For almost 20 years, world-renowned chefs Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis have been the best of friends. For their recent show “Bobby and Giada in Italy,” Flay and De Laurentiis spend a month in Rome and Tuscany learning about the the history and traditions of Italian cuisine.
In the Variety Streaming Room presented by Discovery Plus, senior entertainment and media writer Matt Donnelly spoke with Flay and De Laurentiis about their show “Bobby and Giada in Italy” while they whipped up their own Italian-inspired cuisines.
The duo discussed the different types of food they gravitate toward and why. Flay said he had never been to Tuscany before filming his series, and loved the eye-opening experience. In addition to a “very different” scenery, he said that the cuisine in Tuscany is much heartier, given their their wild boar and ragu.
“It was a really nice getaway,” Flay said. “It was almost like, ‘we’re in New York City, and then we’re going to the Hamptons.'”
The bestselling authors and Emmy winners also bonded in a way they hadn’t over nearly two decades.
“We stayed in the same villa with our teams. We said goodnight every evening and had breakfast all together every day. It’s like nothing we’d done before,” De Laurentiis recalled.
When asked if there was anything they wish they could go back and do again, De Laurentiis said she wishes they could’ve ridden Vespas. “That would’ve been fun to do,” she said. As for Flay, he said he would like to do more of the activities that they did in Rome than in Tuscany, and vice-versa.
“In Rome, we mostly went out to dinner and lunch. In Tuscany, we cooked more. I think we can do the opposite. I’d love to go back to Rome and cook in more restaurants,” he said.
Watch the mouth-watering conversation above.
