Padma Lakshmi served up a top-tier helping of judgment for Vice President JD Vance’s questionable meal choice for his wife, Usha Vance.
The second lady, Usha Vance (née Chilukuri), is an American lawyer who made history as the first Indian American and first Hindu to hold the role. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Andhra Pradesh, India.
During a February interview on Fox News with Lara Trump, Vance was asked about the best and worst dishes he’s ever made for his wife.
The Vice President described his infamous kitchen experiment:
“Usha is a vegetarian, and I am not. So, I’m thinking to myself, what does a vegetarian eat? Vegetables, dairy, and bread. So, I went to the grocery store. I got those crescent rolls that you can get that are very good. I rolled them out into a pizza shape, and put vegetables and ranch on top, and stuck it in the oven for 30 minutes.”
“It was disgusting,” he recalled. “Like, it was actually inedible.” Needless to say, the bizarre dish quickly became the target of jokes—including from acclaimed culinary figure Padma Lakshmi.
During a recent appearance on The Daily Show, guest-hosted by Desi Lydic, Lakshmi didn’t hesitate to roast the vice president’s ranch-heavy creation.
She reacted to JD Vance’s ranch-covered recipe:
“He's married an Indian woman, so she comes from this very deep vast culinary tradition, you know, and he's giving her, what was it, ranch dressing?”
An Emmy-nominated television host, author, producer, and activist, Lakshmi is best known for her longtime tenure as host of Top Chef from 2006 to 2023. An Indian-American herself, she also created and hosted Hulu’s Taste the Nation, a series that explores immigrant food cultures across the United States.
Lakshmi continued, poking fun at Vance’s description of vegetarian cooking:
“Who bakes ranch dressing? Also, he's like, ‘She's a vegetarian. She only eats bread, vegetables, and dairy.' You've been married to this person for over a decade, right? And we eat lots of things, right? Rice, lentils, beans, squash, all this stuff.”
The audience quickly picked up on the absurdity of the scenario as Lakshmi continued dissecting the meal. For her, the issue wasn’t just the ranch—it was the surprisingly narrow view of vegetarian cooking.
And she delivered one last zinger about the meal:
“But, I mean, maybe he knows what she likes because she doesn't really have good taste.”
Perhaps the vice president could use a little inspiration from Lakshmi’s cookbook, All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond.
Lydic then shifted the conversation by asking Lakshmi about the worst dish a partner had ever made for her.
Lakshmi recalled:
“They brought me a cup of tea, and my kitchen is downstairs, and my bedroom is upstairs. And literally, if they had committed a crime, I would have caught them because there was a trail of drops of tea all the way up to my bed. And then the next morning, I went downstairs, and it was sticky. There were drops of honey."
You can view Lakshmi’s roast of the Vances and the worst meal she’s ever been served below:
Viewers applauded Lakshmi’s roast and poked fun at the now-infamous ranch-covered dish.
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Lakshmi is returning to television with a new culinary competition series, America’s Culinary Cup, premiering on CBS on March 4.
She serves as the creator, host, and executive producer of the invitation-only series, with chefs Michael Cimarusti and Wylie Dufresne joining as judges. According to the show’s official description, 16 elite chefs will compete while being tested on 10 “culinary commandments” throughout the season.
Lakshmi previously spoke about the project during CBS’ presentation at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour in January.
She explained why she wanted to reinvent the cooking competition format:
“I’ve obviously had almost two decades of experience in the genre, and I thought the genre was ready for a shake-up, for a refresh, and for something new and different. And I wanted to be the one who did it.”
Lakshmi is aiming to push the genre in a new direction that celebrates the depth and creativity of global cuisine. And if her recent roast of the Vances proved anything, it’s that she still isn’t afraid to call out questionable food choices along the way.
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