With 51 seasons of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives under his belt, Guy Fieri has seen — and tasted — it all.
But when the Food Network show premiered back in 2007, the TV personality had no idea it would become what it is today. “It’s never-ending. When I first started Triple D, I’ll be honest: I thought, we’ll do this for a couple of years, we’ll run out of places,” Guy admitted to Good Housekeeping at a launch event for his brand collaboration with Waterloo Sparkling Water in New York City earlier this month. But thanks to what he calls “the food movement, the explosion of what’s happening in food,” the opposite happened.
“The amount of restaurants that I’ve gone and shot Triple D at that said, ‘We opened a restaurant because we saw Triple D, and we wanted to make a funky joint,’ the wheels are off the wagon. We’re making amazing food and opportunities. And the great thing is, the world’s palette is open to these new types of creativity.”
In fact, lately, Guy says he’s seeing more and more people leaning into the vegetarian movement. “We’re learning so much about it. I think people were really categorizing vegan and vegetarian food and saying that it’s all vegetable and it’s all simplistic. I’m going around with Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, finding places that are doing stuff with not just vegetables, but all these vegan and vegetarian options with seitan and tempeh. I mean, I’m going to vegan butcher shops!”
As for what’s next for Triple D, Guy exclusively revealed to us: “Spoiler alert, somebody might be going to Sicily this year.” (Perhaps that was one of the places that inspired Guy’s Waterloo sparkling flavors: Guy’s Lemon Italian Ice, Huckleberry Cobbler and Spiced Mango Sorbet).
In addition to visiting restaurants, the “Mayor of Flavortown” is no stranger to running them, with a number of establishments under his name. (Just don’t expect to see a pancake house from Guy anytime soon: “I can’t stand pancakes.”)
And it’s really a family affair as Guy’s oldest son Hunter Fieri, 28, is following in his footsteps, making a name for himself in the culinary world after appearing on several of Guy’s shows over the years. We asked Guy if there’s anything Hunter makes better than he does, and he joked, “absolutely not.”
Guy’s younger son, Ryder Fieri, is 19 and a freshman in college, working for the San Diego State basketball team. “He’s really gotten into his health now. Finally, he’s starting to come and ask me questions about cooking, about meal prep. Now he’s really into it, and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, the clouds have parted,'” Guy shared.
All joking aside, he continued: “Some of my favorite meals I’ve ever had have been cooked by my sons. Food is an emotion and a time and a place and a feeling and who you’re with. It’s like going to see music. You’re going to see a concert, and they may not be your favorite band, but you’re there with the right people at the right time. You’re in the right space, and then all of a sudden they become one of your favorite bands.
So when I’m not in the kitchen, and I’m not tasting the sauce five or 10 times, when I’m not doing all the work for it, I’m sitting in the other room talking to friends, whatever … I come in and see that my sons and my nephew [Jules Fieri, 25] have made the dinner, it’s one of the most delicious things. And it’s not because they did it. They know how to cook. I don’t want to get too cliché about the love in the dish, but it really is that. When people take the time to do that, that’s part of the emotional connection to the food.”
OK, who’s cutting onions in here?
Jamie (she/her) is the news and SEO editor at Good Housekeeping. She oversees GH’s digital news strategy, assigning and editing celebrity and entertainment news content. Before joining Good Housekeeping in 2024, she was the digital editor at Woman’s Day. She has over 7 years of professional experience writing and editing lifestyle content for the Rachael Ray Show, The Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, Insider, Elite Daily and more. She holds a BFA in Writing, Literature and Publishing from Emerson College and lives in Brooklyn with her cats Lumos, Linus and Milo.
