Speaker 1: So I have known Giada de Laurentis for such a
Speaker 1: long time. I'm not sure how I was first introduced
Speaker 1: to her. Either I was doing her makeup for something
Speaker 1: or just at one of those events, or at probably
Speaker 1: behind the scenes at the Today Show. And we've kind
Speaker 1: of kept in touch, and I've been following her and
Speaker 1: watching all these different things that she has been doing.
Speaker 1: I'm a really big fan. Hi. My dream is to
Speaker 1: just have dinner with her at her house when she's cooking,
Speaker 1: but which you know, hopefully will happen one day. But
Speaker 1: I'm just so interested in this new business she has
Speaker 1: and how she's you know, kind of doing the ship.
Speaker 1: So I'm looking forward to my conversation with Giada de Laurentis. Hey,
Speaker 1: would you what a cute hat? Oh? Well, I have
Speaker 1: to because otherwise it's just a lady who gives me
Speaker 1: my blow drives has COVID. So she was like, I
Speaker 1: can't give you a blow drive COVID. I thought, okay, well,
Speaker 1: then Bobby's gonna get me with my curly hair. Mat Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I don't even think you realize how
Speaker 1: good your hair looks. I don't think you need blowouts
Speaker 1: like your hair looks all like, no, it looks done.
Speaker 1: So what have you done to your hair today? I
Speaker 1: have put a curling iron in it a little bit
Speaker 1: because it's frezzy. It's very humid here in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: as it was in New York when I was there
Speaker 1: two days ago. Um, so it gets frizzy, you know.
Speaker 1: And I think, honestly, Bobby, as we get older, we
Speaker 1: color our hair, and you know, we have people doing
Speaker 1: our hair all the time and all that stuff, it
Speaker 1: just gets the natural curl kinda. It's just age, you know, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: But also there's so many products that you could put
Speaker 1: in your hair that kind of tame the frizze. Because
Speaker 1: I'm all about like low maintenance, like you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know about you, but I get these invitations to
Speaker 1: go to these dinners and I'm like, I'm not going
Speaker 1: if I have to get a blowout, I'm just not going. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But you can put your hair back a certain way
Speaker 1: because in the shape of your now, because I have
Speaker 1: a different shape head than you, You're just long this way,
Speaker 1: so it looks good to pull back. Mine is wide
Speaker 1: with a big jawline, so it almost makes like more
Speaker 1: of a boy. I already have a bobble head. But
Speaker 1: then I get like a giant by a bobble head.
Speaker 1: Come on, well, just go like that. We're not on TV,
Speaker 1: We're on a podcast. Just put your hair back. I
Speaker 1: would like to see your bobble head. You're you're out
Speaker 1: of your freaking mind. But Bobby, I've had people putting
Speaker 1: do memes of me because I have a little body
Speaker 1: with a big, giant head. Oh my god, I could
Speaker 1: take off with these wings pretty soon. You know, I
Speaker 1: could fly to New York and see you with these wings.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. But you know what, first of all,
Speaker 1: the people that are doing the memes have nothing else
Speaker 1: to do time to me, you're just the cutest little thing.
Speaker 1: And we're both the exact same height. I think, I know.
Speaker 1: We are little people with lots of with lots of
Speaker 1: fire in us. Don't you think that? Do you think
Speaker 1: that had anything to do with making you so passionate
Speaker 1: it about what you do? Oh? Absolutely. My grandfather was
Speaker 1: a little smaller than me, and he had so much
Speaker 1: energy and fire and everything in him that it just
Speaker 1: I feel like I got that from him. You know,
Speaker 1: you come from this big De Laurentis family, which is
Speaker 1: like food and movies. Was your grandfather in the biz? Yes,
Speaker 1: so my grandfather was Dina de Laurentis, so he made uncle. Okay,
Speaker 1: that was your grandpa. No, my grandfather my mother's father. Um.
Speaker 1: So my grandfather came to the States in the seven
Speaker 1: early seventies, as we all did because we followed him.
Speaker 1: And my grandfather has made over six hundred movies in
Speaker 1: sixty years now. He's been dead maybe fifteen years now.
