Love, Loss, and What We Ate
A memoir that blends personal trauma with recipes.
Last updated
Padma Lakshmi's 2016 memoir was originally planned as a healthy eating book but became a candid examination of personal trauma and her marriage to Salman Rushdie.[1] The 1995 memoir Love, Loss and What I Wore by Ilene Beckerman is alluded to in the title, and that work was turned into a stage play by Lakshmi's friend Nora Ephron.[1]
Last updated 2026-10-07 from the source article.
Key facts and history
The memoir covers her abandonment by her father, childhood sexual abuse, youth in Chennai, and harassment as a young immigrant to the United States.[1] It also addresses a motor-vehicle collision at age 14 that left her scarred, her battle with endometriosis, and the pregnancy that yielded her daughter.[1] Glamour magazine recommended it as a "memoir-cookbook" that places the reader at Lakshmi's table with her mother and grandfather.[2] Newsweek Global noted recipes include the chili cheese toast of her childhood and the kumquat chutney she made after her marriage dissolved.[2]
Food & Wine recommended it as an "object of obsession" in a 2016 issue.[3]
What the cited sources add
One critical analysis describes the book as using "foodwork" as a form of "consumable heritage" that gives the diasporic food writer visibility and agency.[4] The same analysis states Lakshmi's writing contextualizes cooking as a means of fortifying cultural and familial bonds and constructing her identity.[4]
References
- Wikipedia, "Love, Loss, and What We Ate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Lakshmi, "The Loves of my Life", March 21, 2016; Dixit, "Mass Consumption", 2016, p. 58–61; "Telling Tales", India Today, April 18, 2016, p. 2; Blake, "Hungry to speak her mind on her terms", The Los Angeles Times, 2016-04-03, p. F9; "Telling Tales", India Today, April 18, 2016, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Love, Loss, and What We Ate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Egan, "Family? Drama? Check, and Check", April 2016, p. 154 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Love, Loss, and What We Ate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dixit, "Mass Consumption", 2016, p. 58–61; "10 Objects of Our Obsession", 2016, p. 18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Love, Loss, and What We Ate" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mohanty Satapathy 2025, p. 1252 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Love, Loss, and What We Ate (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in American cuisine
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Love, Loss, and What We Ate (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced