Heather Graham Can't Stop Thinking About Food—Even While She's Eating | SNACKS! | Delish

0:01Kraft Mac and Cheese is better than 90s hip hop. We'll remind you of your childhood without making you feel incredibly old. Kraft Mac and Cheese. Best thing ever. Hi and welcome to Snacks, the show where we talk to your favorite stars about their craziest food obsessions. My name is Jo Saltz and I'm the editorial director of Delish. And today we're getting to talk to someone who I fell in love with a long time ago when I saw her in one of my favorite movies. swingers. She is an incredible actress, but she's also a food obsessive, and she's been in some great films, everything from Boogie Nights to Austin Powers to a new horror movie called They Will Kill You.

0:42Please welcome Heather Graham. And we'll be right back. I'm so excited to talk about food. I am like so excited that you're so excited because I have to be honest with you, the best episodes are when people really lean in and like let us.

1:00Heather Graham:I'm always thinking about food. I mean, when I'm eating breakfast, what am I having for lunch? Like, what can I eat today? That's like my most exciting. What time do you start thinking about dinner? Like when I'm having breakfast. Yeah. Or, you know, sometimes a few days before because you're getting your groceries. But I think food is like one of the great joys in life. What I've heard is that you have a real sweet tooth? I do. I used to, it used to be very bad and now I'm trying to calm it down. So I've gotten some control over it, but I do have a sweet tooth. Like when you say it was very bad, what, what did bad look like?

1:30Heather Graham:Okay. Well, so, you know, I was a teenager. I moved out when I was like in my early twenties, you know, or like late teens, early twenties, I would sometimes be like, I'm not having dinner. I'm just going to buy like six candy bars or like a tub of ice cream. I'd buy like a tub of like peanut butter, you know, Reese's peanut butter cup or like cookie dough, or I buy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is my favorite thing, okay? We get a lot of chocolate peanut butter lovers on the show. I don't think I realize what a cult following it has. Oh my gosh. I don't understand people that don't like that. But there's a lot of people who don't like it.

1:59It's not that I don't like it. I do. I just have to be in a very specific mood. It's not something I can eat all the time.

2:04Heather Graham:When I was a kid, okay, it would be Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, Twix, Kit Kat. Those were my decadent candy that I was into. Now, I like basic chocolate. I like a plain chocolate bar, like a lint sea salt, or just like a dark chocolate. I like chocolate and salt, like sweet and savory. Yes. But so what was happening in your life? Like you were just like... What was happening was that I didn't really know how to cook. I had just, you know, you move out. When you have parents, they're like, you cannot eat cookies all day. But then when you move out, you're like, I can eat cookies all day. Whenever I want.

2:31Heather Graham:So it was really sad. I used to drive for like 45 minutes or an hour to go to this frozen yogurt place called The Big Chill. I don't even know if they still have this, but I would like eat it for lunch and I would get like chocolate peanut butter and I get like toppings of some kind of candy. And then I'd be like, can I go back and have it for dinner? But honestly, it was very unhealthy because then I'm not eating any real food. It was terrible. Don't you feel like that's how I felt about Pinkberry? Like when Pinkberry first came out. No, I was obsessed with Pinkberry. And then I was like, this is like healthy.

2:56Heather Graham:I can have this for like. They claimed it to be healthy. But this was during a time when people were like, oh, fat free. But they're like, and it has a massive amount of sugar, which eventually causes fat. But now we realize that actually fat is good for you. And it's not good to have a lot of sugar. Yes. And I also feel like if you eat regular ice cream, it's more filling than if you ate twice the amount of frozen yogurt anyway. You get on a sugar high and you're amped and then you crash and have no energy. But I think actually when I've gone to Europe, that's when I kind of let myself splurge.

3:29Heather Graham:I'm like, I'm going to have gelato every day. I'm going to eat bread. But actually the stuff is healthier there because they don't have the same kind of preservatives. I have a terrible sweet tooth. my problem is actually I do love ice cream but I also am someone who now is like if I'm gonna eat ice cream I eat ice cream like I don't want to eat like fake ice cream I don't want to eat like I'm just like keto ice cream we're on the show yes frozen yogurt right like just go for like the real thing go for the ice cream go for the gelato go for the full fat yes well also like yeah and it's so much more satisfying I anyone who's listening who knows me well I order hard at restaurants.

