Guy Fieri: 'Every Day Is Thanksgiving'

Nov. 28, 2008— -- Guy Fieri, the chef and Food Network star says that growing up, he was "always into food." And for Fieri, food is about much more than just "nourishment."

"It's an experience, it's an emotion, it's a memory," he said. "There's so many ties to it. For me, when I get to do it, I think about how happy it makes me to eat something that's really good or that's handmade by somebody and that somebody took the time to do it and I know how that makes me feel."

"We have the greatest experiences with food: engagements, announcements, celebrations," he said. "I mean if you look at it, if there's a celebration, there's usually food involved."

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Fieri, a past winner of the reality show "The Next Food Network Star" who now hosts four shows on the network, has stayed close to home in his culinary career, operating five restaurants in northern California where he was raised.

"It used to drive my mom nuts because the first thing I'd ask every morning when I got out of bed and walked into the kitchen is 'Mom, what's for dinner tonight?'"

Fieri still remembers the first time he prepared steak and spaghetti for his parents when he was 10 years old.

"[My dad] took a bite of the steak and he set his fork and knife down, and he looked over at me and said, 'You know what Guy, this might be the best steak I ever had.' And it still gives me goose bumps now, you know, 30 years later, that something I could make could make people happy ... I knew that my life was always going to have food in it."

When he was 16, Fieri went to France as an exchange student and decided not to return to high school after coming back to the United States. He was inspired in part by the quality of food he found in Europe.

"Food has always been my motivation," he said. "I'd rather not eat than eat an inadequate meal."

After consulting with his parents, Fieri got his GED and took a variety of different jobs in the restaurant industry -- bussing tables, working as a sushi chef and working in a meat processing plant, among them. He also got a degree in Hospitality Management at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.