Padma Lakshmi Had A Hilarious Response To Stephen King's Dinner 'Horror Story'
If there's one duo you might not have been expecting a "hashtag-collab" from in 2022, it's probably Padma Lakshmi and Stephen King. One is an ex-supermodel who was born in India and raised in the U.S., where she has been steadily winning hearts, minds, and stomachs since her debut on Food Network and subsequent entrepreneurism, activism, and food writing. The latter is a white, bespectacled gentleman from Portland, Maine, who is pushing 75 and continues to make his living scaring the pants off of anyone brave enough to pick up any one of the novels he has penned, which include but are not limited to "The Shining," "Thinner," and "Carrie" (all of which have been made into super-creepy movies).
On the surface, Lakshmi and King might not have much in common. But writing may just be the tie that binds these two together, as evidenced by a short-form (as in, 280 characters) literary piece, recently exhibited for the public on the world's greatest-worst forum: Twitter. "Dinner: Get a nice salmon filet at the supermarket," Stephen King recently tweeted. "Not too big. Put some olive oil and lemon juice on it. Wrap it in damp paper towels. Nuke it in the microwave for 3 minutes or so. Eat it. Maybe add a salad." Like a protagonist in one of his own novels, the author himself seemed happily oblivious to his plight. For how could King have known what (or who) was lurking in the virtual shadows...
The King of horror meets the queen of food faux pas
Stephen King's surprise came in the form of Padma Lakshmi, who also happens to be a dab hand at the pen (or keyboard) and who has a wit that rivals any blue-checked celebrity trolling the Twitterverse. "More terrifying than any story he's penned," Lakshmi wrote, retweeting King's so-called dinner recipe. Her tweet, which included a scared-looking emoji, had garnered over a thousand likes at time of publishing. Lakshmi's fans (along with fans of common food decency) echoed the chef's sentiments. "Truly a horror story," wrote user @AlexPalombo. "Who microwaves fish?!" Another Twitter user seemed genuinely hurt, tweeting, "Why do this to a piece of salmon. Why?" Even chef José Andrés chimed in.
King's tweet also ignited tweeters' deepest fears, with commenters pointing out that his suggestion of wrapping fish in wet paper towels before microwaving it was, at best, kind of gross, and at worst, scarier than anything King has written in his storied (sorry) career. The tweet has received 20.2k likes at time of publishing, but one has to wonder if the thousand-plus retweets are mostly comprised of comments like Lakshmi's; tweeters who are afraid of what horror lurks in the author's kitchen after salmon night at the King house. No word yet about whether King has seen Lakshmi's notes on his latest manuscript, but if the two connect and decide to co-author something based on the terrifying event, we're here for it.