Padma Lakshmi Shares a Touching Personal Email About What Top Chef Means to Real People

Bravo's Top Chef's fans find many of reasons to love host Padma Lakshmi on the show. But fans who follow Padma on Instagram also love her for the way she engages personally with so many posts and comments, showing love and support to people all over the globe.

One fan reached out to Padma on Instagram to share a moving story in the hopes that Padma would in turn share it with her nearly half million followers. Padma obliged — and we got to hear a moving story about how a shared love of food impacts people all over the world in real life.

Padma copied the email into her Instagram Stories, and annotated it with her own note, "I received a very touching email today from a woman named Jessica."

Then Padma excerpted Jessica's email: "My mother finds comfort in cooking, so she made the most creative food with using the least amount of money. Not only did she manage to keep the roof over our heads but she found love, comfort, and stress relief in cooking. The reason for me emailing you is because of what Top Chef has given to my mother."

Jessica's email continued, "My mother has learned so many new techniques and has found herself in her food when she was lost. I'm not asking for anything but recognition for my inspiration. It would mean the world for my mother Lorna Channell to get a simple shoutout and for her to know that her daughter loves her and her cooking."