John Legend Says He's Been Cooking for Pregnant Chrissy Teigen Because She 'Needs to Sit Down More'

Madison Roberts
Updated

Chrissy Teigen isn’t the only cook in her household.

During the last trimester of his wife’s pregnancy, John Legend has taken over in the kitchen, making everything from chicken curry to paella. “I’ve always loved to cook, but I do it more now because she needs to sit down more,” Legend told PEOPLE at the City Harvest Gala Tuesday night. “Lay down,” Teigen clarified.

Teigen said the couple plans their meals based on country of origin, often making dishes hailing from Spain and Jamaica. But Legend isn’t perfect in the kitchen, and he admitted he’s still learning a lot of things from his wife—including how to chop onions correctly.

“It’s fun. It’s a bonding thing,” the “Good Night” singer said.

Teigen’s pregnancy hasn’t kept her out of the kitchen completely, though. The model just finished perfecting the recipes for her second cookbook, which went to print on Monday.

One dish had been haunting her in her sleep, she said, so she kept testing it out up until the night before the book needed to be finished. I just kept going to bed and dreaming that it wasn’t tasting right,” Teigen said. “It was this awesome vegetarian thing, and I was just like, ‘oh my gosh it needs chorizo.’ So yesterday before it went off, I added chorizo to it.”

“Chorizo makes everything better,” Legend added, laughing. “It makes everything not vegetarian, but…”

RELATED VIDEO: Chrissy Teigen’s Daughter Luna Is Dad John Legend’s Biggest Fan Clapping Along as He Sings on TV

Teigen assured her husband that there were other wonderful vegetarian dishes in the cookbook, “just not this one particular stuffed tomato.”

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City Harvest, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hunger in New York City, honored Teigen with the “Heart of the City Award” on Tuesday at their 35th Anniversary Gala. During the event at Cipriani 42nd Street, Legend sang his hit song “All of Me” while playing piano. After the gala, Teigen announced on Instagram that two separate meals for 20 prepared by Chef Eric Ripert featuring Legend on piano and Teigen in attendance “simply consuming food” went for $1.1 million each.

Heading to support @cityharvestnyc!! An auction item featuring a meal for 20 by the INCREDIBLE @ericripert with @johnlegend on piano and me simply consuming food went for 1.1 MILLION dollars, times TWO separate bidders. That is 2.2 million dollars. I cannot believe it. 25 cents is a meal for one person so 8.8 MILLION meals will get to people in need from that lot alone! Thank you to everyone who gave their time and talents tonight. Very proud to be a part of this organization and honored to win the heart of the city award. Now it’s time to hide and get this baby ready for the world ??

A post shared by chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) on Apr 24, 2018 at 8:07pm PDT

“That is 2.2 million dollars. I cannot believe it,” Teigen wrote on Instagram. “25 cents is a meal for one person so 8.8 MILLION meals will get to people in need from that lot alone! Thank you to everyone who gave their time and talents tonight. Very proud to be a part of this organization and honored to win the heart of the city award. Now it’s time to hide and get this baby ready for the world.”