Top 10 amazing facts about Giada De Laurentiliis

Giada De Laurentiis giving a presentation at the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, in February 2007, immediately after an audience member said that “my wife watches your show all the time and I gotta say you are the most beautiful host on the food network” she thereafter made him come up and give her a hug. Photo by Evan Eggers – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Giada De Laurentiliis

Giada De Laurentiis is an Italian-American chef, writer, and television personality. She is best known for hosting ‘Giada at Home on the Food Network and for contributing as a guest on NBC’s ‘Today’.

No one’s ever called Giada De Laurentiis soft-spoken. Food Network’s resident Italian expert is pretty vocal on and off her show — so much so that it sort of feels like we know everything about her. But if you’re unfamiliar, consider this your first official meeting.

1. Giada was born in Italy

Giada de Laurentiis on 22 September 2013 speaking about her new Recipe for Adventure children’s cooking books on the National Mall during the 2013 National Book Festival. She spoke from 12:00-12:30 pm in the Teens & Children Pavilion. Photo by Jason Quinn – Wikimedia Commons

Her reputation as a legit Italian chef comes honestly. De Laurentiis was born on August 22, 1970, in Rome. She didn’t move to America until she was 7 years old.

She has one sister, Eloisa, and two brothers, Igor and Dino Alexander II. De Laurentiis’grandmother was Silvano Managano, a British- Italian film star.

2. Her family was in show business

Giada De Laurentiis at a book signing at Williams-Sonoma at the Bellevue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 22, 2010. Photo by kennejima – Wikimedia Commons

The most famed member of her family was Academy Award-nominated Dino De Laurentiis, her maternal grandfather. Her mother, Veronica De Laurentiis was an actress, and her father, Alex De Benedetti, was an actor and a producer.

De Laurentiis was married to Todd Thompson, a fashion designer, between 2008 and 2015. She and Thompson have one daughter together. Jade Marie De Laurentiis – Thompson was born on March 29, 2008.

She is named after her mother as ‘Giada ’is the Italian word for ‘Jade’.

3. Giada didn’t study cooking in college

Giada De Laurentiis branded seven inch mezzaluna knife. “Mezzaluna” is Italian for ‘crescent’ or ‘half-moon.’ Photo by Dwight Burdette – Wikimedia Commons

De Laurentiis’s degree from the University of Los Angeles is in anthropology, but she later decided to pursue her passion. She enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and specialized in both cuisine and pastry.

4. She worked in famous restaurants before starting her own

Limoncello is ready for drinking! (5585765455). Recipe by De Laurentiis.  Photo by Dana Robinson from Los Angeles, ca, USA – Wikimedia Commons

After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu, De Laurentiis scored jobs as a chef in Southern California at the Ritz-Carlton and at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago. Eventually, she opened her own catering company called GDL Foods.

5.  She was discovered in Food & Wine

Pasta with a Chicken Lemon Cream Sauce. Pasta recipe from the cookbook by Giada DeLaurentiis. Photo by Sharon Mollerus from Duluth, USA – Wikimedia Commons

According to From Scratch, a tell-all book about Food Network, the head of the network spotted De Laurentiis’s photo in an article about her grandfather. He called her up and asked if she wanted to host a cooking show.

She has written eight cooking books. Her Food Network show “n Everyday Italian” premiered on April 5, 2003. She has her own range of products that she sells exclusively through Target. This range includes utensils, stainless steel pots and pans, cooking tools, and some food items.

6. Giada’s famous mega-watt smile didn’t come naturally

A woman smiling in the rain. Photo by Jamie Brown on Unsplash

Rumor has it, while training to be on television, De Laurentiis’s producer Irene Wong instructed her to grin and bear it throughout the entire show — while talking, while lifting a super-heavy pan, while testing a bite of food. Now, she works to take care of it: De Laurentiis even keeps teeth whitener in the fridge because it lasts longer in there.

7. Her first TV show premiered in 2003

A snapshot of a Sony FS7 cinema camera system from our film set, while producing a documentary series for the Holocaust Center for Humanities. Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

It was called Everyday Italian and went on for five years and 12 seasons. The first cookbook she ever wrote shared the same name and featured some of the most popular recipes on the show.

8. She’s been on so many shows since

Las Vegas’ 1st Annual Asian Food Festival & Trade Show. Photo by Tomás Del Coro – Wikimedia Commons

In addition to being a regular Today Show food correspondent, De Laurentiis has been the host of eight regular series on Food Network, including Food Network Star and Giada In Italy.

Giada De Laurentiis was induced into the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2012.

9. You could fill an entire shelf with her cookbooks

Corner of a bookshelf – Books of the world. Photo by grabadonut – Wikimedia Commons

De Laurentiis has written nine different cookbooks focused on all things Italian: pasta, weeknight meals, and family dinners. She also created a picture book meets cookbook series for kids. There are eight books, each of which highlights one of De Laurentiis’s favorite places, including Paris, Naples, and New Orleans.

10. She’s obsessed with traveling

A photo was taken on a backpacking budgeted trip to Europe. Photo by kokorowashinjin – Wikimedia Commons

Italy is obviously a favorite, but the travel section on De Laurentiis’s site reveals so many other places she’s been. She’s got guides to fifty spots all over the world, with restaurant and store recommendations.