Giada De Laurentiis Reveals Her New Cookbook ‘Super-Italian’ And The Chapter That Will ‘Change Your Life’ (Exclusive)

The celebrity chef’s new book highlights six Italian superfoods

Giada De Laurentiis has found the balance and shares it in her new cookbook.

In Super Italianin March 2025, the culinary star highlights six tasty yet healthy superfoods he believes everyone should have on hand: olives and olive oil, beans and legumes, cruciferous vegetables, small fish, vinegar and tomatoes.

De Laurentiis, 54, started the project in 2021 after the launch of Eat better, feel better. She calls this book, which focused on boosting gut health and immunity, “harder.” Super Italian.

“After doing that book tour and being in COVID, I realized that some of my upbringing was not so rigid,” De Laurentiis tells PEOPLE. “We ate pasta and we ate dessert and we drank some wine. It’s more about finding that balance, and I think I was able to do that during COVID when I wasn’t traveling as much, and I could really focus on getting back to my roots a little bit more and not being in the rat race. my everyday life.”

During the pandemic, she had time to reconnect with family members, which led to discussions about food and the dishes everyone was making at home.

Related: Giada De Laurentiis Shows Daughter Jade, 16, Singing in Her Band – Watch

“They were still very desirable foods, but there is a huge influx of Italian superfoods, things like anchovies, tinned fish, which have become very popular now, olives and olive oils and a lot more cruciferous vegetables,” he says. “Even though they were making pasta, they infused it with all this stuff.”

An ah-ha moment was when her cousin added anchovies to her garlic breadcrumbs.

“I love breadcrumbs,” says De Laurentiis. “But to make them more potent with antioxidants and more superfoods that actually make me feel better and healthier when I eat them, so that I get something good out of them? I think that’s something that we started to lose in our fast-paced life, especially here, that Italians are still aware of in their daily lives.”

The chef figured out which ingredients would be the most versatile for her recipes and then researched their benefits. Some, like olive oil, even have uses beyond cooking.

“I grew up with olive oil,” he says. “That’s pretty much all I eat. And people say all the time, ‘Oh, your skin, it looks so clear and it looks so beautiful.’ And I think it has a lot to do with the olive oil that I eat and actually use in my face products. When I exfoliate my face, I use olive oil and rice flour. I use it in my daily life.”

His favorite chapter in the book is devoted to condiments, but not the traditional ones like ketchup and mustard. It means seasoned salt, kale slaw, and the aforementioned breadcrumbs.

“I think all the seasonings will change your life, and I think they’ll change the way you learn to cook,” he says. “I always say that I don’t always write a book just for the recipe itself… I write books in a way that teaches you a technique, that will help you become a better cook subconsciously without even knowing that it’s making you a better cook.”

De Laurentiis reveals that her 16-year-old daughter Jade’s favorite recipes from the cookbook are a layerless pan lasagna with a simple pomodoro sauce; and chicken piccata meatballs. “He loves meatballs, he loves his pasta,” says the proud mother.

She notes that her boyfriend, Shane Farley, is “very similar” to her daughter in terms of food preferences, but “a little more adventurous.” He favors the roasted salmon puttanesca and his Casarecce with Sicilian pesto and prawns.

Related: Giada De Laurentiis Gets Her First Tattoo: ‘I Never Thought In A Million Years I’d Get It’

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De Laurentiis, who left the Food Network after 21 years to focus on her cookbooks and lifestyle brand, Giadzy, also opened up to PEOPLE about this new (metaphorical) chapter in her life .

“I feel like I went to business school without ever going to school,” he says. “It blew me away, honestly, how much I didn’t know that I didn’t know. It’s helped me come to terms with not knowing the answer and lean on others to teach me, and to be open and excited to learn at my age.”

“I’m 54 now, and I think we get to a certain age where we’re like, ‘I pretty much know.’ continue “And I realized that there is a lot in the unknown and really enjoying it no knowing and learning in a way that I don’t think I had done in the last 10 years before that… So it has renewed my energy in learning. I think it’s really grounded me and humbled me.”

Super Italian: 110+ indulgent recipes featuring Italy’s healthiest foods will be released on March 4, 2025 and is now available for pre-order.

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Read the original article on People.