We were lucky to catch up with Gary Leli recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Gary , you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
Cooking is the best form of generosity. When friends and family enter your home there is nothing more fulfilling than good food and drinks. Meals truly bring people together.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Growing up in an Italian Family in Queens, NY friends, family, laughter and food was everything. Having a grandmother who made incredible meals I always had a strong interest in learning to cook. At the age of 15 I then went to work at a very popular Italian Restaurant. While working 50 hours a week in the summer the line cooks and chefs showed me many recipes and techniques. As I approached Senior year of High School I strongly considered attending Culinary School. However, I decided to attend college instead but the cooking always remained a passion. Upon moving from NY to LA in 2017 and being a Standup Comedian I met fellow comedian Ben Thompson. With everyone doing podcast we decided to create our own cooking show. Ben has a tremendous talent in filming, directing and editing and with my cooking we thought this could be our version of a podcast. As of March 2021 Ben, my wife Lindsay and I have been making recipes from my childhood.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
A few things that were impactful to me in learning how to cook was great people who cared about me and showed their love through meals and teaching me the restaurant business. When you make people great meals and drinks they feel loved and welcomed which is what we are trying to convey through our show.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
We are always looking for people to collaborate with. We are looking for those that would like to bring their recipes and share them with us. Further to that, we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with those on both the talent and production side.
Contact Info:
- Website: goodcookingshow.com
- Instagram: @goodcookingshow
- Facebook: Good Cooking Show
- Youtube: Good Cooking Show Gary Leli
