Chef Marcela dishes on her new cook book "Familia"

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Term supply must be $21 plus. Please drink responsibly. Chef Marcella Viadali joins us now. Author of Familia, an Emmy-nominated celebrity chef, former Food Network host, now doing her own thing as a complete entrepreneur. Marcella, great to see you. Thank you for having me. And you got this brand new book out.

Who prompted this to writing this? Mid, actually not mid-pandemic, closer to the beginning of that pandemic, like a lot of Planet Earth, all of my projects just kind of ended. Productions ended, partnerships were put on hold. It was a scary time and I decided to go online and teach cooking classes basically just to kind of keep myself busy and not go crazy at Zoom with my sister Karina. And it blew up.

We were getting 1300 students per class from around the world. It was pandemic, so we would get not just a person in a square, Zoom square, but we would get entire families and we would eat dinner together, the thousands of people and me and my sister. So it was like the most amazing thing. And that's how the book came to be. And you said that people would pay to get out to get on. Yeah, that was my job.

And they got a ticket. That was my job during pandemic. They got a very detailed document. Sometimes I would write up 10 pages detailing the recipes, where to buy the ingredients. I would give them links to the ingredients.

I would explain the ingredients. And they got the cooking class and then they would get a recording of the class as well that they could keep and download and keep forever. And it just worked out better than you could have imagined. It became this really huge thing. And I eventually was able to sell this great book proposal.

And now I can't believe it's like a book sitting in front of you right now. Do they, did your recipes and the classes take into, how did it take into account that people weren't there alive? They were there alive, but they weren't with you. Yes. Did you have to change how you did things? No, great question. I had to, I had to take advantage of the fact that Zoom or that gave me the capability of seeing all of my students. So I would literally be like, is this concept good with you?

Can I move forward? Give me a thumbs up and I would look at the squares. And if I had the majority of thumbs up, I could move forward. So it was really also a very interactive cooking class. We would open up the squares and ask questions like, how's it looking?

Do you want to show me your food? And it would be like majority rules. If I saw that the Zoom squares all looked like I could move forward, I would move forward. So it was just really cool because it did feel very interactive. So Zoom was perfect for cooking.

Yeah, for those classes. Because you could see them. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

We could see each other and we could talk to each other and there's the chat option. So if, you know, I would ignore the questions, if it was something that was in the recipe and they ignored because they didn't pay attention. But if 10 people ask the same question, I need to take a pause and address it. So it was really cool. And so that gave a prompt to this book. But in terms of the food you made, what is your focus?

Like what makes you, you? Yes, my food, my food is homestyle Mexican food. But I would say a little more leaning towards like maybe California, a little fresher. I don't want to say a little bit healthier because I don't purposely make it healthy. But if you stick to the traditional methods of Mexican food, it is actually a healthy cuisine. I think that's what people don't know about our cuisine. Right. And that's what people are looking for now because they're looking to survive and they're also noticing what's in their food. Exactly. And I talk about that on my social media a lot. And I say it can be, you know, being on social media these days can give you so much anxiety because all you hear about is everything that's wrong with our food system and the world and how our health and all these things, which are super important to talk about. But I say if you're overwhelmed, just go to something like these recipes where it's just asking you to cook with ingredients from scratch, whole ingredients, you know, shop the perimeter of the supermarket, get fresh ingredients, stay away from things that come from a box. It's not that complicated.

Traditional methods will always give you healthy food. So describe your life growing up. You were going back and forth from California to from Tijuana.

Yeah, I didn't realize how special that was until I started doing TV and I was doing an interview with The Wall Street Journal and they were like, wait a second, wait a second. You live in Tijuana because back and I lived in Tijuana and crossed the border every day. And I'm like, yeah, I grew up living in Tijuana. My mother and father were Mexican, but my mother was American born.

I am American born. So we would cross the border literally every single day to go to school in San Diego with like my Tupperware container with like breakfast waiting in line to get across. Wow. Yeah. So I grew up speaking both languages, eating both foods, both cultures, like literally I'm the perfect example of half and half. Right. And so it was interesting they tried, your parents wanted you to school here. Yes.

Why is that? I think for my mom it was really important that we dominate both languages. She knew how it would open, and she was absolutely right in my case, that it would open up a lot of doors for me to have. I already had citizenship because I was born here.

So that papers were not an issue. But for her it was really important that we were perfectly fluent and understood both languages and cultures. So do you have you noticed, I'm sure you have, how into Tex-Mex and everything that Americans are? Yeah. Oh, absolutely.

Absolutely. And I think in the beginning of my career I was kind of angry about it, but the reality is Tex-Mex is just like it's a different category of cuisine. And now I've become so much more inclusive and inviting of every sort of cuisine and type of cooking. And the reality is Tex-Mex introduced the country to a lot of the ingredients that I do work with, a lot of the authentic ingredients that I work with.

So it's great. Was it a male-dominated business when you got into it? Here's the thing, and I get asked this question a lot, I never felt that I was at a disadvantage as a Latina. I grew up in a very, very proud matriarchal household where Mexican women ruled. Like my mom was a CEO, like the women in my family had all of the power. Not to say that the men didn't, but they weren't traditional, perhaps submissive, part of a patriarchal society, which is a lot of what we see on sitcoms.

A hundred percent. So I grew up in that bubble where I was just extremely proud of being Mexican and being a woman, that that became my superpower. So I never felt that I was at a disadvantage.

For me, it was always looking at the landscape and seeing all the men and be like, they're missing a Mexicana on there. Like that was just my attitude about it. I never felt at a disadvantage. It was never a do not enter sign for you. No, I never felt like a victim.

