The Truth About Giada De Laurentiis' Infamous On-Set Habit
Fans of Giada De Laurentiis seem to have all noticed one thing in particular about the celebrity chef: she is tiny. While she is known for her comforting Italian dishes, it's no secret that the cuisine isn't the best for staying trim and slim. That might be why there have been rumors swirling around about her eating habits ever since a source told the New York Post in 2014 that "she never eats" any of her own cooking (via Fox News).
Apparently, there are always "dump buckets" on set when De Laurentiis is shooting. To avoid eating, she has the bucket brought out the moment they cut so she can spit out any food or drink she took. Page Six even wrote that she'll have an assistant take a bite when they need a close-up shot of foods like cake. The camera then cuts back to De Laurentiis taking an empty fork out of her mouth to make it appear that she was the one eating it.
However, De Laurentiis has always stood by her motto of everything in moderation. She even said to Health.com, "I know that's really hard for people to understand, but I grew up in an Italian family where we didn't overdo anything. We ate pasta, yes, but not a lot of it. Pasta doesn't make you fat. How much pasta you eat makes you fat." She insists that she does eat the food she cooks but not all of it.
To be fair, it would be a lot of food
After the rumors circulated, De Laurentiis's representative, Stephen Huvane, responded with an explanation as to why she either doesn't eat more than salads while filming or spits out the things she does take a bite of. It really comes down to how much she is filming. It isn't uncommon for De Laurentiis to film as many as three episodes in one day.
"She doesn't always eat and swallow every time, since they can do sometimes six to 10 takes with three episodes a day, and that would be like eating six to eight meals a day. The bottom line is, she most certainly does eat the food she prepares on the show, but does not always consume the whole dish, as that would be too much for most people to eat in one day," said Huvane.
As Popsugar explained, the point is still to stay thin. However, if you are trying or eating bites of 10 to 20 foods or drinks in a day, then it eventually adds up. Perhaps you would even have to spit to keep yourself from getting too full. So it sounds like De Laurentiis deserves a pass and some understanding from fans.