Speaker 1: Hi everyone, I'm Rachel So and you're listening to Climbing
Speaker 1: in Heels for your weekly dose of glamour, inspiration and fun.
Speaker 1: Emmy Award winning television personality chef, Restauranteur and nine times
Speaker 1: New York Times best selling author Giada da Laurentis is
Speaker 1: on the pod today. I have watched her career from
Speaker 1: afar for so many years and absolutely love and have
Speaker 1: so much respect for the career she has built in
Speaker 1: this field. Her latest book, Super Italian, is all about
Speaker 1: cooking with nutrient rich Italian superfoods to create the most
Speaker 1: beautiful and healthy meals in true Italian style. She is
Speaker 1: such a game changer in the industry and I cannot
Speaker 1: wait for you to hear more about her unbelievably incredible story.
Speaker 2: So let's jump right into it. I'm very excited to
Speaker 2: talk to you.
Speaker 1: I've obviously known your career and I've known of you forever,
Speaker 1: and I'm just so excited. I'm so excited about what
Speaker 1: you do a but be just excited about what you're
Speaker 1: doing now, and so I want to kind of dig
Speaker 1: into it because I think you're such a fan base,
Speaker 1: and I didn't realize you were you're born and raised
Speaker 1: in California, right, No, actually born in.
Speaker 2: Rome, Italy and moved to that state. That track, see
Speaker 2: that tracks to me. The born and raised in California
Speaker 2: really threw me. I moved. I moved to New York first.
Speaker 2: My family's in the movie business has been for a
Speaker 2: very long time, and so my grandfather was a movie
Speaker 2: producer in Italy and my grandmother was a movie an
Speaker 2: actress and together they created like this empire in Europe
Speaker 2: and in Italy. Then they moved over to the States
Speaker 2: because that's what you know. Of course, that's the dream,
Speaker 2: that's the dream and make an US. So they came,
Speaker 2: and of course my mother being his eldest daughter, they
Speaker 2: took all the kids and grandkids with them, because you
Speaker 2: follow the PATRIARCHI yeah, So we moved to New York
Speaker 2: first for a couple of years, and then we moved
Speaker 2: to Los Angeles, and I did go to school in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles, but I was seven when we immigrated into
Speaker 2: this country. On it so a little bit American, but
Speaker 2: like via via Italy.
Speaker 1: But film, but film and entertainment. Okay, also just obviously
Speaker 1: coming from the heritage that you do that food is
Speaker 1: what nine percent of the altar.
Speaker 2: My grandfather's family had a pasta factory before World War Two.
Speaker 2: My grandfather, being one of eight kids, would go door
Speaker 2: to door and sell his mom and dad's pasta, so
Speaker 2: they would dry it on the roots. So there were
Speaker 2: these apartment buildings outside of Naples in Tornent Siata, which
Speaker 2: was like the perfect culmination of the way that the
Speaker 2: ocean air Mediterranean hits the land, and they would leave
Speaker 2: all the pasta up there and it would dry, and
Speaker 2: they would sell dry pasta, and so my grandfather would
Speaker 2: do that. He was an awesome salesman. And that's what
Speaker 2: that that side of the family did for a long
Speaker 2: time until then my grandfather went into the war and
Speaker 2: he was stationed in Capri and he defended Caprick even
Speaker 2: the romance of like being stationed in crapriy like, yeah,
Speaker 2: they lost everything, as a lot of these things do,
Speaker 2: because Naples was heavily bonded, of course, and then when
Speaker 2: the war was over, he basically just trecked his way
Speaker 2: to Rome. He really was so enamored. He really wanted
Speaker 2: to be an actor, so he was enamored with going
Speaker 2: to Rome to become an actor. But he found out
Speaker 2: soon enough that he was too short and not handsome
Speaker 2: enough to be in those days actors would him, you know.
Speaker 2: So he ended up marrying my grandmother, who was Miss
Speaker 2: Rome at the time, and together she would star in
Speaker 2: as movies, he would produce them, and my grandfather made
Speaker 2: over six hundred movies in sixty years. Was this Sophia
Speaker 2: Laurent time, Yes, my grandmother and sophil Urn exactly the
Speaker 2: same time my grandfather made movies with Fellini. My grandmother started,
Speaker 2: that's what I was going to ask yah, all these
Speaker 2: movies and maybe here and started making movies in America.
Speaker 2: Conan the Barbarian like all of these famous movies. I mean,
Speaker 2: he created Arnold Schwarzenegger pretty much. I mean, so he
Speaker 2: created a whole legacy here in the States. And I
Speaker 2: was seven. All moved right At the end of the day.