Speaker 1: He died at ninety three, but he did a lot
Speaker 1: in that meantime. And my grandmother was Miss Rome and
Speaker 1: then they were they were partners, so she would star
Speaker 1: in his movies. So she became a huge movie star
Speaker 1: and he would produce the movies. So they became like
Speaker 1: this powerhouse together. Wow. I mean, first of all, what
Speaker 1: an upbringing? What? You know? What what you had to
Speaker 1: look at? I look at my Papa Sam came from
Speaker 1: Russia and ended up you know, a car dealer. You know,
Speaker 1: he was a big car dealer in Chicago, Papa Sam,
Speaker 1: and he was five two. So you know, I come
Speaker 1: from a similar a Jewish line. You come from the
Speaker 1: Italian line, So you had better at Catholic, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: better like yeah, definitely her food. But yeah, well I
Speaker 1: guess that's a matter of opinion. But yes. And my
Speaker 1: grandfather's mother and father had a pasta factory in Naples
Speaker 1: before World War Two, so he and his seven siblings
Speaker 1: would go door to door outside of Naples and Tota
Speaker 1: and sell their mother's pasta and sauces. Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: that's how he became a great salesman, which is why
Speaker 1: everybody always said, um, although he made some great movies
Speaker 1: and he he wants oscars for them, what have you? Uh,
Speaker 1: and they're in the zeitgeist. But he really could sell
Speaker 1: you anything, Bobby. He could send you. He could sell
Speaker 1: you a lump of coal, and you would think you
Speaker 1: just got a bag of gold, like it was a
Speaker 1: gift to be able to be able to do that. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's that's yeah. No, it's amazing like when you stop
Speaker 1: and think about who you are now and where you
Speaker 1: came from, and you know what gives your giving to
Speaker 1: your daughter? So how old is your daughter now? Because
Speaker 1: she was always this little girl and I know she's
Speaker 1: not even moore, she's fourteen. Um. Yeah, and she is
Speaker 1: an avid lover of all things musical theater. So she
Speaker 1: is currently in a musical theater camp and Upstate New
Speaker 1: York and the Cats Skills where I just dropped her
Speaker 1: first time away from her parents for like four weeks,
Speaker 1: which is crazy. But she's very independent. Um. She loves makeup, Bobby,
Speaker 1: So she loves all of your stuff, all your Jones
Speaker 1: Road stuff. She play is with makeup all day. I
Speaker 1: think that's something a lot of girls rage are really into.
Speaker 1: Um and uh, it's really it's really fun to watch
Speaker 1: her sort of become her own person. You know. She
Speaker 1: doesn't like to cook, by the way, Okay, she doesn't.
Speaker 1: Interesting she did when she was younger and it all
Speaker 1: switched at about eleven, right, okay, but she likes to
Speaker 1: eat your food sometimes, Yeah you cook? Well, do you
Speaker 1: cook every night? Yeah? I do. But and she used
Speaker 1: to love my food more. I think now she's just
Speaker 1: more into uh, you know, her packaged foods are just junk.
Speaker 1: I think it's I sometimes think it is hormonal, and
Speaker 1: then I sometimes think it's her way of trying to
Speaker 1: separate herself from her mother. And that is for drone path, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that is that. See, I grew up with
Speaker 1: a very glamorous mother with like you know, sprayed hair
Speaker 1: and so much makeup, and I just found my comfort
Speaker 1: level being you know me, which is not a lot
Speaker 1: of makeup. And you know, though I do love a
Speaker 1: good hair color and blowout, I am like I feel
Speaker 1: my most comfortable when i'm just like not overdone, but
Speaker 1: funny enough. You built a giant makeup brand, isn't that? Like?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just so fascinating, right, But if you
Speaker 1: think about like my the first makeup brand, which you know,
Speaker 1: is very different what I'm doing now, but the concept
Speaker 1: of who I am and how I think of beauty
Speaker 1: is the same. And I think that makeup is a
Speaker 1: way to just enhance and make you feel better about
Speaker 1: what you look like. You don't have to be all that,
Speaker 1: you know, like over made up hidden faces. So I
Speaker 1: like natural. Yeah, I like natural too. Um. I think
Speaker 1: it's harder sometimes these days as you get older, and
Speaker 1: I think that being on camera natural is awesome if
Speaker 1: you have a certain if you've been given something wonderful
Speaker 1: to work with from you know, your family and your genetics.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it gets harder as you get older to not
Speaker 1: wear a lot of makeup. But I think we've also
Speaker 1: changed the way we look at beauty. Um, and I
Speaker 1: think it's been a lovely road. And I think what
Speaker 1: you're doing with Jones Road and kind of changing. I
Speaker 1: don't know the perception because I know my daughter just
Speaker 1: she loves these makeups that have so much pigment, but
Speaker 1: they're so incredibly toxic. And I keep telling her, like
Speaker 1: you started and earn the early age with a bucket, right,
Speaker 1: and then we spend our whole life filling this bucket
Speaker 1: with all sorts of toxins and whether or not your
Speaker 1: body can detox somebodies are great at detoxing, somebody's aren't.
Speaker 1: And depending on where you fall in that uh, in
Speaker 1: that sort of path, if you start early just poisoning, poisoning,
Speaker 1: poisoning day in and day out, by the time you're
Speaker 1: my age, yeah, but I wouldn't worry about it if
Speaker 1: you think about it. I didn't know what clean was.
Speaker 1: I didn't know what organic was. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know how many years I've been eating organic and grass
Speaker 1: fed and all that stuff, like we grew up on.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm older than you are. I grew up
Speaker 1: on package terrible food. But I find, you know, right now,
Speaker 1: what I put my body is really important. How do
Speaker 1: you eat, Like, what's your modality? Well, I didn't grow
Speaker 1: up on package food, which is probably one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that I I'm on my daughter all the time.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's funny because her father says the
Speaker 1: same things from Michigan. He's like, I ate junk and
Speaker 1: I'm totally fine, Like, yeah, almost sixty years ago. The
Speaker 1: world that my daughter lives in is not the world
Speaker 1: that you lived in, or that he lived in, or
Speaker 1: that I even lived in. We we are all we're
Speaker 1: living in a totally different, in my opinion, much more
Speaker 1: toxic world um and generation after generation, our level that
Speaker 1: we can consume of toxicity has heightened, but our bodies
Speaker 1: haven't been able to sort of modulate and deal with that.
