Thanks for the heads up!
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Wonder if Gail would think of it as a demotion or she would like the greater visibility? I mean Gail and Tom could do the quick fires and the main competition with guest judges and maybe get rid of the “host” job.
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I’m approximately Padma’s age and can relate, but what a sad reason to leave.
I don’t recall whether it’s been mentioned here, but Padma has said that she gains a lot of weight each season just from the sheer volume/calories she ingests, that she then has to work to lose. I can understand that as she’s hit middle age, subjecting herself to that cycle annually begins to take a toll. But it also sounds as if she has hit a place where she just prefers more flexibility than TC’s schedule allows for both personal and professional reasons.
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Me too, it looks like something I would enjoy.
She’s an ex fashion model who just appeared in the latest Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, so I have a feeling her definition of “fat” is very different from most of the population. Anyway, she seems to want to just concentrate on her other show, Taste of the Nation.
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Padma’s not talking about being “fat”, she’s talking about weight she gains during the course of a Top Chef season.
As CaitlinM said above “Padma has said that she gains a lot of weight each season just from the sheer volume/calories she ingests, that she then has to work to lose” If I worked at a job that meant I gained unwanted weight, I would also reconsider it, and believe me, I don’t think Sports Illustrated is looking to feature me.
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Could we all move the discussion from Padma’s body and fatphobic talk? It serves no one.
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I don’t see any fatphobia, but the effects of eating so much is one reason Padma gave for stepping aside, so whether it “serves” anyone or not, it is a valid discussion point. I recall several years ago Padma noted that she brought clothes in three sizes to the season as she “grew” during the competition.
And let’s be honest–if Tom puts on 50 lb during a season, it would pass largely unnoticed; if Padma puts on 10 it would be a social media snarkfest.
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Agreed, the challenges of eating professionally while being a human are much more on topic than the clothes worn while doing the eating (i.e. Gail’s shoulder pads criticized above.)
In my own work, I spit a lot of things out after tasting but I don’t think that would work for Top Chef. Because it’s kinda gross, and because i think there is a difference between just tasting and fully eating food.
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Eating all the Top Chef foods isn’t just about weight gain (though I emphathize with those who know that after a certain age, you gain weight from just looking at some foods…). A lot of the dishes they make in Top Chef are rich, indulgent foods. They mix in the occasional vegan or healthy challenge, but a lot of it involves folks using a LOT of butter, HEAVY CREAM, foie gras, pork belly, etc. Haha, we all know why many restaurant dishes often taste better than our homemade stuff - no matter how capable a home cook we may be. I think her job is a dream job, but more than just the weight gain, it would be very concerning to my doctor that for even 4 months out of the year, I’m eating 10-20 meals a week of fatty rich foods.
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I listened to the Pack Your Knives podcast episode on the finale, which has Sara and Buddha, and in it Sara explains that calves’ liver was “plan G”, and though it didn’t make the edit, even sweetbreads was a pivot. Her original idea for “liver and onions” was using foie gras, but none of the places they were sent to shop had whole lobes of it, she’d have to go to a real specialty shop. The sweet accompaniments make more sense in the foie gras context. She also goes through how the undercooked liver happened, and they both talk about the logistics of developing their finale menus and bringing in special ingredients (like those grasshoppers).
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Ahhh! I’m going to try to listen to that. I was wondering how the undercooked liver happened, and I was thinking cookie butter and figs would go great with foie gras!
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It really shows how they slice and dice the footage, because the show certainly portrayed it as if sweetbreads were her original plan.
Bhudda and his wife posted a cute instagram post that said “fire up a double” that announced that they are having twins.
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So that’s where that prize money is going 
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Almost caught up!
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