Speaker 2: Food was sort of that was sort of what held
Speaker 2: us together. My grandfather traveled a lot on movie sets.
Speaker 2: All of my family worked on movie sets, and so,
Speaker 2: you know, we lived in Los Angeles, but on Sundays
Speaker 2: was our family gathering and my grandfather would make pizza
Speaker 2: and pasta. From when you learned from a kid and
Speaker 2: when I was a Lenin. He opened these gourmet shops
Speaker 2: much like in Italy is called d dal Show, one
Speaker 2: in Trump Tower, New York, and one here in Beverly
Speaker 2: Hills and the Flats, and I would go there as
Speaker 2: a kid and just be enamored because it was something
Speaker 2: that you know, we hadn't Americans hadn't seen before, these stalls,
Speaker 2: pasta stalls and pizza stalls and all sorts of ingredients
Speaker 2: imported from Italy. Now you have to remember, this is
Speaker 2: like the late seventies, early eighties, so it's not did
Speaker 2: not exist. It exists, especially not in Los Angeles where
Speaker 2: I live. In New York. It kind of did, you
Speaker 2: know a little bit more, but not Angelina's. So I
Speaker 2: was always just fascinated. And he didn't just open these stores.
Speaker 2: He also brought all his buddies in that he grew
Speaker 2: up with, the pizza yarros, the pasta makers like these
Speaker 2: were all guys from Naples that he imported into lost
Speaker 2: angeous scatter, all this Italian talking. I was just I
Speaker 2: think what I loved was not only the the aromas
Speaker 2: in the place, but watching people come in and just
Speaker 2: they're jaws dropping and just being like, oh my, what
Speaker 2: is this place, and I loved it. And you know,
Speaker 2: he kind of merged food in Hollywood together. You know,
Speaker 2: he would do all his movie preiers in his restaurant,
Speaker 2: you know, in this space. It was just a magical time.
Speaker 2: But anyhow, for me, that was when I first realized,
Speaker 2: how do I do that? How do I meet people
Speaker 2: right have that expression or that sense of awe when
Speaker 2: they want space? And so, you know, I grew up here.
Speaker 2: I went to school at UCLA, and then I left
Speaker 2: and went to Paris and went to cooking school for
Speaker 2: a couple of years, and then I moved back. I
Speaker 2: went to the cooking school, I went to the Court
Speaker 2: on Blue and in Paris. Yeah, I mean, that's like the dream.
Speaker 1: It's like in fashion, It's like I went to Central
Speaker 1: Saint Martin's in London. It's like, that's that where you went.
Speaker 1: It's like the dream.
Speaker 2: That's right, I'm.
Speaker 3: Going to be a Michelin Chap, right, That's what I
Speaker 3: thought I wanted to do, And honestly there was and
Speaker 3: your family supported that obviously, because they didn't they did it.
Speaker 2: They didn't listen. My family, God loved them. My Grandpa's
Speaker 2: like just get married and a bunch of kids. What
Speaker 2: the hell are you doing? Like, why this man is
Speaker 2: a man's work. You're not You're too small, you're too skinny,
Speaker 2: you're too little. Nobody wants to in the kitchen. You're
Speaker 2: a distraction. What are you.
Speaker 4: Doing with pood?
Speaker 2: And there was no nobody really, there was no plan
Speaker 2: for me. I'm a woman, like not mental.
Speaker 1: And you come from a complete food and entertainment family and.
Speaker 2: This is just twenty five years ago. And tell me
Speaker 2: how many women were even in the food business at
Speaker 2: that point. I mean not, I meanan, it doesn't so
Speaker 2: I wasn't crazy for him to Martha Martha, that's it.
Speaker 2: But remember the ship Martha got sorry, I sure do
Speaker 2: you can say anything? Yeah you remember that's Oh you
Speaker 2: go to the top. Oh yeah, We'll just pull you
Speaker 2: right back down where you belong, lady.
Speaker 1: And story of my life throughout my whole adult life,
Speaker 1: so my whole my whole life, but my whole career
Speaker 1: for sure.
Speaker 2: And maybe somebody and really there was probably a man
Speaker 2: that helped you get there, because you wouldn't possibly have
Speaker 2: the talent to do that on your own, right, And
Speaker 2: so I think then my grandfather was just all of
Speaker 2: them were just like she's lost her mind. But let
Speaker 2: just let her do her thing. It'll last a couple
Speaker 2: of years and then she'll be done and she'll get
Speaker 2: married and that'll all be done. And that did not
Speaker 2: happen then. So you can ask you a question. When
Speaker 2: you went to.
Speaker 1: The cooking school at the Cordon Bleue, were you like
Speaker 1: one woman?
