Padma Lakshmi receives Boston University’s 2024 ICON Award

ICON award recognizes innovators who create new and transformative paradigms in hospitality

Indian American Emmy-nominated producer, television host, New York Times bestselling author and food connoisseur Padma Lakshmi has received the ICON Award from Boston University’s School of Hospitality Administration.

Lakshmi received the annual ICON award recognizing innovators who create new and transformative paradigms in hospitality during BU’s Hospitality Leadership Summit at BU’s Computing and Data Sciences Center on April 4.

“I am honored to be recognized by Boston University School of Hospitality Administration and to support the school’s mission to make the world a more hospitable place for all,” said Lakshmi. “Fostering leaders who are committed to creating memorable, joyful experiences that connect people is important to both society and humanity.”

READ: Padma Lakshmi wins 2 Critics Choice Real TV Awards (June 19, 2023)

“We are proud to recognize Padma Lakshmi with the prestigious ICON Award,” states Arun Upneja, Dean of Boston University School of Hospitality Administration. “Through her many impressive achievements, she epitomizes hospitality in the truest sense of the definition: ‘welcoming the stranger.’ Her advocacy for immigrant and women’s rights are a testament to her unwavering championing of inclusiveness, equality, and justice.”

Lakshmi is the creator of the critically acclaimed and Emmy-nominated Hulu series “Taste the Nation,” which is the recipient of a James Beard Foundation Award top prize in Visual Media – Long Form.

Lakshmi served as host and executive producer for 19 seasons of Bravo’s two-time Emmy-winning series “Top Chef,” which has been nominated for 47 Emmys, including her five-time nomination for Outstanding Host for a Reality-Competition Program.”

Ahead of receiving the honor from BU, Lakshmi, whose lifelong interest in food began when she was a child, joined The Culture Show to talk with host Jared Bowen about her work.

READ: Move over Butter Board, Now try Padma Lakshmi’s Lassi Board (December 30, 2022)

“I certainly watched all those black and whites of Julia Child,” she said. “In high school, I started buying cookbooks and read them cover to cover. […] I think you can tell an immense amount about a person by their food practices and their food ways. I don’t have a formula for how I got here, I’m just happy that I did that.”

With “Taste the Nation,” which dropped its second season on Hulu in 2023, Lakshmi said, “the impetus for that show was specifically to bring Americans together and to communicate with people who don’t necessarily think like I do. […] It was informed by seeing on the ground firsthand how polarized our country had become.”

READ: Biden-Harris inauguration specials: Padma Lakshmi’s ‘tamarind rice’, Vasco Gargalo’ cartoon (January 22, 2021)

She treated the show as “one long road trip,” where she was able to really connect with the community and visit small, locally-owned eateries. Including right here in Massachusetts — Lakshmi dedicated an episode of “Taste the Nation” to the Cambodia Town neighborhood of Lowell.

She visited spots like Simply Khmer, where Lowell residents Sam and Denise Li prepared Khmer dishes and told Lakshmi about their experiences as immigrants to the US.

“I think that Cambodian episode is one of my favorite episodes,” she said. “It’s also one of the toughest. It was very tough to film, because I just wanted to be so tender and careful with these people who have gone through so much trauma and [I wanted to] just be patient and make sure that I didn’t push them.”

The episode was also a moment of return for Lakshmi, who has a BA from Clark University in Worcester.

“I went to school not far from [Lowell],” she said. “But I had no idea that this community was developing. And they’ve done amazing. [… Lowell has] had some tough times, like many New England factory towns, and it has gone through its different crises, and they’ve managed to resuscitate and breathe new life into it.”