4:06Wow. That is hard.

4:08Heather Graham:Because I don't have a lot of self-control. So when it's in front of me, I can't hold back sometimes. Oh, I have a huge problem. And I have a friend who always says when two of us go out, we order for a 10. Because I just want to taste a lot. And then we always get dessert because I want to taste a lot. I want to go back a little bit too, though. Because you have said to me before we started that you're a big foodie. And so where did that love for food come from? And when did you learn to start cooking? I'm obsessed. I'm literally obsessed with food. All my friends are laughing, because we'll be eating a meal, and I'll be like, we'll be having the best lunch ever.

4:39Heather Graham:And I'm like, what are we going to have for dinner? And I'm like, what are we going to eat? I need to plan it. I need to know it. I need to think about it. And then all my friends are like, you should have a cooking show. Because I like having dinner parties, and I like having people over, and I cook for them. Yeah. So what do you cook? Like, what's your perfect dinner party night? Well, I have a few things that are my staples. I've done this Asian rice crunch bowl that you can do with salmon, or you can do with tofu. It's really good. It's got this decadent mayonnaise-y sauce, and it has vegetables.

5:06Heather Graham:So it's kind of healthy, but it's also yummy. What's the crunchy part of the rice? The crunchy part is you put crispy fried onions on top. So it's the toppings that are really, really good. Let's see. I make a Mediterranean bowl. I make a roasted chicken. I make tacos. I make shrimp tacos. I make cauliflower tacos. Did you teach yourself how to? Well, during the pandemic, I got into this one website called A Couple Cooks. Do you know them at all? Anyway, they have really good recipes. And I found that I really liked a lot of their recipes. So I will do that. I have some vegan friends, so I make a lot of vegan food for them.

5:40Heather Graham:Also, I heard I might be able to eat your lunch today, which sounds really good and vegan. Well, if anyone's listening, so Delish does a family meal every day. And so the test kitchen cooks for everybody who's working here. I found a way to sort of like, I don't know, guilt trip them into giving me one. Oh, no, not guilt. They will die to have you there. And also, honestly, sometimes we shoot so long that, like, the food goes so fast. But they are very generous. And they are always thoughtful about, like, vegan and vegetarian. Also, I snuck into one of your, when I was walking down your hallway, I snuck into one room where someone was cooking for tomorrow.

6:12Heather Graham:And I looked at all the recipes and talked to her. It looks amazing. Yeah, what were they making? It was something salmon with some kind of peas. There was, like, something orichetti with, like, some kind of pesto it looked like. Yeah. And then I can't remember the last thing. But I was like, I want it. Honestly, the hardest thing about working here is the smells that are coming out from every single place because it's nonstop. And then like the family meal, though, just, you know, like that's they're cooking for the team. They're not even it's not even like leftovers from a shoot. They're like cooking.

6:39So even you're not even filming.

6:40Heather Graham:No, it's just really good. It makes your day so much better. I feel like food is just one of the things in life that just makes life great. It really is. But also it's sad when you're not eating good food. You know, it feels like a waste. But also, I am someone, too, who, like, I appreciate bad food as much as I appreciate good food. But you're appreciating bad good food. Bad good food. You're not appreciating, like, bad food. Yeah, like, what's your guilty pleasure, like, fast food? Like, do you eat it? I mean, In-N-Out Burger is insanity. That is, how did they create that double-double animal style?

7:12Heather Graham:It's so good. It's mind-blowing. But let me ask you the question that I ask everybody when I get, and Sarita's laughing, like, In-N-Out fries, yay or nay? Nay. Nay. They suck. Thank you. You master the burger. Your fries suck. This is like, we had an extensive conversation on one of our episodes. No, do not order their fries. It's not worth it. And then someone gave me the hack of like, you have to ask for them. Did he say well done or not well done? He said well done. Ask for them like not well done or something like that. Oh, underdone. Because they overdo them. They asked for them undercooked.