Speaker 2: Was it like was it like Julia Childs or she
Speaker 2: was like the only female. There were other women, But
Speaker 2: there were a lot of Asian women because it part
Speaker 2: of their dowry when they get married. Korean Japanese livercook. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's part of the culture. So they send these young
Speaker 2: girls to all of these different specialty schools so that
Speaker 2: they have all of these talents because they're more desirable.
Speaker 2: So I went to school with a lot of those
Speaker 2: kind of women, right, or older women who had a
Speaker 2: new career path. There were begin there were a couple
Speaker 2: of older American women who had worked on yachts, and
Speaker 2: they were much older. They probably in their fifties at
Speaker 2: that point. I was in my twenties so or yeah,
Speaker 2: early twenties, So I think that's pretty much it. Otherwise
Speaker 2: it was all men. It was not twenty something women.
Speaker 2: With a dream. Wow. Okay, so then what happens? So
Speaker 2: you graduate and what happens I come back here. I
Speaker 2: had the time becoming my husband and now my ex
Speaker 2: husband okay, and I came back here and I worked
Speaker 2: for Wolfgang.
Speaker 1: Puck okay, Spago by the way, great, great first job
Speaker 1: by the way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I worked. I worked at also at the
Speaker 2: Ritz Carlton in Mere del Rey for a French chef
Speaker 2: for a litt while because I wanted to be able
Speaker 2: to continue to speak French and hold myself and so
Speaker 2: and then I went to Wolfgang and I spent some
Speaker 2: time working for his patry chef shrery Yard there. But
Speaker 2: like you know, my parents were like, listen, you're barely
Speaker 2: making any money, right, ho heard of supporting you? I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm making five bucks an hour and I'm working, Like yeah,
Speaker 2: they're and it's you know, first round. Kitchens are not collamorous.
Speaker 2: They're hellholes. They's harnered, even the nicest ones. Yes, and
Speaker 2: you get a lot of you know, it's just yep. Anyhow. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So I did that for a while and then I
Speaker 2: started becoming a private chef. So I started cooking privately
Speaker 2: for people like Ron Howard and his family because they
Speaker 2: spent a lot of time here shooting show shooting movies.
Speaker 2: So I would cook for their family. And then I'd
Speaker 2: had other few ways. I started a catering business for myself.
Speaker 2: I thought, okay, I'm going to make more money that way.
Speaker 2: And as I grew that, I got a I got
Speaker 2: a call I did. I started doing on the side
Speaker 2: some food styling for some friends, and nine to eleven happened.
Speaker 2: And after nine to eleven, the food industry switched. And
Speaker 2: you know, especially in New York, people weren't going out
Speaker 2: to eat anymore. Well I remember I lived there. They
Speaker 2: wanted to gotten at home and learned how to cook.
Speaker 2: It was the first time you see a shift in
Speaker 2: the American culture. Were really interested in cooking at home
Speaker 2: and interested in learning how to do that. And so
Speaker 2: Food Network started to grow based on that. So I
Speaker 2: got a call from a you know, one of the
Speaker 2: heads of Food Now were just saying that we saw
Speaker 2: so backing up, I was doing some food styling for
Speaker 2: some friends who lived in LA and for different magazines.
Speaker 2: I had met a lady who did the creative She
Speaker 2: was the creative director of Food and Wine magazine who
Speaker 2: to be and her in this special Chef's issue. My
Speaker 2: granther was getting a Lifetime Achievement award at the Oscars
Speaker 2: that year. So I got right family together. I cooked
Speaker 2: a meal, I rate the recipes, I did all that stuff,
Speaker 2: all stuff that I had, recipes that I'd had from
Speaker 2: my clients because I write menus and cook for them,
Speaker 2: and yeah, did all that. And he saw it in
Speaker 2: Food and Wine and he was like, can you put
Speaker 2: yourself on tape? I want to see if you have
Speaker 2: any personality at all, because a lot photos you know
Speaker 2: as well who gregs to talk of course, then you
Speaker 2: So I did a little demo tape. My brother, who
Speaker 2: has now passed away, shot it for me, and at
Speaker 2: the time he was a cameraman and he it for me,
Speaker 2: and I just did like a three minute reel making
Speaker 2: paste lebichamel, and then they just said, okay, let's let's
Speaker 2: start this. Let's try to do this little Italian show
Speaker 2: for you, and we called it Everyday Italian. I remember it.
Speaker 2: I was. I was a food network junkie.
Speaker 1: Oh really, Oh it was like I used to have
Speaker 1: it on and sometimes mostly just not even watch. It
Speaker 1: was like calming for me in the background when I
Speaker 1: lived in New York and then probably when I moved
Speaker 1: out here, but that my life was so busy, I
Speaker 1: just you know, but it was always on.
