Giada DeLaurentiis: The Secret Ingredient is Joy

Mick Unplugged - Mick Hunt

In this heartfelt episode of 'Mick Unplugged,' host Mick Hunt sits down with culinary icon Giada DeLaurentiis to explore her journey from a

Key takeaways

• Joy and presence during meals are as important to well-being as the quality of food itself.
• Giada's immigrant background shaped her deep appreciation for community, family, and authentic culinary traditions.

Main topics

• The emotional and cultural roots of Italian cuisine
• The importance of joy in eating and cooking

Notable quotes

"Think about when you're on the go or you're eating and you're stressed out. How does your stomach feel? If we can be laughing and having fun and enjoying the people that are around while we're eating, we will feel better."

"Cooking to me is a community. And I think that over the years... it became impressionable and somehow really connected people is really a gift I could never have imagined."

Conclusion

Giada DeLaurentiis shares how her personal journey—from immigrant child to culinary icon—has been rooted in love,

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Think about when you're on the go or you're eating and you're stressed out. How does your stomach feel? I don't think it matters if you ate a light meal or a heavy meal. You're probably not going to feel well. If we can be laughing and having fun and enjoying the people that are around while we're eating, we will feel better. That piece of the longevity piece is just as important as the food you're putting on the table. Speaker 1 (0:32) Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Make Unplugged. And today I have a guest that I'm going to open up to because she has no idea how she has personally changed my life. I'm talking about from Food Network Kitchens to building lifestyle empires. She has redefined what it means to be a modern culinary force. She's a bestselling author, an Emmy Award winner, and a true entrepreneur. Please join me in welcoming the visionary, the authentic, the Jada DeLaurentis. Jada, how are you doing today, dear? Speaker 2 (1:06) I'm great. How are you? Thanks for having me. Speaker 1 (1:09) No, thank you for being here. And just thank you for being present in the person that you are. So I'm going to let you know something that you don't know that I'm probably going to get in trouble for. And I'll just have to deal with it because, you know, Robert Irvine is my best friend, right? Yes. But I didn't start watching Food Network or Robert Irvine until you. Like, you are the person that brought me into the food culture. And it was simple. It was because, one, your presence was amazing. But two, it was like you were storytelling and teaching me personally, like, how to make really cool dishes. And I got to appreciate. All the different things that you brought to the table. So, Jada, thank you more than you know. Speaker 2 (2:01) Well, thank you for watching. I think, honestly, when I started my journey on Food Network. Speaker 2 (2:11) I was incredibly shy and it took me a long time to get comfortable to tell those stories and just comfortable cooking and talking at the same time. I think, I'm Speaker 1 (2:22) not sure Speaker 2 (2:22) that everybody, I mean, maybe now they realize it, but it's difficult to storytell, be comfortable and follow a recipe and make it look easy and not stress if things you know are happening that shouldn't be happening. You know, you also have a lot of people watching you that are not really watching you. They're sort of looking at their phones while you're doing your demo and they're reading a magazine and you're just like. who am I talking to? I'm talking to a black screen. I've got nothing to look at. There's a black hole there and there's nobody behind it. So I think in the beginning days, it was very difficult. So the fact that over the 20 some years that I was doing it, it became impressionable and somehow really connected people is really a gift I could never have imagined. Speaker 1 (3:12) Well, it totally is you and you totally have a gift. And I'm glad that you said that you make it look easy because, you know, I have all of your cookbooks, right? Like all of them. And the first few times that I tried to make something, I was like, it's not as easy as she made it look on TV. Like Speaker 2 (3:30) cooking Speaker 1 (3:32) taught me. No, no, no, no, no, no. The cookbooks totally make it. easy to follow through. I'm talking about when I was watching what you were doing on TV and it was like, let me try to replicate it that Speaker 2 (3:44) way. Which is why we, that's why I did cookbooks, right? Because people kept saying to me, wouldn't it be great to have it written down? I'm like, why? You can just watch the show and write it down. It's cheaper that way. And people are like, no, no, no. If it's in a book, then there's a photo and we can revert back to it. You can give us little like hints that maybe we missed on the show. So that's why we did the cookbook. So it makes me happy to know that. It was helpful. Speaker 1 (4:07) No, totally helpful because trying to follow you on TV, I was like, nah, I can do it, but I can't do it in 30 minutes. I can't do it that Speaker 2 (4:15) way. Speaker 1 (4:15) Well, Speaker 2 (4:16) there's a lot of editing, as we all know, right? Like, you only see the good stuff. Speaker 1 (4:21) Yeah. Jada, again, honored to have you here. And I always ask my guests this first question about their because. Speaker 1 (4:31) Right. That thing that's deeper than your why. Like if I were to ask you what's your why, I'm sure I'm going to get your family, your friends and giving back. But then when I say, but why are those things important? That sentence usually starts with, well, because and I care about that moment. And what the world probably doesn't see is all the humanitarian things, the philanthropy that you do and how you give and give and give. And so what's your because for that today? Like, why does Giada continue to do the things that you do? Speaker 2 (5:07) I think that my because is connected to You know... After the many years of doing what I do, which is cooking on television and putting out cookbooks and understanding what people are looking for. Speaker 2 (5:31) how they want to be connected to a community. And cooking to me is a community. And I think that over the years, from the actual cooking to the cookbooks, to the restaurants, Speaker 2 (5:45) There's so much noise in the food world with whatever kind of, whether it's products and we're learning new things every day about our food source. And to cut through that noise and sort of give people direction and have them trust somebody that they're going to help them sort of weed through all of that information has led me into doing what I do on Jodsy with my Italian products. really helping people understand how to use these products, what they should look for, even if they're not buying my products, and how to better their lives. And that's really the because, because I don't think that will ever stop. I think that we will always be curious. We will always want to do better for ourselves and we'll always be evolving. And so I learned so much and I find that it resonates when I share it. And so. I just want to answer and help people through the struggle of... Speaker 2 (6:51) all the noise that goes around in the crowded marketplace of all different marketing that is happening every single day around us. And I just want to help them feed their families and feel well. Speaker 1 (7:00) And you do amazing at that. And that's, you know, again, right before I call, I was talking to Robert and I was even telling him, I think one of the things I appreciate the most about Jada is this, is that you feel care. in everything that you do. Like, I feel that you care. I feel that you're putting others first. And I feel family, right? Not just the TV shows, but when you look at what you're doing as an entrepreneur, when you look at the conversations that you have, it's just like you genuinely care so much about others. And to me, that makes you one of the greatest humans that I know. Speaker 2 (7:45) Oh my goodness. I'm blushing. I think I do care a lot. Yes. I grew up in a family who... Speaker 2 (7:53) I think because I'm an immigrant to this country and I came here when I was seven with my family from Italy, my family taught me to truly care about the people around me that, you know, if you create that community, that's the community that will get you through any hard time. You know, we need each other. I think we've... we've lost that a little bit with all the social media. I think there's wonderful things that social media has brought us. It's connected us in one way, but also alienated us in others. Speaker 1 (8:21) And Speaker 2 (8:21) I think there is no greater gift we can give each other than to spend time in the kitchen cooking for each other. And I think that, yes, I do care. And I do care as to what I do and how the messaging goes out and how people receive it. And I care about feedback. And I