Batali, who rose to fame as the host of Food Network's "Molto Mario" from 1996 to 2004 and as co-host of the former ABC daytime cooking show "The Chew" from 2011 to 2017, came under public scrutiny after being accused of sexual misconduct in December 2017, amid the #MeToo movement.

Sometimes the kitchen is too hot for more than one chef at a time, sparking feuds between Food Network mainstays. Giada De Laurentiis claimed in July 2025 that fellow TV chef Mario Batali made an inappropriate comment about her body while writing a foreword for her 2005 cookbook,

When Giada De Laurentiis published her first cookbook Everyday Italian, in 2005, she was ecstatic to have lined up a foreword from celebrity chef Mario Batali, who was already a "legend in the Italian space." But the submission was not what the former Food Network host expected.