Lidia Bastianich

Infobox Chef
name = Lidia Matticchio Bastianich


imagesize =
caption =

birthdate = birth date and age|1947|02|21
birthplace = Pula, FPR Yugoslavia
(now Croatia)
deathdate =
deathplace =
style = Italian
education =
ratings =
restaurants = Felidia, Becco, Lidia's Pittsburgh, Lidia's Kansas City
television = "Lidia's Italy", "Lidia's Family Table", "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen"
prevrests =
awards =
website = http://www.lidiasitaly.com/

Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (born February 21, 1947) is an American chef born in Istria, specializing in Italian cuisine.

She has been a regular contributor to the PBS cooking show lineup since 1998; in 2007, she launched her third TV series, "Lidia's Italy". She also owns four Italian restaurants in the U.S. in partnership with her son, winemaster and restaurateur Joseph Bastianich: Felidia and Becco in Manhattan; Lidia's Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Lidia's Kansas City in Kansas City, Missouri.

Early life

Lidia Matticchio Bastianich was born on February 21, 1947 in the city of Pula, Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Pula is located in the region of Istria, in the Yugoslav Federal Republic of PR Croatia (now the independent Croatia). Bastianich [http://www.croatianmall.com/croatia/food/croat_wins_culinary_oscar.htm] identifies herself as an "Italian immigrant". [cite news|title= Celeb Chef Leads NYC Columbus Day Parade|publisher= ABC News|date= October 24, 2007|url= http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=3688419|accessdate= 2008-06-20] Lidia's parents used the Italian version of their name, "Matticchio", during the period of time when Istria was an Italian province, but then adopted the Croatian version, "Motika" (meaning "hoe" in Croatian), when Istria was ceded to Yugoslavia after World War II by the Paris Peace Treaty of February 10, 1947, ten days before Lidia's birth, the provisions of which were not put into place until months later on the 15th of September, 1947. [http://www.novagorica-turizem.com/index.php?vie=ctl&lng=eng&gr1=dstDzv&gr2=klt&id=2005072913410250]

When Lidia was 10 years old, her father Vittorio sent his wife Erminia and their two children to visit family in Italy while he stayed behind per the legal requirement of at least one family member remaining (a measure against illegal emigration). Hours later, Vittorio fled across the border under the cover of darkness while almost getting shot by border guards. [ [http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400040360&view=qa "Lidia's Italy" Author Q&A] , The Borzoi Reader; retrieved February 1, 2008.] The Motikas reunited in Trieste, Italy and joined other displaced families in a refugee camp (Campo Profughi, formerly the concentration camp San Sabba). A wealthy Triestian family hired Lidia's mother as a cook/housekeeper and Lidia's father as a limousine driver. After two years living in "displaced persons" status in Trieste, the family was able to obtain relocation placements in the U.S., and the family arrived in New York, New York in April 1958. Supported for a few weeks in New York by Catholic Charities Sponsorship, the family soon moved to North Bergen, New Jersey, where Lidia's father took a job as a mechanic at a Chevrolet plant. However, as more displaced Istrians arrived in the U.S., they began forming their own ethnic neighborhoods inside New York City, and the family moved to one such neighborhood, Astoria in Queens, New York.

During her youth, Lidia worked after school in Walken's Bakery (owned by the parents of Ronald Walken, later known as Christopher Walken, whom she worked alongside),cite web|url = http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-off/2008/4/25/Lidia-Bastianich-the-Pope-and-Christopher-Walken|title = Lidia Bastianich, the Pope, and Christopher Walken|accessdate= 2008-09-20|author= Emily Kaiser|date = 2008-04-25|publisher = Food & Wine Magazine] which was situated on Broadway and 30th Street in Astoria, and later got her mother a job there since Erminia did not speak enough English to return to her prior career of teaching.