Speaker 1: So I think for her right now, it's actually worse
Speaker 1: than what you went through, or he went through, or
Speaker 1: I went through. I am always eight. My my parents cooked.
Speaker 1: I mean, it is sort of the Italian tradition, my
Speaker 1: my parents and my whole family. My grandfather nobody believed
Speaker 1: in buying um prepackaged foods. In fact, I remember when
Speaker 1: I started Everyday Italian on Food Network years ago, my
Speaker 1: grandfather was like, how could you tell them that it's
Speaker 1: okay to open a jar of tomato sauce. They should
Speaker 1: be making the sauce from scratch. It is not okay.
Speaker 1: You are prescribing to an American way that is not okay.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, yeah, but I just want them to cook,
Speaker 1: and I'll get there once they trust I'll get there.
Speaker 1: But I gotta start with ease. I gotta take sort
Speaker 1: of the the the the sense that people had from
Speaker 1: Italian food that as we went out to eat you know,
Speaker 1: you go out to eat it tigans, we do not
Speaker 1: make it at home. And so I wanted to change
Speaker 1: that that perception. And I felt that if you make
Speaker 1: it easier for them, little by little baby steps, you'll
Speaker 1: get to the point where they're okay with that. So
Speaker 1: my parents cooked every man, and that's how I learned
Speaker 1: to cook. My grandfather cooked everything, even pizza from pizza
Speaker 1: dough from scratch. Nothing was pre done. They also brought um.
Speaker 1: They would import a lot of ingredients from families and
Speaker 1: friends or put in their suitcase when they would come home.
Speaker 1: Because the Italian ingredients the way that we know them
Speaker 1: today and I don't know even Walmart has Purshooto was
Speaker 1: not non existent when I was a kid, so we
Speaker 1: would import everything. And that's how I that's how I ate,
Speaker 1: And honestly, mabby, I didn't have a hamburger from McDonald's
Speaker 1: until I was in my twenties, and when I did,
Speaker 1: my body did not like it. I'm I'm an ultra
Speaker 1: sensitive person in always, and so food is very critical
Speaker 1: for me and the way I feel. So I have
Speaker 1: to be careful um and eat small meals and you know,
Speaker 1: be careful with with what I'm eating and where it
Speaker 1: comes from. So I don't really eat package foods. I can't,
Speaker 1: not because I don't want to, but because I won't
Speaker 1: feel well for days. Now as I've gotten older, it
Speaker 1: used to be a couple of hours. Now it's like
Speaker 1: dates to recuperate. So well, let's yeah, talk talk to
Speaker 1: me about that, because you know I was gonna ask you.
Speaker 1: When I traveled to Italy and I eat, I'm in
Speaker 1: the mood for pasta, order pasta, I have some wine.
Speaker 1: It's fine, I'm here. I can't really eat pasta or
Speaker 1: wine because I'm not going to feel good the next day.
Speaker 1: So why why what is wrong with this country? Well,
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with this country. Let's start there. It's
Speaker 1: just the way that we our relationship with food and
Speaker 1: ingredients is just different. I mean, if you have to
Speaker 1: think about the way that America came to be, people escaped,
Speaker 1: right Like your grandfather left Russia because he wanted a
Speaker 1: better life, he wanted to pursue his religious believes, he
Speaker 1: wanted all of these things he could not do in
Speaker 1: his own country. Right, So the idea of the migration
Speaker 1: is that we're going to be able to find me.
Speaker 1: Number one, We're gonna have more of ingredients. Number two,
Speaker 1: so more more of everything, and we're gonna make it
Speaker 1: so everybody can eat all these things, unlike where we
Speaker 1: came from, where only people who had a lot of
Speaker 1: money could buy these ingredients, and everybody else a vegetables
Speaker 1: and whatever they could grow. So that mentality turned into
Speaker 1: we're gonna have chicken farms and we're gonna feed them
Speaker 1: antibiotics so they don't get sick, and we're gonna make
Speaker 1: them grow as fast as we can so that businesses
Speaker 1: like McDonald's can grow um and feed everybody. And I
Speaker 1: think the intention was a good one. It was not
Speaker 1: a bad intention. The intention was good. It's just over
Speaker 1: time what happens We ingest a lot of things that
Speaker 1: were not prepared to do or break down or detox
Speaker 1: and then we have you know, digestive problems, gaster entrology problems,
Speaker 1: brain problems, diseases, viruses like it. Just but it happens
Speaker 1: over many years, right, two years probably or more um
Speaker 1: for things to change. And in Italy, you know, yes,
Speaker 1: do we have fast food, Absolutely we do. It's the
Speaker 1: Western way of thinking, in the American way has definitely
Speaker 1: penetrated those countries. But we still as a culture really
Speaker 1: revere our land, our relationship with the soil and our land,
Speaker 1: and the way we harvest and the way we eat.
Speaker 1: So for Italians, meals are really important, they really are.
