Giada de Laurentiis Has This Response for Haters Who Say “Never Trust a Skinny Chef”

Chef Giada de Laurentiis — known for her petite frame as well as for her enormous culinary empire — has something to say to her detractors. In fact, she's heard one thing repeated so many times before that she has lots to say on the topic.

The chef recently appeared on TODAY.com's Cold Cuts With Al Roker — in which the host invites celebs on set for a chat while they make a sandwich inspired by the star's favorite things — and broke it down after Al asked her if there's one question she's just tired of people asking.

"How could I be so thin and eat so much pasta? Never trust a skinny chef — my entire life, first thing out of people's mouth is, 'How do you stay like that and eat all that pasta?' I'm like, I don't eat all the pasta! I eat a couple bites of pasta, I don't eat all of it. I eat a little bit of chocolate, I eat a little bit of things. I don't eat an entire platter full of anything."

And Giada attributes this habit to her Italian heritage. (Fun fact: Although she has no accent, Giada was born in Italy and moved to America at age 8.) "I think that in Europe, we know how to eat a little bit of everything," she told Al. And yes, that's a stark contrast to the American way.

"In America, the portions are ginormous. So no one has learned to eat small amounts of food. We've grown up with giant meatballs. Everything is all-you-can-eat and super-size. That's all we know."

Beyond that, Giada explained that things changed for European immigrants when they came to America: "That's also part of the culture because all these immigrants came here, and a success story in America is the more food you have, the more money you have. So the bigger the meatballs, the richer you are. And that's what people wanted."

Coming from a show business family, Giada said, "I didn't grow up like that, so for me it's not that strange."