Actress Debi Mazar and chef husband Gabriele Corcos have experienced a full range of emotions while being quarantined, from COVID-19 to the joy of food.
If you thought the word quarantine would become part of our lexicon in 2020, run, don’t walk to buy a lottery ticket. Prescience aside, we’re able to suggest with metaphysical certitude that nobody among us actually did, but here we are. And with quarantine becoming our way of life in recent memory, familiar names and faces have shared virtual access to their new normal, some amusingly, some philanthropically, some productively, and some even precariously. In the case of actress Debi Mazar and her chef husband Gabriele Corcos, their COVID-19 experience has checked all of those boxes.
Debi Mazar and Gabriele Corcos, the hyphenated couple has done it all; James Beard Award winners-best selling authors-successful television hosts-acclaimed actress-renowned chef-philanthropists-parents. Better yet, they’re beyond cool, so real, and comfortable sharing, which they did with us.
While being diagnosed with COVID-19 is no laughing matter, the way Debi discovered that she’d lost her sense of smell first and then taste sure adds levity to what was obviously a potentially perilous realization.
“The first time I realized that I couldn’t smell anything is, I farted in bed and told my husband that ‘I didn’t fart!'”, Mazar chuckled. “And then the next day I went downstairs and I couldn’t taste my coffee, I then ate a clove of garlic, I ate ginger and jalapeno pepper and tasted NOTHING!”, she recalled, adding “The heat from the jalapeno pepper didn’t resonate, so it was a horrible experience.”
Having her own personal chef-in-residence was of little use at that point too as the actress “couldn’t eat any of his food because it didn’t taste like anything. I was like oh, alright, I don’t wanna eat this, it doesn’t taste good.”
In the end, Debi Mazar kicked COVID-19’s butt, pun intended, but only after it had done a number of its own on her. And with the gradual return to good health came renewed senses, “finally when my taste and smell came back, the first thing you made for me that’s one of my favorite things was Pasta all’Amatriciana,” she reminisced to Gabriele, “which is like lots of garlic and pork in it and I finally tasted something and I felt like it was nirvana!”
As the parents of two teenage daughters, Evelina and Giulia, it occurred to us that quarantining in close quarters could have seemed daunting at first blush.
“The thought was scary but it’s actually been a very nice experience,” said Corcos, while Mazar added that “we’ve actually had wonderful family time where we have been together, cooking together, doing projects and having so much fun together and ultimately I feel like it’s brought us closer as a family. It’s been the most amazing experience!”
Gabriele went on to say that “the good thing about teenage daughters is if they don’t wanna be around you they just go hide in their rooms. It’s not having a mother-in-law that just stares at you from the kitchen table just waiting to be entertained.” To any offended mothers-in-law who take offense, we’re just the messenger. And Happy Mother’s Day! (Did that help soften the blow?!)
Upon hearing that Gabriele had instituted a one meal a day regimen in the house during quarantine, we couldn’t help but wonder how that went over with the ladies of the house.
“My oldest daughter, in order not to feel the offense of staying indoors during a beautiful sunny day, she basically started living at night and sleeping during the day, and the other one, who is younger, she’s 14, just woke up the first few days around 10 or 11” continuing, “so pantry and fridge are always stocked up, tons of snacks, always fresh bread in the house, always leftovers.”
Circling back to the one meal a day routine, Corcos added that “we’re not going anywhere, we’re not burning that many calories, we don’t need that much energy and that much time spent in the kitchen, so I think they adjusted fairly well and fairly fast, so they’re cool, it’s working out really nice.”
Speaking of fresh bread, not only have we been attracted to Gabriele’s quarantine baking, but we’re surprisingly mesmerized by the ambient sound version he posts online. Who would’ve known that watching time-lapse breadmaking could be a therapeutic viewing experience?
“I have to be honest” Corcos said, “peasant cuisine from Tuscany lends itself very well to the survivalist. Baking bread, curing meats, cooking with old bread, recycling leftovers, making soups out of anything” has been a jumping off point for the chef, who added “I started making french fries, that’s kind of like something that I really never did. I usually buy the frozen, ready to bake kind of stuff and now I’m full-on Belgian-style, an hour to make fries, but it’s completely worth it.” Thankfully for us, “I posted on Instagram. I’m having a lot of fun.”
Gabriele isn’t alone in having fun, as just watching his videos has continued to engage us and we’re not alone.
“I started going back to my roots, from when we started the show, and I started filming myself in the kitchen again.” Corcos continued “It’s a different format, I don’t talk, I don’t give direction, I’m publishing two kinds of videos for the same recipe, one with music and one with ambient sound.”
Recognizing his eager audience, the chef said “I’m super happy and people are enjoying it a lot. The next one in line is a burger, I posted fries yesterday, then we’re going live again with my wife basically once or twice a week”, leaving us to reminisce about the couple’s Extra Virgin and Extra Virgin Americana on Cooking Channel.
Debi and Gabriele’s generosity extends far beyond entertaining us, as their passion for making a difference is reflected in the work they do for charitable organizations in both New York City and his hometown of Florence, Italy.
Stateside, Mazar and Corcos have actively supported Food Bank for New York City for many years, most recently doing a Zoom talk show to benefit the organization. “One of the biggest issues that we’ve seen is obviously with the fact that schools are closed, kids are underfed and there’s a lot of people in need here” Gabriele said, adding “so the Food Bank for New York City has always been our go-to place for any charitable work we do here in the city.”
With COVID-19 wreaking havoc in Italy as well, Gabriele reflected on his home country “Obviously as a Florentine and living abroad, I knew what was going on in Italy before it became the news of the day here. I’ve always been in touch with my friends and the people that I work with in Florence and Francesco Spighi is a fantastic photographer.”
He continued, describing how because Spighi’s predominant focus, weddings and baptisms, had been put on hold due to the pandemic, “he started taking city photography and because his pictures were noticed he started with the Careggi Foundation in Florence”, adding “His pictures along with other pictures from other photographers were selected and used in a book that is going to be published next week and all of the proceeds are going to charity.” That charity is Florence’s Careggi University Hospital.
“It was a way to support a friend, somebody who lives in the town where we’re moving this summer to live forever”, adding “and also to do something good for my city. I’m looking forward to being on the ground next year and just help out, so this is wonderful!”
We don’t know if Debi, Gabriele, Evelina, and Giulia’s impending permanent move to Italy is breaking news, but we do know that as long as they have an internet connection, a working oven, a full pantry & fridge, and people like us that love their chemistry, their culinary gifts will be ones that keep on giving.
https://twitter.com/TheTuscanGun/status/1243237785445728256?s=20
If you would like to help Food Bank for New York City please visit its website or the Careggi Foundation, please visit its website.
How has your family coped with the current crisis? Has food brought you closer together?