- Stanley Tucci said Americans don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to judging other cuisines.
- Specifically, he said Americans are too hard on British food on the "Desert Island Discs" podcast.
Stanley Tucci isn't afraid to call out Americans when it comes to British food.
On the latest episode of the BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs" podcast, the actor, 62, told host Kirsty Young that he thinks Americans are far too hard on British cuisine. Tucci, who was born in New York, lives in the London with his children and wife Felicity Blunt, a literary agent whose sister, Emily Blunt, was Tucci's costar on "The Devil Wears Prada."
"People, especially Americans, I think this is always funny, when they go, 'Oh you live in England?' And I go, 'yeah.' They go, 'Well, you know, the food.' And you're like, 'You live in America,'" Tucci said. "Are you kidding me? Have you tasted your food?"
Tucci went further to say that he would even consider hosting a travel food show about British cuisine. While his Emmy-winning travel show "Searching for Italy" was canceled by CNN in December 2022, as The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time, Tucci said on the podcast that he is working on finding a new home for the program on another network.
"The plan is, I mean, I want to do the UK too because I find it fascinating. I think there is so much here to offer. Yeah, is there a lot of bad food? Yeah, there's a lot of bad food in Italy too," he added. "And I got news for you. I've eaten some of it."
Tucci previously told the "Dish" podcast hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett in November 2022 that he planned to make a new show about British food in 2023. On the "Dish" podcast, he said his goal would be to educate people on what the cuisine is really like.
"You sort of want to dispel the myth of, 'Oh, in England nobody eats well.' We know that's not true," he said at the time. "The hope is to sort of educate people as I've been educated by living here."
On "Desert Island Discs," Tucci said he's particularly fond of the produce sold in the UK capital.
"The produce that you have here is kind of amazing," Tucci said. "In London in particular I think the options are much greater than any other city I've been to so far, much greater than New York."
Tucci often cooks for his family and famous friends in his home kitchen, sharing behind-the-scene videos on Instagram.
On July 15, he posted a video in the midst of cooking cod with onions, garlic, capers, and fresh tomato for 12 people, including "Oppenheimer" star Robert Downey Jr.
And earlier in June, he shared another video showing his followers how he made a "quick bolognese" using "beautiful meat" he said he gets from a local farmers market.
"I say beautiful because there's a huge amount of fat in it," he added, speaking of the beef. After tasting the bolognese, Tucci lamented to the camera that he put "too much pasta water in it," but that otherwise, it was "good."
Representatives for Tucci did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.