7:47Really? Yeah, Gabby. Yes, that's what Gabby said. She was like, you have to ask for them in a specific way. And I was like, I didn't even know that was a thing to do. But, like, I really am like, they should be ashamed of themselves with those fries. Are you a fry person?

8:00Heather Graham:I mean, yeah. Who's not a fry person? I know. I kind of feel that way, too, that I'm like, if you're not, then GTFO. But I will say, what's your fry? Who's your fry? Best fries on the planet. I'm not. Okay, I can't think of anything. But what did pop in my head was the best chocolate chip cookies that I recently had in L.A. If you're in L.A., Beverly Hills Cookie Company. I don't even, I think they're newish. But, okay, it was my birthday. And my friend sent them, and they blew my mind. They have a Reese's peanut butter cup cookie. They have a chocolate chip cookie. They also have other ones if you don't like chocolate, which I don't know why you wouldn't like chocolate.

8:27Heather Graham:But this cookie is insane. It's all doughy in the middle. It's talking about a sweet tooth. I have to tell you, have you had Levan in New York yet? Yeah, those are insane. Okay, okay. They're so good. I'm blown away. Stop on the way you're up. At Levan, I love the chocolate chocolate. That's my favorite. Interesting. Okay, here's what I'll say. I love the chocolate chocolate. I actually love their regular chocolate chip. And I'm an oatmeal raisin ride or die. I know. Gross. I know. I mean, look, I make a very good oatmeal for breakfast. I make a brilliant oatmeal that everyone is obsessed with and loves and gets a recipe.

8:57Heather Graham:What is your oatmeal? Okay, but I don't see why you'd want it as a cookie. I feel like that's sad. We can't be friends anymore. I don't know what to say. Because let me tell you, I will make you, for Christmas, my oatmeal cherry chocolate chip. Okay. Well, maybe you have a really good one. And I have to say, shout out to the old school Quaker Oats oatmeal raisin cookie. The recipe that's on the inside of the oldie timey round. Old-fashioned rolled oats, or are they just... Old-fashioned rolled oats on the inside of the lid. They have the recipe, and it is so good. I do think there's some that are elevated, but I think your basic one is kind of boring.

9:32Heather Graham:I don't disagree with that, but I also feel like... I'm sure yours are good. Well, I appreciate that. I have made a good oatmeal cookie before, because a couple cooks, they do have a chocolate oatmeal peanut butter. Well, of course, it's chocolate peanut butter. But they have a few oatmeal cookies I've made that are good. Wait, but what's your oatmeal recipe, and what makes it so good? Okay, so I've made this for a lot of my friends. If they're staying at my house or happen to be there in the morning, I make it, and everyone's like, I want the recipe, okay? So this, shout out to a couple cooks, you melt butter, okay?

10:00Heather Graham:And then you toast the oats, and you have to use old-fashioned rolled oats. You toast them in butter, and then you add not a lot of liquid because you don't want it to be, like, gloppy, too gummy. You add equal parts to what oatmeal you put in, half water, half any kind of milk you like. And then you add cinnamon and salt because it's, like, sweet and savory. Delish. You just cook it until it gets, and it's quite, the texture is not wet. It's more almost dry. It's, you know, it's moist, but it's not, it's more thick. It's almost like a cookie in a way. And then I put Justin's honey peanut butter because it has like a little bit of sweetness, but it's not too much.

10:33Heather Graham:And then I put cacao nibs. So I'm creating like a peanut butter chocolate. And then I put berries. I put raspberries and blueberries. It's like low effort. Don't have to cut anything. And it's mind blowing. That sounds insane. I mean, maybe, I don't know. I'm talking it up too much, but I've eaten it every day for like four years. It also sounds like it's got a good amount of protein, not to turn this into a protein conversation. No, but a lot of people are saying, you know, put protein powder in it. There's oats that are like protein oats. But I feel like oatmeal has protein in it. Oatmeal is a good, solid, healthy food.

