13 Interesting Facts About Mario Batali

By Erin Cullum

Updated on 12/4/2017 at 5:03 PM

Getty | JB Lacroix
Getty | JB Lacroix

If you've ever been to Eataly in New York City, you can thank Mario Batali. The chef and restauranteur wears many hats (and many Crocs), and he's been gracing TV screens for years with his charm and unparalleled Italian-food knowledge — but could you ever have guessed what he would have been if he wasn't a chef? Keep reading for that plus more fun facts about the world-renowned culinary guru.

  1. He was born in Seattle but went to high school in Madrid.
  2. If he had to live off three meals alone, they would be "linguine with clams, bucatini all'amatriciana, and a fried oyster po boy," he told Serious Eats.
  3. You know that he's known for wearing Crocs all the time, but did you know he's been a fan since the very beginning? "I fell in love with Crocs immediately," Mario told AOL Food. "They were originally fishing shoes from Colorado. I started wearing them and the rest is history. I have like 30 little [Jibbitz] things to put [on] them."
  4. He can't live without spaghetti or hot sauce.
  5. There's a reason that his signature color is orange: it reminds him of being happy. In fact, he once ordered 200 pairs of orange Crocs because the color was being discontinued.
  6. He practices transcendental meditation.
  7. If he wasn't a chef, he'd be a pool boy. "I would be a pool boy in Hollywood or Beverly Hills," he once told Food & Wine.
  8. Growing up, he thought he would be a football player. "Then I got the sh*t knocked out of me at age 11," he told Details.
  9. Unsurprisingly, his kids weren't picky eaters growing up. He told Time Out New York, "The way to not have a picky eater is for the kids to work with you in the kitchen. Once they've done anything to a vegetable, by the time it's cooked, they're like, 'Yeah, I'm gonna eat this. Of course I'm gonna eat this.'"
  10. Everyone in his family knew how to cook. "It was part of the fabric of our everyday life," he told Epicurious.
  11. His recommendation for a hangover fix? "Hair of the dog, my friend. Or full on hard exercise for half an hour."
  12. He thinks the most overrated food trend is . . . bacon. "I love bacon, but it doesn't need to be in every single dessert or savory dish," he told Time.
  13. He's not just on the East Coast! Batali has a line of organic salami at San Francisco butcher Belcampo Meat Co.