Speaker 1: And it's important to eat dinner together, lunch together. Uh,
Speaker 1: we source really well, we buy locally. These things are
Speaker 1: sort of ingrained in our culture in a way that
Speaker 1: it's not pussible. You can and that you can't expect
Speaker 1: Americans to have had to believe in that, because that's
Speaker 1: not part of the culture of people who came here, right,
Speaker 1: But I think we can. We're working towards that, and
Speaker 1: I think people are a lot better now at at
Speaker 1: reading labels and understanding what they're eating. And the way
Speaker 1: they feel being in tuned with their bodies. Like, hey,
Speaker 1: I don't feel so good. I just ate that giant
Speaker 1: pizza with bacon and everything else. I'm not feeling so
Speaker 1: good tomorrow I might not do that, or I might
Speaker 1: have a slice and not the whole pizza I have
Speaker 1: to and not. So I think people are getting better
Speaker 1: and they're being more um, they're more cognizant of what's happening.
Speaker 1: And that's really pasta like every night if you felt
Speaker 1: like it in Italy, I can yes here, no, but
Speaker 1: what if you buy the what if you bring over
Speaker 1: the same pasta? So that's what I've started. That's what
Speaker 1: I've started doing with john Z, which I started about
Speaker 1: six years ago, and now I've started an e commerce
Speaker 1: portion of it because it was just a content website first. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so what I'm gonna I want to know all about that.
Speaker 1: I want to know you know so many things. So
Speaker 1: since you already started to tell me about this new business.
Speaker 1: So this new business is an e commerce director consumer business.
Speaker 1: And basically what I what I've started to do is
Speaker 1: just bring in curated, really really high level products that
Speaker 1: are super clean and that have UM and that so yes,
Speaker 1: I can, you know, I can buy I can now
Speaker 1: eat the pasta from the family who made pasta in
Speaker 1: the same street as my grandfather in Naples. Like they
Speaker 1: still make it and source it the exact same way.
Speaker 1: You know. The thing with pasta is is that when
Speaker 1: it's um manufactured at these very high levels to keep
Speaker 1: up with demand, right, because that's what it is um,
Speaker 1: the pasta, the sourcing and the actual flower. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of our flower in all over the world,
Speaker 1: really but really in this country is rotten. And because
Speaker 1: it is, when you make food with it, then it
Speaker 1: has dire consequences on your digestive systems. So the way
Speaker 1: they source the ingredients to make the pasta, the way
Speaker 1: they cut it. They also don't make a ton of
Speaker 1: it because they can't the old way of cutting pasta,
Speaker 1: and the dies and the bronze dies and all that
Speaker 1: are changed. They can't mass produce the way that you
Speaker 1: can with plastic, and so all of those things make
Speaker 1: a difference in the way you can um you know, digesting.
Speaker 1: So that's why in Italy you can drink the wine
Speaker 1: less pesticides. They're not always organic the way we see it,
Speaker 1: but they are biodynamic and they don't use pesticides the
Speaker 1: way we do. Um. And so I've started to source tomatoes,
Speaker 1: all sorts of pastas, ingredient, all herbs, all that stuff
Speaker 1: and importing it through job Z from Italy and allowing
Speaker 1: consumers to be able to buy what they like, olive oils, balsamic,
Speaker 1: viner girls, things that they can trust that are good
Speaker 1: and clean, and you can eat that stuff and still
Speaker 1: feel good. That's the whole point. You know. I did
Speaker 1: it with my restaurant Vegas. I've done it with my cookbooks.
Speaker 1: That's the goal. Yeah, So I've I've remember seeing some
Speaker 1: news report I don't know if it was sixty Minutes
Speaker 1: or something, that olive oil is actually not really you know,
Speaker 1: olive oil. It's like bad oil. I mean, is that true?
Speaker 1: And is there just a different way to source good
Speaker 1: olive oil that's really olive oil? Well, that's just that's
Speaker 1: a giant generalization. I guess that's like saying all makeup
Speaker 1: brands are toxic, right, but that's probably not true depending
Speaker 1: on which one you're talking about. So are many perceived
Speaker 1: olive oils on regular store shelves um laced with other oils? Yes,
Speaker 1: usually seed oils, canola oils, vegetable oils, that's the filler, right,
Speaker 1: so they can make more money. Um. So you have
Speaker 1: to read ingredients labels if you care. You really have
Speaker 1: to because by design, you know, the Health Department and
Speaker 1: the FDA does make them right, certain ingredients in there.
Speaker 1: Now you have to be smart about it because once
Speaker 1: companies get fined for stuff like that, they just change
Speaker 1: names around. So you kind of have to stay on
Speaker 1: top of things. But yeah, sure, olive oil is number one,
Speaker 1: very expensive. Number two it should come when you buy
Speaker 1: olive oil in a dark container, right because olive oil,
Speaker 1: like many many nuts and seeded oils, bigger rancid very
Speaker 1: quickly if not protected from sun. Right. So there's a
Speaker 1: those are a couple of things to look for. DP
Speaker 1: is really something that you know you could look for,
Speaker 1: which says that they have gone through a whole process
Speaker 1: and past and gotten a stamp of approval that they
Speaker 1: are true olive all. Now, the oil and olives come
Speaker 1: from all over They can be sourced from all over
Speaker 1: the world, so they're not always from just one region, um,
Speaker 1: just because we don't have enough because people love olive oil.
