Giada De Laurentiis is heading to Houston for a book-signing.
Giada De Laurentiis was 8 years old when her family left Rome for California, but her heart always remained tethered to the Eternal City. And that bond has grown even stronger thanks to her new cookbook, “Giada’s Italy: My Recipes for La Dolce Vita.”
A love letter to her birthplace, the book — a companion to her “Giada’s Italy” cooking show on Food Network — finds the culinary superstar reacquainting herself with the city whose foods, flavors and dining habits have colored her career.
With her 10-year-old daughter Jade in tow, De Laurentiis spent months getting into a Roman routine. She spent time with her mother, who lives in Rome, and visited with other family members there. She showed Jade how and what Romans eat as they progress their day. She reassessed the way she cooks. And through it all she said she felt rebooted — a mental, physical and creative recalibration of her life.
The Chronicle had a short chat with De Laurentiis, 47, ahead of her Houston booksigning on Saturday at Williams Sonoma in Highland Village.
Q: What was it like shooting and filming in Rome for “Giada’s Italy”?
A: We had a blast. I went with Jade for about a month. We spent time walking around finding the shops; eating, drinking and having fun. Because I was born there, I have been going back often but never spending a lot of time there. There was never time to go to Rome and chill, walk around and explore. That was a reconnection, and bringing Jade in — at 10, it’s a whole new world. (Kids) see it all. It was fun watching her picking up Italian and understanding the lifestyle and how different it was there. It was so interesting.
Q: Do any other cities make you feel that way?
A: Yeah, Paris. And the beach towns where I spend a lot of time — Naples, Positano and Capri.
Q: Has the way Italians eat changed very much since you were a girl?
A: Obviously, every culture has evolved over time. Yeah, there’s more fast-food joints than ever before. Millennials want to eat faster and cheaper. But I think that because Italians are so rooted in culture and have such a respect for the elders in the family, there’s a part of us that will never let go in that part of life. They still remember where they come from. And to make sure we preserve our family history and the culture of our people no matter how much change we go through.
Q: You’re already known for Italian cooking — how are the recipes in your new book different?
A: It’s different, but the same. I have lemon sole oreganata recipe that I made more mine. I made it lighter, cleaner and more citrusy as an homage to (Italy’s) beach towns. But what’s so different is the chapter of “la dolce vita” recipes, which are traditional Sunday supper dishes. I haven’t tweaked those recipes that much. I kept them very much the same as handed down by my family. They’re not so much difficult as they are time consuming. And you need extra hands, so you get to visit with family. That’s where the memories get created. And that chapter, for me, is the most Italian in the book.
Q: You write that this
project reconnected you and rewired you. Explain.
A: It happens to everyone that we get so busy in our daily life. Before we realize it, years and years have gone by. We all work a lot. I’m a single mom. I work a lot. As we get older, we get tired. I started to realize I didn’t have the creative juices I had when I was younger. I needed a rest. I needed a different lifestyle. It was going back to my roots, my family, my mom but in a different way. People in Rome take two-hour lunches, they take naps. It’s a slower pace. And that’s how I got to recharge and reboot.