The Diet That Has Always Influenced Giada De Laurentiis’ Cooking

Amber De Vos/Getty Images

Anyone who has watched Giada de Laurentiis cook can guess which diet influences her cooking more than anything else — and if you guessed the Mediterranean diet, you’d be right! The biggest clues in her cooking include her emphasis on fresh ingredients, including lots of greens, tomatoes, olives, artichokes, and other veggies, excluding her least favorite one. She also loves to use lean meats and fish, often grilling them for added flavor while adding rich oils like olive oil.

While you can see by simply scanning Laurentiis’s recipes that she’s a big fan of the high-health-ranking Mediterranean diet, she has also admitted as much herself. While talking to Food & Wine, Laurentiis said, “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. That mentality has shaped everything I’ve done in my career in the kitchen.”

From brightening up her burgers with an Italian twist to the ingredient she uses in her cucumber salad, Laurentiis has just the thing to give any dish a bit of Mediterranean flare. But, for her, the Mediterranean diet isn’t just about the food. 

Why the Mediterranean diet is so popular

monticello/Shutterstock

What makes the Mediterranean diet work? Simple — it’s a way of eating that includes more of the foods that studies show can add years to your life, and less of the foods that don’t. Apart from being born in Rome, Italy and eating a Mediterranean diet through her early childhood, this is only part of the reason why Giada de Laurentiis leans on it so heavily in her own recipes. 

With an emphasis on nutritious whole foods, grains, and olive oil, those who follow the Mediterranean diet consume fewer processed foods, saturated fats, and empty carbohydrates. This diet also limits red meat, instead encouraging leaner proteins, including chicken and fish. It also promotes eating plant-based proteins like soy, lentils, chickpeas, or even whole grains like quinoa or farro. But, for Laurentiis, the diet goes beyond what you eat. 

Apart from the health benefits, the Mediterranean diet also results in beautiful, well-rounded plates of food. More importantly to Laurentiis — like many of the meals and recipes she has shared with friends, family, and viewers throughout her career — the diet encourages sharing meals and social connection.