Speaker 1: But yes, many, but not all have other oils as fillers.
Speaker 1: And do you cook with the same oil that you
Speaker 1: put on your salad or is that a separate oil. Um.
Speaker 1: There are a couple of olive oils depending on how
Speaker 1: strong they are, UM, that I cook with or I
Speaker 1: just finished with. UM. You know, olive oil. You can
Speaker 1: cook with it, but you've gotta be careful because it
Speaker 1: has a lower heat point it UM, so it starts
Speaker 1: to turn a little bit a little bit more carcinogenic
Speaker 1: when heated to high levels. So avocado oil is really
Speaker 1: great if you can get your hands on it. That's
Speaker 1: a better one to cook with because it has a
Speaker 1: lower set point, so you can heat it up more
Speaker 1: UM and be okay. So that's usually what I do.
Speaker 1: The the oil I stay away from is gonna oil
Speaker 1: that when I really and vegetable oil. Those oils are
Speaker 1: just I just cannot. Hey, you can tolerate them, Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're inflammatory. But if you can tolerate them and de
Speaker 1: talk them, great, I cannot. That's why I stay away. Well,
Speaker 1: I love that you have taken your love of food
Speaker 1: and turned it into this new platform of health and wellness.
Speaker 1: And you know, I use your book that came out
Speaker 1: last year. You have some really great recipes in there,
Speaker 1: so thank you for that. But just in general, when
Speaker 1: you kind of came onto like the stage, you were
Speaker 1: one of the first female chefs that you know, kind
Speaker 1: of captured everyone's heart and attention. Do you think that
Speaker 1: you were, like, you know, a pioneer in the middle
Speaker 1: of an all boys club. Well, there were a few
Speaker 1: of us that started. I think Rachel Ray, myself and
Speaker 1: und Garden all kind of started at the same time.
Speaker 1: We have different philosophies for sure, the way we went
Speaker 1: about cooking, but I think we all started and at
Speaker 1: the same time. I think for me it's my family
Speaker 1: stories that really capture people and the fact that people
Speaker 1: love Italian food and they really really wanted to be
Speaker 1: able to make it at home, you know, for for
Speaker 1: Food Network and for me in particular, um and maybe
Speaker 1: the other ladies, but you'd have to ask them. Nine
Speaker 1: eleven changed everything for us, It really did. And I
Speaker 1: know that sometimes that sounds a little odd, but nine
Speaker 1: eleven changed the perspective Americans had a family and food
Speaker 1: and home, and so people started cooking at home more
Speaker 1: than going out, and that changed the landscape. And Blue
Speaker 1: Food Network up it blew people like myself up, Rachel
Speaker 1: ray on a garden, even the guys. It really it
Speaker 1: changed the perspective and the mentality the way that I
Speaker 1: think COVID has changed that people see health and wellness
Speaker 1: for themselves. It's open their eyes. They've they've been able
Speaker 1: to be like, oh, this is important stuff. I think
Speaker 1: that was eleven and I think that the stars kind
Speaker 1: of converged and things switched and perspective switched, and that's
Speaker 1: what really, uh helped me to get to where I
Speaker 1: am today. And also my family stories. Without my family
Speaker 1: and the stories and all the all the recipes, this
Speaker 1: would never have happened. And you're so freaking cute on
Speaker 1: whatever you do. It's like, okay, I mean honestly, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, the beauty is. It took me a long
Speaker 1: time to get people to trust me because I look
Speaker 1: a certain way, right because I'm not a skinny cook,
Speaker 1: or I'm not what you traditionally would see as an
Speaker 1: Italian cook. You're a skinny cook. You are a skinny cook.
Speaker 1: I said, I know, I'm saying that. Most people said
Speaker 1: to me, you can't trust you know, a skinny cook,
Speaker 1: especially making Italian food. You just can't because they want
Speaker 1: to see a grandma. And I get it. I totally
Speaker 1: get it. So it took me a really long time
Speaker 1: to get people to trust me. But once I did, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I just gotta, you know, keep going at it. Well,
Speaker 1: how do you keep yourself skinny? Do you not taste
Speaker 1: all the things you cook? I mean, do you like,
Speaker 1: did you change your way of eating? I mean, people
Speaker 1: must forever be asking You're like, Giada, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: You're not eating the same stuff that I struggle with?
Speaker 1: So what like? What do you do? Number one asked questions?
Speaker 1: How do you say? Then I eat all that Italian food?
Speaker 1: And I always say the same thing. I a little
Speaker 1: bit of everything, and I don't eat a lot of anything.
Speaker 1: So yes, do I eat pasta? I do? Do I
Speaker 1: eat it every day? I do not? Do I eat
Speaker 1: a lot of it? When I eat it? I do not.
Speaker 1: I really come from the school of smaller plates, you know.
Speaker 1: I don't eat from those giant dinner plates because you
Speaker 1: just want to fill it and then you eat it all.
