Giada Gives Back to Public School Garden

The Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis spent Saturday at the Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in L.A., speaking out about the importance of healthy eating habits and celebrating school gardening.

Giada generously donated 300 copies of her new book, “Weeknights with Giada De Laurentiis,” to the school’s “From the Ground Up” program, which teaches elementary school students about the interconnected relationships of food, the environment, ecology, communities, and cultural histories.

The program is very hands-on as the students grow their own fruits and vegetables. Giada said, “If kids can be exposed to where and how things grow, in the future, kids will eat better and we’ll have a healthier population.”

“Extra” exclusively covered the event, asking Giada about her recent experience being the “lucky gal” who catered a special, all vegetarian meal for Prince William and Princess Kate at a benefit for one of his mother’s charities. Giada described the opportunity as “one of the biggest highlights of my career.”

“The main course was a sweet corn lasagna,” explained the chef. “I wanted to give them something that was very California inspired but also Italian traditional. Prince William won his Polo match so I’m hoping it had something to do with my wonderful lasagna.”