Between Fires and Filming — There’s a Love of Food
What do you do when you’re not acting, directing, running a vineyard, or raising a family? If you’re Max Thieriot, apparently… you cook. A lot.
Though known for playing gritty, smoke-covered heroes on screen, Max is surprisingly domestic in the kitchen. Off-camera, he’s often whipping up stews, grilling fresh-caught fish, or making homemade pasta for his family.
“I find cooking relaxing,” Max says. “It’s creative and nourishing. Plus, my kids are brutally honest food critics.”
A Family That Cooks Together
Max and his wife Alexis treat the kitchen as the heart of their home. It’s not unusual for their sons to help chop veggies or stir a pot of chili. They keep things local — often using ingredients from their garden or sourcing from nearby farmers’ markets.
The vineyard lifestyle has taught them the value of seasonal, slow, and honest food — the kind that brings people to the table without fuss.
“There’s something sacred about sharing a meal you made with your hands,” he says. “It’s a way of saying, ‘I love you’ without words.”
Firefighter Fuel: What Bode Would Eat
Fans have asked Max what he thinks Bode Donovan’s favorite meal would be. His answer? “Probably something simple and hearty — chili, cornbread, black coffee. Fire camp food that sticks to your ribs.”
In fact, Max has toyed with the idea of a Fire Country-inspired cookbook — one that blends stories from set with recipes inspired by firefighters, rural living, and California flavors.
Just imagine:
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Bode’s Redemption Chili
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Station 42 Breakfast Burritos
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Three Rock Campfire Cobbler
“We eat well on set sometimes,” Max laughs. “Someone’s always bringing tamales or ribs or something. Might as well write it all down.”
Cooking as Grounding Practice
Cooking offers Max a rare moment of quiet. Unlike film production — which requires massive crews and constant input — cooking is tactile, intimate, and immediate.
It’s just him, the ingredients, and the fire — not so different, in a poetic way, from the fires he faces in Fire Country.
Maybe a Cookbook Someday…
While there’s no official release yet, fans are already asking Max to publish his recipes. Between his love for family dinners, vineyard pairings, and outdoor grilling, it might not be a bad idea.
“I’m not a chef,” Max admits. “But I love feeding the people I love. And that’s kind of the same thing.”
