Italian-American chef, Food Network star, and Oceania Cruises Culinary Advisory Board co-chair Giada De Laurentiis calls the Mediterranean home. She grew up in Rome and most recently visited Ischia and Sardinia, two hidden gems she recommends experiencing before they get too popular. “They’re both spectacular,” she says. “They both feel really untouched and wild.”
The world traveler joined us at the 2025 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen to demonstrate a recipe at her A Taste of the Mediterranean, presented by Oceania Cruises seminar. “The Mediterranean diet has gained so much worldwide recognition for a reason. It is built on the foundation of using really good, simple ingredients to make extremely flavorful dishes,” De Laurentiis tells Food & Wine. “That mentality has shaped everything I’ve done in my career in the kitchen.”
She prepared her signature Lemon Spaghetti, served with a Lemon-Thyme Prosecco cocktail, a Ricotta and Summer Mostarda Crostini, and Tiramisu for fans at the Classic.
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise that olive oil and lemon (cornerstones of the Mediterranean diet) are two of my most used ingredients in the kitchen. I use both incessantly,” De Laurentiis tells us. “Plus legumes, whole grains, and delicious veggies. What’s not to love?”
For the Lemon Spaghetti, she uses her Giadzy olive oil from Northern Italy, which is more mild than those from Southern Italy, where heat concentrates the fruit’s flavor. “This kind of olive oil from the north, Liguria, you can use for cooking and you can use it for finishing, which is why I love it so much.”
The pasta sauce incorporates lemon zest and juice, and the chef recommends Spaghetti Chitarra, noodles that the sauce can cling to.
The chef is a godmother of the Oceania Vista ship, which serves the Lemon Spaghetti at its restaurant Toscana. The ship has an 11-day itinerary in October from Rome that includes stops in Cinque Terre, Naples, and Sicily.
“I can’t imagine a more extraordinary way for food lovers to experience a lot of the Mediterranean than cruising with Oceania Cruises, a line that is truly passionate about its food,” she says. “The line’s chef-led Culinary Discovery Tours take guests straight into the heart of each destination’s culinary soul in a hands-on experience, whether that’s sampling artisanal Maltese cuisine in a grotto-turned-restaurant or market tours in Naples.”