Speaker 2: I always had it on. It was calming for me,
Speaker 2: that's all. Well. Yeah, so, I mean I started that,
Speaker 2: and you know, it was a departure for them because
Speaker 2: a lot of their shows were shot in New York
Speaker 2: and I was like a need to be in LA
Speaker 2: with my family, like I can't be And we shot
Speaker 2: it in La in a house, which was totally different
Speaker 2: than what they usually do, which is mostly studio mostly
Speaker 2: people like Emerald. Yeah, yet, why are you batally? Like
Speaker 2: those are the chefs?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: They had to remember well right and wore their little
Speaker 2: outfits and their chef yet is Clotwan and the whole
Speaker 2: b Yes? And I was the opposite. I was more
Speaker 2: like Martha and like a sure casual and much like
Speaker 2: Rachel Ray and in the Garden. We all started at
Speaker 2: the same time, and it just we had an audience
Speaker 2: that was mostly women wanting to really learn how to
Speaker 2: cook at home, and it just kind of exploded. Rachel
Speaker 2: I didn't ever plan it. I just thought I'm like
Speaker 2: catering on the side, because this doesn't pay hit. Sure,
Speaker 2: of course, my family was like, you're nuts. What is
Speaker 2: fucking cable anyway? Are we talking about watch that? Nobody
Speaker 2: watches that. That is raide our name, that's and I thought, well,
Speaker 2: let me just try it. Let's just try. You guys
Speaker 2: don't have any I have no plan for myself. There's
Speaker 2: no a ish for me. You guys have here. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so let me just I'm on my own here, so
Speaker 2: I'll just try it. And that's it. So the first
Speaker 2: season was rough. Yeah, I was very shy. I was
Speaker 2: always a very shy person. So then you know, we
Speaker 2: try to season two and it just grew and grew,
Speaker 2: and then honestly, I've been on a treadmill ever since. Books,
Speaker 2: restaurants like it all just kind of came and I
Speaker 2: just thought, I've never planned any of it. And the
Speaker 2: opposite of Martha, who planned everything, I just kind of
Speaker 2: went on a roller coaster and I just kind of
Speaker 2: figured it out as I went along. And I mean,
Speaker 2: and you know what, I'm familiar. That's hard work. But
Speaker 2: it's also like sometimes I do believe that the stars
Speaker 2: you're in the right place at the right time. I mean,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of talented people out there, but don't
Speaker 2: always resonate on camera, or don't engage people enough, or
Speaker 2: I don't know what it is. I would agree with that,
Speaker 2: I would, I would say.
Speaker 1: And I don't say this very often, but it's funny
Speaker 1: because as they listen to you, you sound like me
Speaker 1: when I'm in an interview, which is like, I'll just
Speaker 1: be like, I didn't plan anything, and I learned it
Speaker 1: as I went. I just wanted to be the best
Speaker 1: to what I was doing, and I took the different
Speaker 1: you know, the different roads.
Speaker 2: That seemed right in the moment, right, and.
Speaker 1: You know, ultimately, I think for you, I gues in
Speaker 1: some ways the stars align, but the stars don't align
Speaker 1: if they're not right, if that makes sense, like they
Speaker 1: aligned because it's working right. There's no accident in my opinion,
Speaker 1: because you can get there. And like you said, you
Speaker 1: did a first season, it was rough. In this day
Speaker 1: and age, they probably would have canceled you after three
Speaker 1: apps A right, it was a different time. And I
Speaker 1: think you know, and I always say, and I'm curious
Speaker 1: if you agree, So.
Speaker 4: You as a pro reach you were the first people
Speaker 4: didn't even know that was and what a stylist was
Speaker 4: and all this stuff, and I'm like, yeah, but you
Speaker 4: don't stand being the first is hands down the hardest
Speaker 4: because there is no book and there's nothing to compare
Speaker 4: yourself to and there's nothing, which which in many ways
Speaker 4: I think is healthy, because you're not looking at the others.
Speaker 2: Right, there's no roadmap. Theres no roadmap, and you're like, like,
Speaker 2: bring the white direction, no idea, you're blind, correct, you're blind.
Speaker 2: It's really long.