Speaker 1: So I don't do that. I didn't grow up that way,
Speaker 1: So to me, it's a different way of eating. Also
Speaker 1: to attics, my mother is tiny. My mother is she's
Speaker 1: tinier than me. You know, four kids later and she's
Speaker 1: tinier than me. And my culture is not one Italians
Speaker 1: and French and a lot of people, a lot of
Speaker 1: European cultures. We don't eat a lot of food. We
Speaker 1: eat several meals a day, but we don't eat a
Speaker 1: lot of food. And when we eat it, we eat
Speaker 1: it with friends. We don't just sit over the over
Speaker 1: the over the stove or over the sink and eat.
Speaker 1: It's not like you know, you've been people who have traveled. No,
Speaker 1: when they go to Europe, how long the stores closed
Speaker 1: for lunch? Two hours? They don't like it's not a
Speaker 1: twenty minute like eat your eat your food in the back,
Speaker 1: you know, and in twenty minutes get your butt back
Speaker 1: down the floor and start selling or work. We don't
Speaker 1: have that. It's a different mentality. And I grew up
Speaker 1: that way. So it's it's a little bit of all
Speaker 1: that stuff and I work out, Yeah, what do you do?
Speaker 1: What's your work? I used to do a lot of cardio.
Speaker 1: I was like a slave to all the machines and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. Nowadays I can't do quite as much
Speaker 1: more of that. Um so I do a lot of yoga.
Speaker 1: I do that five days a week, which I really
Speaker 1: like strength training, which is really good for me since
Speaker 1: I'm a little and UM, I like to paddle, like
Speaker 1: paddle surf on the on the ocean, since I live
Speaker 1: by the by the water, and UM, I walk a lot,
Speaker 1: a lot, not run, but walk. I think for me,
Speaker 1: moderate exercise, you know, like thirty minutes a day, five
Speaker 1: days a week, is better than like two hours three
Speaker 1: times a week. I just can't, I can't recoup from it.
Speaker 1: You know, you've been in the public eye for how
Speaker 1: many years? How many years? Yeah? I mean I've known
Speaker 1: you since I think I was, you know, starting a
Speaker 1: long time ago, and you know, and I've and I've
Speaker 1: heard you kind of deal with some criticism and you
Speaker 1: always have such a positive, you know, attitude. And I
Speaker 1: know there was like some famous clip about you know,
Speaker 1: on Ellen and Nicole Kidman said something that she likes.
Speaker 1: How did that feel and how did you react? Ah? Well,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, I think I learned early on,
Speaker 1: um that television is very unpredictable. And I also I
Speaker 1: think after a while of being in this business, you
Speaker 1: become a little bit um hardened to criticism. I I've
Speaker 1: gotten more criticism than I think a lot of people.
Speaker 1: And I think it's because I destruct the way people
Speaker 1: think about food, Italian food, and you know, I think
Speaker 1: just my thoughts around it all is so different than
Speaker 1: the way that we have thought of Italian food, to
Speaker 1: tell you people for so long. And I think that
Speaker 1: sometimes in life, when you go against the grain, you're
Speaker 1: going to get a lot more backlash. It's just the
Speaker 1: way it is. And I think I just got used
Speaker 1: to it. And when it came to Nicole Kidman, who
Speaker 1: I was, I'm a big fan of um and actually
Speaker 1: I was a big fan of Ellen too. She was
Speaker 1: always lovely. But I always knew that it was unpredictable
Speaker 1: and it wasn't about my food. It never was about
Speaker 1: the food. It was about the fun. Nobody cares Today's
Speaker 1: show all those they don't care about food, which is
Speaker 1: really hard when that's what you're trying to sell. They
Speaker 1: just want the audience to have fun. So if you
Speaker 1: get have fun with it and you can go off
Speaker 1: script and you can take the criticism, you know that
Speaker 1: that made me more famous than any decent uh you know,
Speaker 1: cooking demo I've ever done in my life. And that's
Speaker 1: why I have to see that. It's just it's not
Speaker 1: about that. It's about me being able to be entertaining
Speaker 1: and you can. You gotta be able to laugh at yourself.
Speaker 1: And I just learned over time that that's what it took.
Speaker 1: And I think, I guess I I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1: I will tell you my daughter was horrified, horrified, and
Speaker 1: I told her, I go, it's you can't take this
Speaker 1: stuff personally. If you do, you just can't be in
Speaker 1: this business. That's just the way it is. You know,
Speaker 1: you gotta be and you gotta be persistent. And I guess,
Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna lie Bobby until you didn't hurt.
Speaker 1: When I left, I was just but she did apologize.
Speaker 1: Nicole Kidman then reached out and apologized and was like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. These things sometimes there's no script and I'm
Speaker 1: just kind of like ad living and and I said,
Speaker 1: get I get it. The FOCA just sucked because it's
Speaker 1: sad for like eight hours before we ever did the demo.
