"The Chew" celebrates 1,000 episodes

Our friends at "The Chew" are celebrating a very special milestone with their 1,000th episode.

I was there for their very first episode, so I thought it would only be fitting to go back to New York for the taping of this special celebration.

You can tell the hosts actually love each other and enjoy each other's company.

"The thing is when we are cooking together it's just very much like cooking with your family," host Mario Batali said.

For five and a half years, they've become our TV family.

And yes, they cook and they eat!

There's a lot of love and we feel it - that's their secret ingredient.

"We seriously took our tag line 'food, life, fun' to heart and that's what we try to bring every day," host Carla Hall said.

We were there in the studio and behind the scenes as they taped this milestone episode.

They got a little nostalgic and a lot teary-eyed.

They say it's surreal to think they've been with us for 1,000 hours.

"I called my agent after the first show and said this isn't going to happen," host Clinton Kelly said, letting out a huge laugh.

Now, they kind of feel like old friends.

"I think our show is like how a lot of us grew up around the kitchen table joking, kidding, laughing, learning lessons, and we try to bring that to the show every day so for us it's just a blast," host Michael Symon said.

They say, it's true, food really does bring people together.

"It's a place people can come and have fun, relax, take a mental load off and get some inspiration and laugh along with us," host Daphne Oz said.

For their 1,000th party, there's cake, of course, special celebrity chefs at the tasting table, and a lot of laughs in their happy place

"This is what we would do if we could so we hang around with a couple friends for a couple hours, you make some dishes, talk about it, you have differences of opinion, we're not all the same politically or gastronomically, it's what makes it more fun," Batali said.

"The Chew" airs weekdays at 1 p.m. on 6abc.