Speaker 1: And that's why I say to you, like, I don't
Speaker 1: think it was luck because I think there was a
Speaker 1: blindness to it, and I think with that blindness came
Speaker 1: the which is a little bit how I went into it,
Speaker 1: like what do I have to lose?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: And I think for you it was sort of like
Speaker 1: you didn't have someone you were following, right, and you
Speaker 1: you clearly were driven by the passion for what you
Speaker 1: were doing. And because there were so few women, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I think that presents its own issues because
Speaker 1: I think today we know there's multiple seats for women
Speaker 1: at any table, mostly even over the last five years,
Speaker 1: there's I would argue to say, there's ten x more
Speaker 1: spots for women in any field, right, agree, And even
Speaker 1: so much that men in some industries are trying to
Speaker 1: bring in women so that they can check a box
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 2: Doesn't mean you don't have to hold your own, but
Speaker 2: it just means there are more spaces.
Speaker 1: So I think, I think in what you were doing,
Speaker 1: it's very intimidating, especially knowing that your very powerful Italian
Speaker 1: family was not really supporting what you were doing.
Speaker 5: Right, My guess is my question is I'm curious, like
Speaker 5: at what point was there this inflection of I probably
Speaker 5: should stop doing this and choose something else, or was
Speaker 5: there not?
Speaker 2: Because once you started the show.
Speaker 6: It just kind of all went from there all the time,
Speaker 6: all the time, all the time, and still right, yes, yeah,
Speaker 6: all the time all the time.
Speaker 2: I'm always wondering if I'm I think too that because
Speaker 2: the journey is sort of blind, y'all know, Like should
Speaker 2: I take a right now? For sure I go left?
Speaker 2: Is it time to reinvent myself? Or is do I
Speaker 2: just stay on the same journey to you on? Like,
Speaker 2: I don't know? And I think you know. For me,
Speaker 2: when I did Food Network, I started when I wasn't
Speaker 2: married and I didn't have a child. Then I got
Speaker 2: married right on my show and then I got Then
Speaker 2: I had a child. Watched me be pregnant on the show.
Speaker 2: They watched me have my daughter, they watched my daughter
Speaker 2: grow up. And so then I got divorced. And then
Speaker 2: I was like, should I just quit all together? Because
Speaker 2: my career and I just created a family on this
Speaker 2: show that now doesn't even freaking exist, and I have
Speaker 2: to be honest about the fact that it doesn't exist.
Speaker 2: Like all of these moments in my life, I just
Speaker 2: don't want to do this anymore. I don't want don't
Speaker 2: want to be seen anymore. I don't I just want
Speaker 2: to you want to disappear for a There's a lot
Speaker 2: of insecurity. I think it's an It does a lot
Speaker 2: of name and you never know if you're making the
Speaker 2: right choice, and yes, and.
Speaker 1: Also your identity as a mother, like those decisions become
Speaker 1: very different when you have your child.
Speaker 2: Because I also had.
Speaker 1: In mind during my filming and I you know, you
Speaker 1: start to be like, who am I? Can I still
Speaker 1: be that person? I'm you know, I'm projecting out there,
Speaker 1: and part of you just wants to go Can I
Speaker 1: just escape with my child or my children?
Speaker 2: So I just go dark? Can I go dark for
Speaker 2: a year?
Speaker 1: Pause, pause, I want to raise my kids, like we don't.
Speaker 2: Like, is that an option for us? I don't know.
Speaker 2: I mean like those were all things like can you
Speaker 2: come back? You're older, Like it's it's all this stuff,
Speaker 2: Like I'm in my fifties, so I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: how long do you have? I mean, I know Martha's
Speaker 2: eighty something, but let's be honest, that's happened a lot
Speaker 2: of women. That's just now.
Speaker 1: He is no special bird. All she is and she
Speaker 1: is and has always been. And you have to spend
Speaker 1: absolutely and from what I can see, are you a
Speaker 1: virgo or leo virgo?
Speaker 2: You're right on the CAUs. Yeah, I am. Nice job
Speaker 2: that's saying yeah, which is why I which is why
Speaker 2: all the thing that, all the all this that that's going.
Speaker 2: I'm like, yeah, she's oh man saw me. You don't know?
Speaker 2: And still to this day, Rachel, I don't know. You know,
Speaker 2: I left Network two years ago, and who knows was
Speaker 2: that the right choice? Was it not? I don't know.
Speaker 2: I just feel like you do what you think is
Speaker 2: best at the moment, and you write it out and
Speaker 2: you see how it all comes together. I feel like
Speaker 2: some of us are a different era, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean than the talkers that they are doing. I
Speaker 2: mean food is exploded on social It really pops that.
Speaker 2: I'm a different generation, right, I exploded in your different
Speaker 2: medium when people was exploding. So like, I feel like
Speaker 2: it's just you know, weird. Daughter have any interest in
Speaker 2: what you do? Absolutely not. Yeah, I don't wants to
Speaker 2: sing and dance and by the way, last dance. She
Speaker 2: wants to be on stage, by the way, but that's.