Speaker 1: And she's like, I didn't know that though I thought
Speaker 1: you just made it. I said, I understand, it's fine. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know what, I guess she learned. She learned
Speaker 1: something from that, And you know, I guess people just
Speaker 1: like because we all experience things, and when someone that
Speaker 1: we admire on TV has something, you kind of feel like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm not the only one so exactly exactly
Speaker 1: at it's okay. Yeah, And you also um opening up
Speaker 1: a catering company. Did I read that correctly? I'm doing
Speaker 1: that too. I'm doing these things simultaneously. I felt like,
Speaker 1: you know, your worst I am, You're worse lunatic. You're
Speaker 1: you're an uber lunatic. I love. That's what I love. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm on turning fifty two, and I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: I kind of like I'm one of those people that
Speaker 1: needs to change. I feel like every seven years, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm gotta change, I gotta do something different. So yeah,
Speaker 1: So I'm also doing a catering company, which is how
Speaker 1: I started. So I feel like it's not that much
Speaker 1: of a departure, right. I started as a caterer and
Speaker 1: then somehow landed on television and I want to go
Speaker 1: back there. And I feel like that is I've always
Speaker 1: wanted to be a cater in Los Angeles and throughout
Speaker 1: you know, really the US. I feel like it's a
Speaker 1: great way for me to connect with people and show
Speaker 1: them my food, my culture, the sort of the feel
Speaker 1: of what it was, what it's like to have, um,
Speaker 1: you know, a maffie meal on al fresco meal in
Speaker 1: a maffie and recreate that for them, or you know,
Speaker 1: a tuscan sort of in the middle of the vineyard.
Speaker 1: A lot of people can't do that all the time,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I can do that for them
Speaker 1: and bring my show to life in a cater in
Speaker 1: the world of catering that's a little different than restaurants.
Speaker 1: And are you are you bringing like a content crew
Speaker 1: with you as you're working this job. Is that like
Speaker 1: part of it? Yeah, I'm working on it. Yeah. It's like,
Speaker 1: it's just so nutty what has happened. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: in our industry, because I'm an entrepreneur like you are,
Speaker 1: and I've started a new business which is completely different
Speaker 1: than it was, you know, thirty years ago when I
Speaker 1: started the first one. And it's like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: just crazy. It's honestly just crazy. So I can't wait
Speaker 1: to watch, you know, what happens. To tell me again
Speaker 1: the name of your your site, John z it's been
Speaker 1: g I a d z y john Z. It's a
Speaker 1: nickname that my family had for me, uh from when
Speaker 1: I was very young, So that's what it is. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So being I have a couple more questions. The first
Speaker 1: question is more self serving for me, since you're teeny
Speaker 1: like I am. What are your favorite jeans and T
Speaker 1: shirts and and blazers? Have you found anything that really
Speaker 1: works on us little girls? Forget blazers. I don't. I
Speaker 1: can't wear them. I have. I know this sounds weird,
Speaker 1: but I really short limbs, like arms and legs and
Speaker 1: so arms, short arms, and I have boobs, so it
Speaker 1: doesn't really work with a blazer. I feel like you
Speaker 1: need really I don't know I have. I don't think
Speaker 1: I have long arms, and I've got boobs, and I
Speaker 1: look like you may have long you may have longer
Speaker 1: arms than me. I just don't have a long torso.
Speaker 1: So yeah, and I have a long torso, so imagine
Speaker 1: how it cuts my body. Blazers are just not made
Speaker 1: for my body. And I tried every all of them. Um,
Speaker 1: I leaner, That's why I wear it. Yeah, it doesn't
Speaker 1: make me look leaner. And I've tried expensive ones and
Speaker 1: cheap ones and everything in the middle, and nothing seems
Speaker 1: to really work for me. Unless it's a super super
Speaker 1: light material, then maybe I can get away with it.
Speaker 1: Otherwise structured blazers. Um, how about bras? Wait, how about bras?
Speaker 1: Since we're going deep, I mean, since you have it.
Speaker 1: You know I have a chest too, and I've worked
Speaker 1: really hard on finding my favorite bra. I will tell
Speaker 1: you that my stylus and I have bra wars all
Speaker 1: the time. I have I could take you to see
Speaker 1: my bra my broad drawer. It's thousands of bras because
Speaker 1: I can't find one that works with everything. They come
Speaker 1: out in certain sections. It doesn't quite, it doesn't. It
Speaker 1: cuts me. It like bras. Honestly, Bobby, I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: completely honest. Maybe it's is TM. I I should just
Speaker 1: have a bood job, because maybe that would just alleviate
Speaker 1: all of the bra wars I have with myself every day.
Speaker 1: It is so hard to find a bra for a
Speaker 1: woman who does not have implants. It's really freaking hard.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't have implants. I've got a big
Speaker 1: chest and I did have a reduction years ago because
Speaker 1: I was having really bad neck issues. You know, after
Speaker 1: three kids. It's like, so it was the best thing
Speaker 1: I ever did, but I still have, you know, a
Speaker 1: big enough boobs. My favorite bras and I am really
Speaker 1: embarrassed because they're very expensive, but they're unbelievable there. They're Eras.
Speaker 1: I don't even know if I say that name right, yes,
Speaker 1: because I like a bra that lifts and separates and
Speaker 1: it's round and just you know, you look like I mean,
Speaker 1: what I really want is Jennifer Andison to me too,
Speaker 1: So I think that that's what I look like in
Speaker 1: my T shirt, but I probably don't really. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: only buy Eras bathing suits. Ever. I do not buy
Speaker 1: any other bathing suit because I've tried a million and
Speaker 1: they just don't work. But that fabric and I've never
Speaker 1: tried there As bras, but I'm now I'm going to
Speaker 1: try them because of you body. I just love their
Speaker 1: bathing suits. They look great, they hold just enough. It's
Speaker 1: like and now like we last for so many years
Speaker 1: because there's such good quality. They're a little expressed, they're offensive.
