Padma Lakshmi Skewers JD Vance & Wife Usha for Bad Culinary Taste

Padma Lakshmi didn’t hold back when it came to criticizing the vice president during a recent sitdown on The Daily Show.

The Top Chef alum, who now hosts her new CBS reality competition series America’s Culinary Cup, appeared on the talk show with host Desi Lydic to promote the new show and made some candid comments about the state of politics in America along the way.

Referring to the recent shakeups at CBS News, which have seen the network skew more pro-Donald Trump in its coverage and policies, Lydic joked, “Do we have to give President Trump the cup at the end?”

“No, I hope not, no,” Lakshmi answered. “Believe me, it’s going to be Trump’s America’s Culinary Cup pretty soon, but I hope not…. I don’t want this to happen.”

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She then reacted to a clip of JD Vance talking about his own culinary adventures at home with second lady Usha Vance during a Fox News interview. In it, Vance said, “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. It was actually inedible.”

In response, Lakshmi said, “I was watching those clips that you put up… and [shakes head], there’s so many reasons to hate JD Vance, I just didn’t think we needed a culinary one. He’s married an Indian woman, so she comes from this very deep, vast culinary tradition, and he’s giving her — what was it — ranch dressing?”

She also poked fun at his explanation of the decision, saying, “He was 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.”

Lakshmi then concluded her comments with the sharpest barb of all, saying, “Maybe he knows what she likes ’cause she doesn’t really have good taste.”

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Lakshmi’s new series, America’s Culinary Cup, premieres on Wednesday, March 4, with 16 elite chefs competing for the title prize. About her return to competition TV, Lakshmi said at the Television Critics Association winter tour, “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.”

America’s Culinary Cup, Series Premiere, March 4, 9:30/8:30c, CBS