Speaker 1: In your DNA, right, I mean you are on stage,
Speaker 1: it's in a different media.
Speaker 2: A different way. Yeah, yeah, but no, she's not in
Speaker 2: a food She could care less, not at all. In fact,
Speaker 2: I think for her, she's trying to find her own identity. Yeah,
Speaker 2: of course, and I think that's the number one way
Speaker 2: to do so is to just come and say that's
Speaker 2: my Please don't think that that is me. I am
Speaker 2: a totally different person, and I get it.
Speaker 1: I do want to talk about what's now because now
Speaker 1: I think you're taking the brand and launching like all
Speaker 1: different sort of like products, right and doing like a
Speaker 1: full like even more like leaning into that.
Speaker 2: Is that correct? Yeah? So I think that for most
Speaker 2: of the time that I've been cooking. I've been teaching
Speaker 2: people about the way Italians eat, and I do this
Speaker 2: in my restaurants as well, like for instance, in Las Vegas,
Speaker 2: and had a restaurant there for ten years, and I
Speaker 2: really make it vegetable forward and with the pasta before. Yes,
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't even tell you what I had
Speaker 2: to go through on that one ten years ago when
Speaker 2: I didn't want to highlight steaks all the time, or
Speaker 2: I try and do it in my house and it's challenging,
Speaker 2: so you can't even a met Yes I can. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so I think, you know, with vegetable forward and teaching
Speaker 2: people to eat smaller meals by pasta dishes in Vegas,
Speaker 2: in the beginning, it was really rough. People were like,
Speaker 2: what the hell is this small portion? Sure, it's how
Speaker 2: we eat. We eat antipines, then we eat a small
Speaker 2: portion of the first course is past then and we
Speaker 2: move on to fish or meat and vegetable. Like everything
Speaker 2: is small portions. We don't eat a giant bowl of
Speaker 2: anything including that. So teaching people about portion size was
Speaker 2: a big thing when I started, and also clean ingredients
Speaker 2: and that Italian food isn't just spagin meatballs. Of course
Speaker 2: we eat so many different types of food, and a
Speaker 2: lot of it is really clean. They don't have fillers,
Speaker 2: they don't have a lot of gums, they would have
Speaker 2: artificial flight. Like we don't eat out of packages. I
Speaker 2: did not grow up eating out of packages, and I
Speaker 2: grew up here.
Speaker 1: See now, Okay, So how many times have you heard
Speaker 1: the following, Oh my god, I spent two months in
Speaker 1: Europe and I came home and lost ten pounds, but
Speaker 1: I ate everything.
Speaker 2: How many times have you heard that? I can't tell you.
Speaker 2: I have heard that.
Speaker 1: Since I was a little kid and my parents would
Speaker 1: come home because I would go to sleep away. They
Speaker 1: would ship me off for summer and go to Europe
Speaker 1: and they would come home and be like, Daddy, and
Speaker 1: I ate pasta and pizza and gelato and this and that.
Speaker 1: We both lost ten pounds. And I'm like, imagine that.
Speaker 1: And as I got like literally once I hit my twenties,
Speaker 1: I was like, because.
Speaker 2: There's no chemicals in the food.
Speaker 1: There's no it's not process They're eating fresh food, you know,
Speaker 1: And it's like this is not hard, but yet it's impossible.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, in this tree, it's yes, almost impossible, Like, wow,
Speaker 2: we just eliminated red dye number three after knowing it
Speaker 2: causes cancer for the last forty years. Cool. Exactly. Your
Speaker 2: battle is real, my friend, Your battle is real. So
Speaker 2: I need, I think, are my shoes and cookbooks and restaurants.
Speaker 2: I started that path and so then now we got
Speaker 2: to be hard. It's got to be hard in restaurants
Speaker 2: in the US.
Speaker 1: I can especially in Vegas, by the way, which was
Speaker 1: my very first restaurant.
Speaker 2: I mean, La may be easier, yes, but you know,
Speaker 2: I was awered this thing in Vega and I'm already
Speaker 2: on screen and I feel like it's dinner and a
Speaker 2: movie kind of thing. And this makes for my brand
Speaker 2: and it worked because in years and it's fabulous, but
Speaker 2: a lot of a lot of baying my head against
Speaker 2: the wall. It's like guys. So anyhow, with Super Italian,
Speaker 2: which is my latest cookbook, I decided that I was
Speaker 2: because the one I did before Super Italian was Eat Better,
Speaker 2: Feel Better, because I had through some chronic issues with
Speaker 2: my health and so I had to really reboot the
Speaker 2: way I thought about eating and it was pretty strict,
Speaker 2: and so that one came out during COVID strangely, but
Speaker 2: really going through my forties and explaining to people like,
Speaker 2: this is what happened to me. This is my hormone
Speaker 2: situation after I had my daughter. This is you know,
Speaker 2: the overwork that the cortisol levels like like every just
Speaker 2: what Bisberg. And so I went on this journey for
Speaker 2: a really clean, clean lifestyle, and I really started to
Speaker 2: be very rigid with the way I ate. And then
Speaker 2: in my fifties I started to realize I can live
Speaker 2: that way.