Speaker 1: I think you'll love the bras. You know, I like
Speaker 1: the underwire, so okay, I like the underwire too. We
Speaker 1: can't not do underwire because otherwise they sag. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: but that's what happens. But you're only fifty two. I'm
Speaker 1: sixty five, so you know I got I got a little,
Speaker 1: a little on you, all right, So go ahead on
Speaker 1: your jeans and your T shirts. My jeans, um, God,
Speaker 1: I have a million different genes um. I have from
Speaker 1: Madwell high waisted jeans to UM to Jivan Si jeans.
Speaker 1: It kind of like runs the gamut. In fact, in
Speaker 1: my closet, I have a ton um. I would say
Speaker 1: I also have mother, which I really like. You know,
Speaker 1: they're stretchy and they really they're great for travel and
Speaker 1: all that. Um and what else do I love? Love
Speaker 1: rag and bone, low waist, stiff. I like those a
Speaker 1: lot um. But for me, jeans are again a struggle.
Speaker 1: I can't you know that. I have to be very
Speaker 1: careful to not follow the fashion all the time because
Speaker 1: it just doesn't always look good on me because I
Speaker 1: have short legs. Uh so that's jeans. And then and
Speaker 1: I have all different colors, but I only have one
Speaker 1: white and one crane. I don't buy a lot of
Speaker 1: those colors, and I don't actually I don't buy colors.
Speaker 1: I just buy different versions of blue and different versions
Speaker 1: of black. No other color jeans because it looks like
Speaker 1: hell on in this body. And my favorite jeans are
Speaker 1: Levi's and sometimes I buy the Compleats and they just
Speaker 1: fit me. I like Levi's, but I have a problem
Speaker 1: with the waist sometimes because I am um, I have
Speaker 1: such a long waist, so they hit me like where
Speaker 1: my where They cut a little bit too much sometimes,
Speaker 1: so it's it's tricky. The belly is a trick. It's
Speaker 1: a tricky thing. But you know, I don't know. It's
Speaker 1: probably gonna get worse as I get older, so I
Speaker 1: work on it a lot. But as Italian girls, we
Speaker 1: got boobs and we a little belly. As Jewish girls, yeah,
Speaker 1: as to as too. You have been so full of
Speaker 1: so many good like you know, tidbits. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to go on your site and see everything. But there's
Speaker 1: one question I ask everyone, so I know, I know
Speaker 1: people are going to be like glued to this listening
Speaker 1: to you. If there's one piece of advice from Giada
Speaker 1: that someone listening could just do too, you know that's
Speaker 1: going to change something in their life. What would it be?
Speaker 1: What's your advice that's going to change something in their
Speaker 1: life that's something, the course to their life, the course
Speaker 1: of their day something. I think that the one of
Speaker 1: the biggest lessons other than drinking a lot of water,
Speaker 1: like drink lots and lots and lots of water as
Speaker 1: much as you can possibly drink. UM, I would say
Speaker 1: accepting who you are. And I think for a long
Speaker 1: time I tried to be who everybody else wanted me
Speaker 1: to be, whether it was my family or my fans
Speaker 1: or whatever. And as i've in my mid forties and yeah,
Speaker 1: in my mid forties and the last five or six years,
Speaker 1: I've said, you know what, I'm okay with who I am,
Speaker 1: regardless of what people think of me. And I'm okay
Speaker 1: with the choices that I've made. They have they all
Speaker 1: been wonderful and perfect, No, but they've made me who
Speaker 1: I am and sort of make peace with everything that's
Speaker 1: happened in my life, with my divorce, with anything that's happened.
Speaker 1: I've just I have made peace with the mistakes, UM.
Speaker 1: And I think I feel a lot calmer about myself
Speaker 1: UM and have had better relationships UM in the last
Speaker 1: I think eight years than I did when I was younger,
Speaker 1: because I worked too hard at pleasing other people, and
Speaker 1: now I try to please myself, my daughter and that's it.
Speaker 1: Maybe my animals and that's it. See there there is
Speaker 1: some good things about getting older. That is a wonderful
Speaker 1: thing about getting older. Yes, there's also a tow outside,
Speaker 1: but with acts, with everything right, there's a outside to
Speaker 1: be young too. So it's so good to see you
Speaker 1: and I look forward to when I get to see
Speaker 1: you again. You know. It's just so great you're doing this, Bobby,
Speaker 1: and it's um, I don't know you're you know, someone
Speaker 1: I look up to. So I hope I don't have
Speaker 1: the energy to do all the things that that you do. Um, well,
Speaker 1: as I get older, that's all. Yes, maybe one day
Speaker 1: we'll get to do something together, so I would love it.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thanks for listening. Follow us on social at
Speaker 1: the Important Things podcast on Instagram, and just Bobby Brown
Speaker 1: on TikTok. See you guys next time.