The Reason You'll Never Catch Giada De Laurentiis Eating Eggs For Breakfast
Former Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis has plenty of egg recipes under her belt, many of which are imbued with her signature Italian flare, like her cheesy cacio e pepe eggs. Despite appearances, however, you won't find De Laurentiis cracking yolks for breakfast — not in spite of her Italian background, but precisely because of it.
A typical breakfast in the chef's Italian-American childhood home favored heartier fare. "I like a starch or a grain in the morning. That's just how I like to start my day," she told Delish in 2016. For her, that means brown rice with olive oil and salt, though growing up she recalls eating bowls of farro with various toppings, much like savory oatmeal.
If you do happen to catch De Laurentiis cracking eggs in the morning, it could be for something like her ricotta-orange pound cake with prosecco strawberries. The recipe, which she demonstrates on YouTube, is a rare exception to the chef's breakfast routine.
Not against the grain
Giada De Laurentiis is not alone in her egg-free-breakfast lifestyle. While it's difficult to imagine her going on record with a statement about eggs being disgusting, social media users are coming out of the woodwork to declare just that.
As journalist Hannah Lynn notes, several TikTokers seem to have banded together to express their disdain for the embryonic staple. Lynn even conducted a Twitter poll on the subject, in which half of the respondents claimed to have a "love/hate relationship" with eggs, while 20% deemed them "literally nauseating." These people are in good company with notable egg-hater Guy Fieri, who has never had a nice thing to say about the food. "That's just not the way I like to party," he told Eater.
Luckily for Fieri, anti-egg TikTok, and anyone else who doesn't party with eggs, a world of breakfast possibilities lies beyond that proverbial carton. If you want to follow De Laurentiis' example, there are many ways to cook up a grain-forward breakfast.
Wake up and smell the farro
The breakfast farro Giada De Laurentiis grew up eating was a savory affair, often paired with olive oil and fresh herbs. If you prefer to start your day with something a little sweeter, though, know that farro, like oatmeal, can serve as a blank canvas for whatever toppings you like — sweet, savory, or somewhere in between.
To honor the flavors of classic oatmeal, reach for maple syrup, dried fruit, and a splash of cream or your favorite kind of milk. Or, for a take on a classic Persian breakfast, treat the farro as a replacement for flatbread by adding a dollop of labneh or Greek yogurt with sour cherry jam or dried cherries. As a nod to a beloved dish at Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson's Los Angeles restaurant Kismet, you could even add sliced cucumber to the mix.
The possibilities for an egg-free, grain-centric breakfast are endless. Of course, if you're not into farro, any other ancient grain, such as barley or sorghum, will work just as well.