In her third cookbook, "Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen," Lidia writes that her family was among the thousands of Istrians who came to the United States to make a new home for themselves, especially in the post-WWII era, when many Istrians risked their lives to escape from behind the Iron Curtain. The Istrian immigrants joined many other Europeans who came as refugees of World War II and communist dictatorships during the late 1940s through 1950s. As for Italians per se, more than 4.5 million Italians had entered the U.S before 1920, many from South Italy (e.g., Sicily, Campania, and Puglia). Due to the influx of Italian immigrants, Italian-American cuisine and culture became well established in the U.S.; Italian-American cuisine eventually developed into a cuisine style of its own, with unique adaptations of traditional Italian recipes to use more readily-available American ingredients. [Bastianich, Lidia Matticchio. "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen". Alfred A. Knopf. New York, 2001.]

Career

In an interview with Antoinette Bruno on her cooking inspirations [ [http://www.starchefs.com/chefs/LBastianich/html/interview.shtml StarChefs.com] ; retrieved January 31, 2008.] , Lidia stated:

I don’t remember life without cooking. My grandmother had a little inn in Istria, and she cooked for all the laborers coming into town. I helped with the little tasks, like shelling beans. But my grandparents did it all–they farmed, and they also processed their own olive oil, distilled grappa.

The early years (pre-1971)

In several episodes of her various television series, Lidia has related the story of the early years of her family's life in America and their struggle to find their way financially in a new country. To help bring in money for her family, 14-year-old Lidia got a job at a bakery on Broadway in Astoria named Walken's Bakery, owned by the parents of actor Christopher Walken.

Eager to rediscover her Italian cooking roots, Lidia moved on to work in several Italian restaurants in Astoria. She met her future husband, fellow Istrian immigrant Felice "Felix" Bastianich at her sweet sixteen party. The couple were married in 1966. Their first child, Joseph, was born in 1968. Lidia became pregnant with their second child as the pair of immigrants from restaurant backgrounds planned to open their own restaurant.

From Queens to Manhattan (1971-1981)

By 1971, the family had opened their first restaurant, Buonavia, meaning "on the good road", in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Queens. They came up with their menu by collecting menus from the most popular and successful Italian restaurants in 1971, and hired the best Italian-American chef they could find to execute their plan. After a brief break to deliver her second child, Tanya, Lidia began to work as sous-chef at Buonavia to learn everything she could, and was gradually able to make top-quality Italian food while adding Istrian traditional dishes to the menu.

The success of Buonavia led to the opening a second restaurant in Queens, Villa Secondo. It was here that Lidia first gained notice by food critics and cookbook authors [ [http://www.istrianet.org/istria/gastronomy/misc/bastianich/index.htm Istria on the Internet -- Gastronomy -- Lidia Bastianich] ; retrieved January 30, 2008] , and here where Lidia began giving live cooking demonstrations, a prelude to her eventual career as a TV Cooking show hostess.

In 1981, the family sold their two Queens restaurants and moved to Manhattan to create what would eventually become their flagship restaurant, Felidia (a portmanteau combining "Felice" and "Lidia"), in a small Manhattan brownstone. After over $750,000 worth of renovations and liquidating nearly every asset they had to build the restaurant of their dreams, Felidia finally opened to near-universal acclaim from food critics around the country. According to "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen", Felidia received "three stars from the "New York Times" and nationwide recognition for serving 'true' Italian fare."

Expansion (1993-2001)

Though Lidia did not want either of her two children to go into the restaurant business, son Joseph Bastianich, who had frequently worked at Felidia between school years as well as gaining expertise in winemaking, gave up his career as a Wall Street bond trader [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E5D61339F933A25752C0A960958260 Passing the Toque: For a New Generation, Hospitality Is Destiny] , Suzanne Hamlin, published January 10, 1996; retrieved February 1, 2008.] and convinced her to partner with him in 1993 to found Becco (Italian for "peck, nibble, savor") in the Theatre District in Manhattan. Like Felidia, Becco was an immediate success and led to Lidia and Joseph deciding to open restaurants outside of New York as the beginnings of a franchise [ [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/lidia_bastianich/index.html?8qa "Lidia Bastianich Navigator" from NYTimes.com] ] .

