Stanley Tucci has a lot of time to think, and he hates it. The American actor, 64, has spent the majority of his life making movies – Conclave, The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, to name a few – and as much as he loves acting, he laments the fact that he doesn’t actually do all that much of it.
“Acting doesn’t fulfil me as much as it used to,” Tucci tells The National. “You’re on these sets for 12 to 13 hours a day, and you may only act for 20 minutes of that time. I end up thinking, ‘there’s got to be a better way to do this!' I just want to keep going and going – I’m very impatient.
“I get paid to wait. It’s the acting I do for free. That’s the way I feel, at this point.”
The problem is, when you’re sitting around all day, you’re rarely learning something – even about yourself. It’s a problem we all have – but he has lost patience with that disconnect. Which is why, over the last decade, Tucci has gone out into the world to learn more about who he really is – through travel and especially through food.
“I think we’ve gotten out of touch with ourselves physically,” Tucci explains. “One of the reasons is we’re all sitting in front of computers, or on our phones all the time – or myself, waiting on a set – and desk work is far more prominent than doing any kind of labour.”
In Tucci’s mind, it’s all connected. By focusing more on what he eats, he’s thought more about where it comes from – the land, and the culture and traditions the land inspires. And by starting at the source, we see ourselves more clearly.
“Getting in touch with the land is so important. From the land comes our food, and then the food goes onto the table, and into us,” says Tucci.
Growing up, Tucci was also quite disconnected from his roots. He didn’t understand why all the other kids at his small-town school 75km outside of New York City were eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and he was having leftovers his mother had packed him of last night’s eggplant parmigiana.
But with each passing decade, he has increasingly immersed himself in his Italian heritage – and embracing even its flaws. And by focusing his journey on food, he has ended up learning more about the country’s rich complexities than one might imagine. All of this is in service to understanding the country – and himself – better.
“I don’t want to romanticise Italy. I think that’s been done ad nauseam. I think it’s not interesting and it’s not truthful,” says Tucci.
Tucci in Italy, his new National Geographic series broadcast weekly in the UAE and available to stream on Disney+, embraces what he feels is the true Italy. In the first episode, for example, he explores Tuscany, focusing specifically on dishes that were created by and for the working class.
First he tries lampredotto, the Florentine street food sandwich made from the fourth stomach of a cow. It’s named after the eels that once inhabited the Arno river, and only the rich could afford. The tripe dish, then, was invented to imitate its flavours. But the story doesn’t stop here. Tucci then finds another old peasant dish made with imitation tripe by those that couldn’t even afford cow stomach. That one might even be his favourite.
Politically speaking, there’s a reason that he focuses on the lower class – at a time when, once again, immigrants and the poor are being scapegoated, both in Italy and in the US. It's something his immigrant family likely went through once, too.
“I think particularly in today's climate, immigrants are vilified and wrongly so, because they have so much to bring to a culture. Millions of Italians once came over to America, and they were vilified to a certain extent. Also, I think that's something that Italian Americans have to remember, and Italians themselves should remember, too,” says Tucci.
But as much as he’s enjoyed diving into the unexplored corners of Italy for the series – with another season already shot and set to air next year – he’s also adamant that his journey will stop there.
While he wants to go deeper into his ancestral homeland, a project he started with the CNN series Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy in 2021, he doesn’t want to explore the rest of the world on camera. It's clear he doesn’t want to be the next Anthony Bourdain – the late chef who grew internationally famous for his globetrotting food series Parts Unknown.
“I don’t want to do different regions and different countries, because I don’t think that would be appropriate. I don’t have a connection to those countries,” Tucci explains.
In fact, it sounds like Tucci doesn’t think there should be another Anthony Bourdain at all. Instead, he wants the Tucci in Italy model to be repeated globally – starring figures who are looking to explore their roots, not modern-day adventurers looking to become the Indiana Jones of restaurants.
“I think it would be more interesting to have somebody like me explore those countries in the way that I’ve done it – and they need to have a connection to those countries. They need to speak the language, and they have to really, really appreciate the food – not just like to eat.
“They have to know food and be willing to explore and ask questions. It’s not just about what’s delicious – it’s about understanding the passion of the people that make it.”
The next season of Tucci in Italy may be the final food travel series for Tucci. “I’m kind of tired,” he says.
Tucci is grappling with the fact that, at 64, he’s aging. And part of knowing himself now is about knowing how to navigate his limitations. He’s doing that by focusing, once again, on food.
“As a person who’s getting older, your body is changing all the time – meaning it’s getting weaker all the time. You need to know what it is you need to strengthen yourself - to keep yourself strong. Otherwise I’ll grow impatient with myself, too.”
Tucci in Italy is broadcast weekly on the National Geographic channel and is now streaming on Disney+