11:01Heather Graham:You could also use any kind of nut butter. If you're not into peanut butter, you can use almond butter. You could use cashew butter, which, by the way, I just tried pistachio milk here in my tea. I didn't even know that existed. But, yeah, and you could use any kind of fruit. You can use strawberries. You can use bananas. You can cook apples into it so that they're soft. So it's like an apple oatmeal cookie. I've made that, too. And so you're eating this beautiful oatmeal, and you're like, what's for lunch? I'm eating it, yeah, and I'm thinking about lunch. Like right now I'm thinking about the bowl you guys are making.

11:30Heather Graham:I'm, like, dreaming about it. I'm like, oh, my God, the bowl. I remember my dad telling me that, like, he would get to work. He would commute to the city every day. We grew up in New Jersey. And he would get to the city, and he would be, like, taking off his coat. And the phone in his office would be ringing. And it would be my mom being like, what are we having for dinner tonight? And I'll never forget that she was going to get the grocery She would get there or she'd be start planning it, but it's like at the time I was like oh my god It's like nine o 'clock in the morning. What are you doing?

11:54But now it's so true And also I'm laughing too because you're talking about this oatmeal I know my face looks insane and I get called out on Instagram all the time Your face does not look insane No, but like I have such a knee-jerk crazy response to like hearing about food because I get so excited

12:09Heather Graham:I'm gonna send you the recipe. I need the recipe. I'll make it for you if you want. I'm gonna in your kitchen. I'm 100 % going to have you make it. But I'm laughing because people are like, this PTA mom always looks like she's freaking out about food. And I'm like, I am legitimately freaking out about this food. I love that you've turned it into your career. I just like, it's so great to talk about. OK, I have to get to Hollywood food because everybody I have on, I end up turning into a craft services conversation. So I'm going to name three movies. And you're going to tell me which had the best craft services.

12:40Heather Graham:I remember, it's very clear in my mind which one had to buy. I'm so excited. All right. Your options are swingers. Yeah. Austin Powers. Or Boogie Nights. OK. Well, there is no competition because the one that had the biggest budget had the best food, OK, which is Austin Powers. That's why I wondered. They had crazy good because craft service, you know, they have food laying out. They would make you things all throughout the day, like different kinds of meal. It was that was an amazing craft service. And so, like, what is that like, though, on a big budget film? Like, does everybody does every star have like sort of a different go to?

13:11Like, are you guys sitting together? Like, what is the experience like for, like, a chef there? Like, are they cooking up now? They've got to cook for Heather? Well, they have a full lunch, right?

13:20Heather Graham:So the lunch is out there. And usually the lunch is like a truck. And they'll have, like, they'll have a meat option. They'll have, like, a chicken or fish option. They'll have a vegan option. Then they have, like, a salad bar. So already you're getting, like, so much food, right? And it's, like, all laid out. And you have many, many options, right, to try to accommodate everyone's dietary. But then throughout the day there's craft service. So not only are you getting this, like, huge lunch and a breakfast, you're getting, like, snacks throughout the day. But I remember they made really good quesadillas.

13:43Heather Graham:They made like a melted tuna melt quesadilla. I just remember that being, I actually remember it. And of course, a lot of these places make like smoothies and green drinks and like, you know, all throughout the day, they're just serving you delicious. I mean, a lot of times craft service is sandwiches. But, you know, they maybe they make salads or like they bring out meatballs or lots of different things. So in comparison, because you've also done quite a few like indie films, like independent films, like would. It can be terrible. I was going to ask. The budget of the movie Swingers, which is now like lasted and is a hit.

14:15Heather Graham:Cult crazy. No, the budget of that movie was$200 ,000. Wild. Which, you know, usually budgets for movies are like a million. So I don't think they even have craft service. But sometimes like on a low budget movie, it could be like, here's some candy bars. And some, you know, blah. But usually there's like at least a jar of peanut butter. So I think I've already expressed my love for peanut butter, which I know a lot of people don't like peanut butter. Or they think peanuts are not good for you, but I don't care. I love it. No. So sometimes I'll just put a spoon in a jar of peanut butter and just eat that as a snack.

