Padma Lakshmi Made An Extremely Timely Cake For A More-Somber-Than-Usual July 4

It’s Independence Day in America, but what is the nation celebrating? Abortion rights have been stricken away in several states, with more to follow. There’s a new rise in Republican homophobia. Books are being banned by conservatives. Mass shootings are the norm, including one in Highland Park, Illinois during a July 4 parade. And the Supreme Court is working to eradicate the line separating church and state. So on the big holiday this year, Padma Lakshmi decided to keep it real.

The Top Chef and Taste the Nation host took to Instagram to show off her latest culinary creation: a big white cake bearing the words “Separate Church & State.” This thought is illustrated by cleanly separated rows of fruit: cherries on top and blueberries on the bottom.

“Not much to celebrate this 4th, I’m afraid,” Lakshmi wrote in the caption. “Let’s just hope everyone can keep safe and peaceful today and that soon our nation veers away from this precipice. No matter what, we’ll keep fighting for the day where all humans have the same rights, at least of their own person and body, have privacy to make their own choices and to love whom they love and live in peace.”

It’s a somber way to ring in a more-somber-than-usual year. But better that than how former president Donald Trump is celebrating it.

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