Speaker 3: M hm.
Speaker 2: The balance is what Italian's I mean, that is why,
Speaker 2: that's how I grew up. All balance you here, but
Speaker 2: you have to decide what kind of pasta you're going
Speaker 2: to eat. Of course, how is the po where's the
Speaker 2: pasta come from? In the pasta? How much cost? With
Speaker 2: what right? This book is more about taking the superfoods
Speaker 2: that Italians have eaten joyed forever, tinfish, olive, oiled capers, orbs, citrus,
Speaker 2: you name it. I have a whole list, and then
Speaker 2: infusing them in all of our favorite dishes so that
Speaker 2: you can enjoy the food that you like. But it's
Speaker 2: all has a nutritional value that is heightened instead of empty,
Speaker 2: which is how a lot of Americans eat. You know,
Speaker 2: a lot of us eat empty food. Oh, yeah, teaching
Speaker 2: people day every day to eat food that is like
Speaker 2: I have a sheep pamlasagna, you know, but I've added
Speaker 2: a lot less cheese and that broccoli rab mixed in
Speaker 2: with the meat and everything else so that you have
Speaker 2: more things that are nutrient dense. Right. I think that
Speaker 2: the whole idea is like eating dishes. Even this pasta
Speaker 2: seccina that I love that it's very popular right now
Speaker 2: where it's kind of a burnt spaghetti that you huh differently,
Speaker 2: you don't cook it in a pot. You cook it
Speaker 2: in like a round skillet. Wait, can I pause?
Speaker 1: I love when you speak Italian, Like as soon as
Speaker 1: you mentioned food, you become Italian.
Speaker 2: I'm obsessed, so amazing because it's crispy. So then I
Speaker 2: put sardines on top of it, or you put anchovies,
Speaker 2: you know. I do these garlikey bread crumbs that have
Speaker 2: and mix it like all of these tricks to make
Speaker 2: the food taste really good but also be nutrie and debts.
Speaker 2: And that's what this book is about. But it's fun
Speaker 2: and it's you know, it's sheep haan chicken palm, but
Speaker 2: with my garlicy bread crumbs that have all of that
Speaker 2: anchoby in it so that they taste really amazing, but
Speaker 2: they're also something that you all everybody loves.
Speaker 1: You know, you know what you're going to have to
Speaker 1: do now right what You're going to have to tech
Speaker 1: talk it. You're going to have to instagram rails it,
Speaker 1: You're going to have to hire all the twenty something
Speaker 1: to start making.
Speaker 2: All of yes cleik. And then with Jozzy, I brought
Speaker 2: in another element where you can actually buy pasta that
Speaker 2: is has no fillers, that is straight from Italy that
Speaker 2: have them in my kitchens. Oh you do great, Yeah,
Speaker 2: so you can start to see the quality. It's about
Speaker 2: quality ingredients and we have to eventually get to the
Speaker 2: point where we value that, you know, we value the
Speaker 2: quality of what we're putting in our bodies and teaching
Speaker 2: people about that and making it sexy and fun and cool,
Speaker 2: because I think that's really the only way that people
Speaker 2: will well, it should be like, you know, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: It's like, at the end of the day, I think
Speaker 1: there's always been so much focused historically on dress like
Speaker 1: a French girl, eat like a French girl, look like
Speaker 1: a French girl. And I know, for me, I've always
Speaker 1: been so incredibly attracted to like the natural glamor of
Speaker 1: Italian women, you know, French girl for me was always cool,
Speaker 1: but Italian women were always glamorous, you know. And I
Speaker 1: really think that is something that you can and should
Speaker 1: infuse into the brand because a are so beautiful. But
Speaker 1: I think beyond that, it's sort of like, you know,
Speaker 1: making it so relatable and desirable to this generation because I.
Speaker 2: Think there is there has always been.
Speaker 1: That sort of real authenticity in Italian lifestyle and food
Speaker 1: and cooking and women, right, and I think there's not
Speaker 1: enough emphasis in my opinion on that. You know, there's
Speaker 1: so much on French women, and I don't want to
Speaker 1: underflay that from a style perspective, but I think for me,
Speaker 1: when I think of Italian women, it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: the natural tan, the gold jewelry, the kaftans, the prints,
Speaker 1: the gorgeousness sitting on their boats and the whole thing.