14:43Heather Graham:God bless. But no, sometimes there's horrible craft service. I think that's so funny, too. We had somebody who was on talking about how when they started producing films that they made sure that they had earmarked a lot of the budget because it really can make or break. But also, the thing that I don't think a lot of people realize is how many people you guys have to feed. And there's so— It makes a big difference. I'm sure. Especially because you're thinking there's the actors. You know, people think about the actors, but there's all the people working on the crew, the people doing the hair and makeup, the wardrobe, all the guys that are the electricians, the camera department, you know, the locations, the people that drive all the trucks.

15:17Heather Graham:Like all these people are working like very long days. It could be like a 12 or 14 hour day, a 15 hour day. Like, you know, it makes everyone's morale a lot better when there's good food. And we'll be right back. This episode is brought to you by Palmolive. Family time isn't just the big moments. It's weeknight dinners, sitting around the table, everyone talking all at once. So when the plates are empty and the sink is full, use Palmolive Ultra. Palmolive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9 % of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier, so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together.

15:57Heather Graham:Shop now at palmolive.com. Okay, so your new movie, I Want to Make Sure They Will Kill You, is about a cult. you've given me a little bit of a sneak peek that like maybe your your character is less than kind I know we were just saying that you're wearing black I'm wearing white so you look like the girl but I'm like actually I'm pretty devilish in the I can't imagine you playing the devil I can't you're too sweet I'm not a devil but I'm devilish okay yeah but let me ask you first of all how was that experience like it was really fun because I got to do more stunts than I've ever gotten to do at any movies.

16:32Heather Graham:So I had to get there early. I had to get there weeks early to train with the stunt team. They were amazing. The team was incredible. There were these amazing women. These gorgeous women that were just these badass, athletic heroes. They helped me learn it. There are certain scenes I did a lot of stunts. Some of them were the stunt woman. My girl was called Tiana. She did some of the extremely hard stuff. She was on a wire and when it goes flying through the air and stuff. I got to do fight scenes that normally guys are doing in movies but i got to do it because you know i'm a bad guy and i got to fight with zazzy beats which was so fun oh sweet did you have to like eat like a like when you like your training for that i mean it's funny because i wear a black robe in a lot of the movies so that you know that i'm evil in case you weren't wondering who's good who's bad i'm wearing a black robe and most of the movie and i kept saying to the director like can i please just have an outfit like i want a cute outfit yeah yeah he's like nope you're wearing the black robe god bless yeah um but let me ask you now okay horror films are you a horror film watcher i will watch them occasionally like i definitely get scared i probably wouldn't watch it like right before i go to bed but if something's a really good movie i do want to watch it and i do want to know about it because i do not watch horror movies i just won't do it there's a humor there's a there's comedy there's action it's not just like horrifying the entire time yeah what's your movie snack i mean does it change the change from the type of film you're watching.

17:55Heather Graham:I make popcorn from scratch. You just use enough olive oil and then just put that in and it just was solved. Just very plain. But the problem is, as you're watching, you can just really take down a huge bowl really quickly. Tom Colicchio. That's what he talks about. That's his favorite go-to snack is homemade popcorn. Yeah, I mean, why buy it when it's so easy to make? I just feel like that... Because movie popcorn is crazy good. Well, there's weird chemicals, but if you make it at home, it's really just three ingredients. So you use an oil and then you throw the kernels in. You just wait five minutes.

18:27Heather Graham:You just put salt. You know, that is beautiful, classic, fresh. But don't you find homemade popcorn a little gummy sometimes? No. Chewy. OK. You make it right then. Do you put enough oil in? Probably not. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm not. You need to coat the bottom with like a thick enough level of oil that it really crisps it. Yeah. Maybe that's my problem. All right. So when you go to the movie theater, what are you getting? I usually, look, I try not to eat in the movie theater. I try to eat like a meal and not just eating. I know you're on snacks, you know. This is a real hard conversation. I think there's no healthy food at a movie theater, right?