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When Giada De Laurentiis burst onto the food scene in 2003 with her Food Network show “Everyday Italian,” a lot of people probably recognized her surname. The De Laurentiis name wasn’t associated with restaurants or famous chefs; it was tied to movies. Dino De Laurentiis was a renowned Italian-born Hollywood film producer. He was also Giada’s grandfather. While several of his family members worked in the film industry, Giada chose a culinary path.
Classically trained in Paris, Giada started her own catering company and was enjoying relative success before Food Network came knocking on her door. In 2016, she shared that she believed three of her dishes helped launch her television career. They were baked rigatoni with mushrooms and prosciutto, almond cornmeal cake, and lemon spaghetti.
In 2001, Giada’s grandfather, Dino, was awarded a lifetime achievement award at the Academy Awards. Around the same time, Food & Wine asked her to create a menu for its magazine, seeing as she was a rising private chef related to a famous Hollywood producer. She included her baked rigatoni with mushrooms and prosciutto and almond cornmeal cake. She not only wrote the recipes but also cooked for and styled the photoshoot herself. Food Network took notice of the feature and shortly thereafter, offered Giada her own show.
Her lemon spaghetti was an early fan favorite recipe and became the best-selling dish at her restaurant GIADA in Las Vegas. She came up with the recipe based on a meal she had in Capri and said that this particular meal inspired her cooking career like nothing else she had ever tried. It is simple yet incredibly flavorful, which made this pasta recipe that never gets old hugely popular early in her career.
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Giada De Laurentiis’ recipes created an empire
Blue bowl of pasta with lemon slices and parsley – Rimma Bondarenko/Shutterstock
When “Everyday Italian” debuted on Food Network, the station was about 10 years old and increasingly gaining a fan base. Chefs like Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Alton Brown, and Ina Garten already had their own shows, but “Everyday Italian” offered something the network didn’t yet have: a program about approachable yet unique Italian food that went beyond red sauce and mozzarella cheese. It was an instant hit and was quickly followed by De Laurentiis’ “Everyday Italian” cookbook.
The show’s success prompted several more programs like “Giada’s Weekend Getaways,” “Giada at Home,” and “Giada in Italy,” plus network specials, collaborations with other Food Network chefs, and many more cookbooks. She also became a contributor on NBC’s morning show, “Today,” and opened her Las Vegas restaurant, GIADA, in 2014, followed by two more eateries: Pronto by Giada and the now-closed GDL Italian.
In 2017, De Laurentiis launched a lifestyle and e-commerce website called Giadzy, where fans can find a huge range of her signature Italian food products, travel tips, recipes (including her favorite quick appetizer and that sensational lemon spaghetti), and cooking hacks, like how to make jarred pasta sauce taste a whole lot better by dropping in a parmesan cheese rind.
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Dining and Cooking