Speaker 2: But like lists, but it is effortless and it's almos
Speaker 2: like al Janita, right. It's also that like how they
Speaker 2: express themselves, how they need their lives correct. We're more relaxed,
Speaker 2: We're yeah, we take long naps in the middle of
Speaker 2: the day. We entre espresso with a biscupt like we enjoyed,
Speaker 2: and we enjoy everything, but not to an excess. It's
Speaker 2: not about like overdoing everything. It's just everything in balance,
Speaker 2: everything in moderation and spreending it with people that you
Speaker 2: love in places that you love. I mean, I grew
Speaker 2: up with my families like, no, we're eating dinner together,
Speaker 2: we're gonna together, we're gonna talk, we're gonna discuss and
Speaker 2: this like this just vibaciousness that's in just because we're
Speaker 2: so we're very passionate people about everything that we do.
Speaker 2: And I think that is probably why people love Italian
Speaker 2: food and love traveling to Italy. Italy is the number
Speaker 2: one ostination for you know, for crafting. I know, and
Speaker 2: so I'm I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm such a fan. I love what you've built. I'm
Speaker 1: so excited for what you are still doing and still
Speaker 1: building because.
Speaker 2: This is not easy. It's not easy.
Speaker 1: And and and I see you and I feel you,
Speaker 1: and I really I really do.
Speaker 2: And what markable yourself? Rachel, I don't think there's a
Speaker 2: soul who doesn't know who you are. Earlier and she
Speaker 2: was like, oh I know who she is. Ah, Like
Speaker 2: she's just ever, You've done an amazing job. Truly. It's
Speaker 2: it's you know, you pioneered something that is that was
Speaker 2: never seen to be, something that was glamorous or special,
Speaker 2: like you know, and I think you've made people see
Speaker 2: that and people really appreciate and respect all the hard
Speaker 2: work you've done and that taps off to you. That
Speaker 2: is not a freaking easy thing to do. So thank
Speaker 2: you right back. And I think we're pretty kindred souls.
Speaker 1: I think in different fields, but I think probably looking
Speaker 1: at things from a very very similar vantage point. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: and listen, and that's why I'm saying, like when you
Speaker 1: were speaking about the struggles, they're real and valid. But
Speaker 1: I do think it keeps that sort of like passion
Speaker 1: going the desire to I think, just remain authentic and
Speaker 1: still do what we do.
Speaker 2: But still there's.
Speaker 1: So much to teach people, and I think it's trying
Speaker 1: to figure out the different lenses in which to teach it,
Speaker 1: you know, yes, and how.
Speaker 2: They can absorb it, right, you have to take it
Speaker 2: so that they enjoy watching it, they want more, and
Speaker 2: that is always a tricky thing to do with.
Speaker 1: Yeah, changing times, God help me, Thank God for your
Speaker 1: sixteen year old daughter yeah, But a lot of the
Speaker 1: times she's like, by the way, I have a fourteen
Speaker 1: year old son, and I'm just like, okay, like you
Speaker 1: shoot the content on this.
Speaker 2: Well, you got to do this, you got to do that.
Speaker 2: Let's do this together. I don't know what I'd do
Speaker 2: without her. I think you guys can crush it on
Speaker 2: TikTok together. Way. Yeah, yeah, now that's back. Yeah she
Speaker 2: can sing and you can cook. Yes, And that way
Speaker 2: people would learn to hear that, right, that would.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm telling you, thank you so much to
Speaker 1: Giata for being on the pod today. She truly has
Speaker 1: made her own way in the food industry and clearly
Speaker 1: has so much passion for her work. I feel like
Speaker 1: she's still just scratching the surface, and I think, like
Speaker 1: so many of us, just trying to keep her authentic
Speaker 1: passion new and fresh for the younger generations, and how
Speaker 1: to embrace that while still remaining fully authentic and true
Speaker 1: to yourself and what you know and love. So all
Speaker 1: just so interesting, and she's so beyond inspiring and fascinating.
Speaker 1: So I hope you loved this episode as much as
Speaker 1: I did. Thank you so much for listening to Clymian heals.
Speaker 1: If you have not already, please subscribe to the show
Speaker 1: on Apple, podcast, Spotify, the iHeart app, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. You don't miss a single episode this season.
Speaker 1: Be sure to follow me on Instagram at at Rachel
Speaker 1: Zoe and the show at clemiean Hills Pod for the
Speaker 1: latest episodes and updates.
Speaker 2: I will talk to you soon.