I always felt like it was my superpower. Nobody does fall better than Whole Foods Market. The Spice Up Autumn event is happening now. Save on Animal Welfare certified beef top sirloin steak. Perfect with gravy for a comforting meal. Find savings on organic honey crisp apples and organic pears. Then visit the bakery department for their limited time pumpkin butter chai cake. And while you can, level up your fridge with fall wine, beers and ciders.

Spice Up Autumn at Whole Foods Market. Term supply must be 21 plus. Please drink responsibly. So a couple of things. I guess the number one issue right now in America might be the border. Yes. And we have mayor of New York and going to Ecuador, Mexico City, going to Panama. We have our secretary of state or attorney general in Mexico City today.

We have the mayor of the mayor of Chicago at the border today in Texas. Yes. How do you view all this being someone who's so familiar with both countries? You know what?

It's such a tough question to answer. And I was just having a conversation with with with Allison this morning about it. And and the reality is for those of us that live there and I do a lot to to try and make people aware of what what's happening just in the sense that there are human lives involved and how can I help just as a human helping another human staying away from politics. But for someone that lives there, I think I don't want to say it's greatly exaggerated, but I definitely want to say there's a misunderstanding of how the those of us that live in the border, how we live and how we live, how we cross the border and how it impacts our lives.

I think there's a there's a misunderstanding of what truly happens down there. What about how you feel about is there a sense that Central and South America think this is one opportunity to get to those countries who have come one come all? Do you worry about the families making it across? I absolutely worry about the kids. I worry about the children. I worry about the children.

And I'm I'm I definitely believe there should be. Listen, I've been there. I've actually been there with humanitarian aid. And as a as a human just standing there and it's I'm not a politician.

I make enchiladas for a living. But as a human standing there, you can literally see how the access is kind of, you know, open. You can literally see that that it's not the hardest thing in the world to just literally walk across. And as someone standing there and seeing this happen, you're like, how is how can this not be resolved? Like what is going on here and why is this flow of people actually being permitted to come across the border? Like it's all very confusing what's being reported.

And for those of us that actually have been down there trying to care for the children and the pregnant woman and the teenagers, like it's all very sad and very confusing when you're there. And a lot of people are Mexican, right? Mostly from other countries passing through Mexico.

Yes, absolutely. And actually, it's actually one of the things that makes Tijuana one of the most amazing places on earth is that a lot of people come to Tijuana thinking they're going to be able to cross the border and they don't. So we've become this like massive melting pot of cultures and cuisines. And we have people from all over the world that live there and contribute to the food and the culture.

And it's actually one of the most awesome places to be. And Jeff, how would you describe this book? The family recipes for people to sit down again and enjoy a family meal? Yeah, I talk about that a lot on my social media as well.

I think we've lost a lot of those values. And I saw it through pandemic what it meant to see families sitting together and eating together and what that does for us as a society, as a community to bring that back. You know, these these recipes are really easy to follow. I think it's the first cookbook ever where every recipe has been tested already by hundreds and thousands of people, which makes it pretty cool.

And that's why the word foolproof is on the cover. They're easy to follow and they'll get the whole family to the table. So do you, that entrepreneurial aspect, how much more satisfying is it to found and pioneer this way with Zoom and cooking as opposed to the success you already had on the Food Channel? I think it gave me much more of an opportunity to be able to be all thanked it to myself and to cook what my audience had been asking me to cook my whole career. It was always hard for me to say I can't cook these ingredients because the platforms that I'm on deem them too difficult or the ingredients are not accessible or not recognizable.

Oh, 100 percent. So when I start doing these Zoom cooking classes, I'm like, I'm just going to cook what I cook for my family. And I've found the biggest success in my career in working this way versus working the other way. And how do you explain the fascination people have? It seems to be with with making food like the Food Network and chefs like you, they seem to have hit a celebrity status. Not many people foresaw in the 80s and 90s.

Why is that? Yeah, I think people I mean, I can't speak for them, but I can speak like for the recipes that I'm putting out. I think a lot of you know, we're talking about the border. I think that for a lot of people, food is a way to connect to a place that's long gone or far away or different country. And I know that's what that's what I realized in the pandemic during these classes and doing these recipes that the feedback was so huge and so powerful and so beautiful. And they weren't talking about the food. They were talking about the feeling. They were talking about where these they're like, I haven't had that rojo rojo or that machaca burritos or whichever one of these recipes since I was a kid in like Morelia or Michoacan or Tijuana or whatever. So I think it becomes it becomes a connector that takes you back to a really beautiful place for most of us. And how do we get it? Familia is anywhere where books are sold.

You know, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, talk to your local bookseller. It's all over the place. So. Oh, and you have a book signing? I do. I have a big book signing tonight in Brooklyn at a store called This is Latin America at 5 p.m. And we're going to have our frescas and Mexican candies. And we have we're expecting a lot of kids to sign a book. You have to make stuff.

Oh, my God. I make it an event. We're giving away so many goodies.

You know what it is? I just want to say thank you in the you know how cookbooks they always have like chefs gives you quotes and stuff. I ask my followers for quotes and they're in my book and their handles are in my book because I wanted to thank my people, my family, my followers for everything that they've done for me. Like everything I do is a celebration and I thank you to them because they're the reason I'm sitting with you right now. Gotcha.

Yeah. Marcella, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Congratulations on the book. Thank you so much. All right. And pick it up.

It's called Familia. And Chef, thanks so much for being here. Great. At just 30 years old, the founder of FTX was one of the wealthiest people in the world. That all changed in November 2022 when the company collapsed and filed for bankruptcy. Now Sam Bankman-Fried stands accused of committing one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history. Join me, Kelly O'Grady, every Monday and Thursday as we follow the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. Subscribe today wherever you download podcasts or at FoxNewsPodcast.com. Listen to this show ad free on Fox News Podcast Plus on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.