palate, allows some "Sambar juices" to run down his forearm...which necessitates a long and disturbingly tender lick of the same...I leave you to construct the scenario in which droplets find their way under the veshti and onto his shins.

When I start quoting Britney, that is when I am serious.

This made me laugh out loud. :)

What's up with all these Indian hotties. I never realized how beautful she was, and after Frieda Pinta. They both sort of exude a similar trait. It's they like belong to a new brand of Indian hottie. This is something new. There is something uniquely indian about both of them.

padma lakshmi is a disgrace to my south indian, hindu peoples. eating cows. sacrilege.

44 · devout said

padma lakshmi is a disgrace to my south indian, hindu peoples. eating cows. sacrilege.

dude. try again. your ruse has more holes than my katcha. my katcha is an existentialist question in itself though. is it a large hole with a piece of covering fabric or fabric covering a hole. this is a deep problem worthy of razib and vinod's intellects. talk amongs' yo'self chiles.

As for her "presence", I think it's fine. If some of you find her lacking, you should have seen her predecessor. Now THAT woman had no charisma, energy or anything. And her voice really sucked. She was so blah I don't even remember her name-- just that she was married to Billy Joel.

That would be Katie Lee Joel[not the uptown girl] who is more then 30 years younger then her husband.

I was secretly hoping some sauce would drip onto that amazing cleavage

47 · PPPP said

I was secretly hoping some sauce would drip onto that amazing cleavage

and I was hoping to lick it!..I mean the sauce

wow, this thread and that commercial are positively gross. I didn't find it appealing at all. Maybe they should have shot it on her swing?

wow. the extended version was NASTAY.

i was wondering about the sensitivity issues re: having someone of south indian hindu origin scarfing down beef like that. but the thing is that non-beef eating hindus aren't going to be eating at carl's jr./hardees, so they obviously didn't care. the commercials work too, i know multiple people who have eaten at those places just because the commercials make you curious. but their burgers aren't that much better than typical fast food IMO qualitatively; they just scale up the portions of meat.

There is a lot to this commercial. First, a south asian women representing what is essentially a southern red neck fast food hamburger chain. Second, Lakshmi is the name of a hindu goddess. Hindus, generally, do not eat meat and certainly do not eat beef. Third, this is a women who became a celebrity by being married to Rushdie (who himself became famous for the fatwa placed on him by the Iranian mullahs for writing Satanic Verses). Getting complicated isn’t it?

She and Idris Elba would make a great couple. That man is so hot.

51 · razib said

i was wondering about the sensitivity issues re: having someone of south indian hindu origin scarfing down beef like that.

To a degree I suppose; but then some South Indians do eat beef without too much problem even within India and I remember friends/colleagues of my parents, coming from the same community that Padma Lakshmi does, who when they visited us abroad made it a point to have some beef before they returned to India. Beef eating is a lot less unheard than some orthodox Hindus think it is. Rather like whiksy-drinking Muslims and pork eating Jews; this sort of thing goes on a fair bit; just not too openly.

Don't some Kerala Hindus traditionally eat beef, anyway? Are any of Padma Lakshmi's roots in Malabar, i.e. Palakkad?

But I like the 'rasam wrist' explanation the best.

55 · cookiebrown said

Don't some Kerala Hindus traditionally eat beef, anyway?

Hmmm. Some of my Nair friends do, but almost none of my Iyer friends (Palakkad or otherwise) consume it. Pure generalizing on my part, I'm sure one of you will wiki-slap me in a few minutes, telling me I'm wrong.

22 · sarcastician said

With her two bites, and a lick, Padma has exceeded her calories count for a month. Work out time!

Interestingly, Sir Salman's current g/f, Pia Glenn, seems to be following an equally minimalist diet.

Ugh. Our popular culture is filth.

*Is this something that happens as you get older? As a Gen X teen, I listened to Prince and everything. I call this reaction the TCM (Turner Classic Movies) reaction. Where you get sick of the current popular culture and look back at a time that was more innocent, and thus, spend a lot of time watching movies on TCM or AMC (American Movie Classics). Of course, people back in the Golden Era of Hollywood thought they were too risque, too.

**I kind of understand the people who retreat from popular culture. I have little interest in it.

***With the exception of the TBS show My Boys, which I adore. New episodes on Tuesday! And, no, I am not a spam-bot for TCM, AMC, or TBS.

When she had her own cooking/travel show on TLC/Discovery (or something to that effect), she got to film a show on Spain. There she refused to eat the testicles of a bull that had just been defeated in a bull fight. What a hypocrite. I wonder if she's a Brahmin now?

There she refused to eat the testicles of a bull that had just been defeated in a bull fight. What a hypocrite.

Every meat-eater (including I) is a hypocrite in one way or the other. Every time we choose to eat chicken meat and not dog meat, T-Bone steak and not tripe, we are shrouding ourselves in hypocrisy. Sometimes its value-based (no to veal but yes to 4-year old cows retired from not churning out high quantities of milk, yogurt, paneer and bloodless, divine and "pure" ghee for vegetarians) and sometimes it is habit-based (no to hunted meat such as venison and rabbit and yes to organically-raised Angus). Sometimes it is even based on Gwyneth Paltrow's logic (no to meat raised in captivity or confinement and yes to meat from the free-roaming or free-flying wild).

I wonder if Padma ever tried to be a Victoria's Secret model? Her body would be perfect for that, unless they airbrush her large boobs. Ujwalla Raut and another half desi (can't remember her name) was a victoria's secret model - Padma would have been awesome.

I don't know about her caste conscious mind that some of you have brought up. If she really refers to herself when asked her ethnicity and says she's Tamil Brahmin, I kindof find that weird. I don't know any Mallus who are brahmin that would say something like that or for that matter Gujaratis, Bengalis, etc... but that's just my experience.

Next she should have an ad eating thayir sadam the same way (which comes quite naturally to almost all the paapans)

I don't know about her caste conscious mind that some of you have brought up. If she really refers to herself when asked her ethnicity and says she's Tamil Brahmin, I kindof find that weird. I don't know any Mallus who are brahmin that would say something like that or for that matter Gujaratis, Bengalis, etc... but that's just my experience.

Yeah but Tam Brahms are really into being, well, Tam Brahms. But traditionally she would lose her brahmin status by eating cow flesh. Does it still work that way?

If so, then technically she is only Tam now, not Brahm.

If so, then technically she is only Tam now, not Brahm.

Goodness she married a Muslim...I don't think she's very orthodox in her brahminness or Hinduness, which makes it more ridiculous if she goes on about her Tam Brahminess --- but have no idea if she's in anyway like that; I was just saying it if she is and she married a Muslim, eats beef, it just seems silly.

wow. do you have any idea how outdated you indians living abroad sound? india has just moved so, so far out of your reach it's ridiculous. ease up a little on the ethnicity thing, people aren't so anal about it anymore!

"Sometimes it is even based on Gwyneth Paltrow's logic (no to meat raised in captivity or confinement and yes to meat from the free-roaming or free-flying wild)."

I don't see any hypocrisy in there. Only an aim to not obtain food by cruel means or from animals that have led a tortured life in captivity. All animals are going to die one day, so if they are killed during hunting or at a certain age after roaming freely in a large farm, it is equivalent to a predator hunting them down. Which happens quite commonly in the jungle in nature. Factory farms are wayy different.

Get over yourself, you losers. You're bitching about her doing a commercial; can we say pathetic?!