Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi is writing her first children’s book, People magazine reports.
Lakshmi’s Tomatoes for Neela will be published by Viking Children’s Books this summer. The book, illustrated by Juana Martinez-Neal, follows a young girl who learns all about tomatoes while cooking with her mom.
On a webpage for the book, Viking says it “takes young readers on an intergenerational journey full of delicious flavors and fun food facts that celebrates a family’s treasured recipes.”
In a statement to People, Lakshmi said, “It’s a celebration of food, the many people who help bring it to us, and the connection it provides to our family and our culture. I was inspired by the many incredible women in my family and one of the most important ways we bonded was through food.”
Lakshmi, who has hosted the popular cooking show Top Chef since 2006, said the book was inspired by cooking with her own daughter, Krishna.
Lakshmi is the author of three cookbooks and a memoir, Love, Loss, and What We Ate. A reviewer for Kirkus called that book “an intimate, revealing portrait, far different from the woman blazoned in the tabloids.”
Tomatoes for Neela is slated for publication on Aug. 31.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
