NEED TO KNOW
Giada De Laurentiis shared why she pronounces dishes and ingredients with an Italian accent on her shows in an Instagram video on Aug. 26The celebrity chef said her parents “insisted” the family speak Italian at home when she was a child”When I started on Food Network, it didn’t occur to me to not pronounce those words correctly,” she said
Giada De Laurentiis is opening up about her authentically Italian pronunciations as a TV host.
The celebrity chef addressed the topic in an Instagram video on Tuesday, Aug. 26, saying she got questions about it from fans after asking what they wanted to know about her career.
“One of the things that came up was the pronunciation of dishes and ingredients from my shows,” she said.
“Honestly, I moved here in elementary school from Rome,” the former Food Network personality explained. “I really didn’t speak any English and I flunked the first grade. I couldn’t practice at home because my parents insisted that we speak Italian”
“Everything was about Italian food and culture in my house, so when I started on Food Network, it didn’t occur to me to not pronounce those words correctly,” she said. “Also my family probably would’ve killed me if I hadn’t pronounced them the right way, the way they had taught me.”
De Laurentiis admitted she never expected her Italian accent to be a subject of discussion among viewers.
“It really surprised me, and it still surprises me, the emotion that it elicits out of people who watch my shows,” she said. “I get asked all the time to pronounce words and dishes — it’s hilarious to me.”
“It was that simple,” she concluded. “I really didn’t think much about it at the time.”
Last month, De Laurentiis shared the story behind her television career in another Instagram video.
She recalled that she was a private chef about 24 years ago, having worked at Beverly Hills restaurant Spago, and was assisting friends who were food stylists.
Giada De Laurentiis on ‘Everyday Italian’.
Food Network
“I was asked to do an issue for Food & Wine magazine that was like ‘the family issue’ or something,” De Laurentiis said. “So I get my family together at my grandfather’s house. My grandfather, my brother, everybody, my sister, my mom. And we do ‘a lunch at the De Laurentiis,’ write a bunch of recipes, pizzas, really simple family stuff. And we do the photo shoot — I’m just thrilled, it’s so exciting. I’m like, ‘I’m going to be a food stylist.’”
After the issue was released, De Laurentiis got a call from Food Network executive Bob Tuschman, who asked her to submit a tape of herself.
It took her about six months to do it, she said.
“I was working a lot and I didn’t know much about Food Network,” she added. “I was nervous. So my brother shot me and we put a little demo reel together of me making a bechamel. And they loved it. And so that’s how we started Everyday Italian. And I did that for seven years.”
Everyday Italian premiered in 2003 and ran for 12 seasons. De Laurentiis appeared on other shows over the next two decades, including Giada Entertains, Giada’s Holiday Handbook, Giada in Italy and Food Network Star.
Since leaving the network in 2023, De Laurentiis has focused on her lifestyle brand, Giadzy, and released a new cookbook, Super-Italian. Earlier this year, she returned to TV for the Prime Video special Giada in My Kitchen.
Dining and Cooking