In 1993, Julia Child invited Lidia to film an episode for Child's upcoming PBS series, "", a series featuring acclaimed chefs from around the U.S. cooking dishes in their own home kitchens instead of within a restaurant setting. The series gave Lidia an instant boost of recognition and strengthened Lidia's desire for expansion of the Bastianich restaurant franchise; by 1997, Lidia and Joseph had opened their first restaurant outside of Manhattan, Lidia's Kansas City.

Lidia's restaurants were now a true family-run business in the late 1990s: Erminia Motika maintained the large garden behind the family home, from which Lidia would choose ingredients for use in recipe development; Joseph Bastianich was now the chief winemaster of the restaurant group in addition to branching out into his own restaurant line with old friend and famed Italian chef Mario Batali; Tanya Bastianich Manuali parlayed her Ph.D in Italian art history into co-ownership with her mother of a high-end travel agency called Lidia's Esperienze Italiane, where Tanya and her friend Shelly Burgess Nicotra (wife of Felidia Executive Chef Fortunato Nicotra, who took over the role from Lidia in 1996) conducted tours throughout Italy to study the historical architecture and sample true Italian cuisine; Tanya's husband, attorney Corrado Manuali, became the restaurant group's chief legal advisor [ [http://www.lidiasitaly.com/index2.htm Cast of Characters for "Lidia's Family Table"] ; retrieved January 31, 2008.] .

However, Felice and Lidia began having disagreements about the direction their lives had taken--most notably, the pace of the expansion of their business--and the couple finally divorced in 1997. They remain close friends [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D05EEDA1F38F936A25752C1A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 At Home With Lidia Bastianich, A Recipe Kept Warm For 55 Years] , retrieved January 30, 2008.] . Since the divorce, Lidia has continued her business expansion with her son as her partner by successfully opening Lidia's Kansas City [ [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/lidia_bastianich/index.html?8qa "Lidia Bastianich Navigator" from NYTimes.com] ] .

Television (2001-present)

In 1998, PBS offered Lidia her own cooking show, which became "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen". Lidia Bastianich has been a fixture in the PBS cooking show lineups ever since, hosting two additional television series, "Lidia's Family Table" (still in reruns around the U.S.) and "Lidia's Italy", launched in April 2007. Lidia closes out every episode with an invitation to join her and her family for a meal, "Tutti a tavola a mangiare" (Italian for "Everyone, to the table and eat") [ [http://topchefs.chef2chef.net/recipes-2/lidia-bastianich/ Chef of the Month Club: Lidia Bastianich] ; retrieved January 31, 2008.] . She also appeared on an episode of the 2006 PBS series Chef's Story.

To accompany her various television series, Lidia has authored several cookbooks:
* "Lidia's Family Table"
* "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen"
* "Lidia's Italian Table"
* "Lidia's Italy"

She also owns her own television production company, Tavola (Italian for "table") Productions.

Personal life

Lidia resides in Queens, New York, with her mother Erminia Motika (widowed in 1981). Lidia's kitchen has served as the set for all three of her TV series, and the garden that Erminia maintains provides many of the ingredients used in featured recipes for the shows. Erminia, who answers to "Nonna Mima" on-camera, frequently serves as a sous-chef in Lidia's various TV series.

Joseph Bastianich, his wife Deanna, and their three children (Olivia, Miles, Ethan) live in Connecticut, but frequently return to New York to handle business matters for the Bastianich restaurants.

Tanya Bastianich Manuali, her husband Corrado Manuali (who serves as legal advisor to the ever-growing Bastianich restaurant business), and their two children (Lorenzo and Julia) live on Long Island just a few blocks away from Lidia's house. Tanya serves as the main on-camera culture expert for the segments shot in Italy as part of Lidia's 2007 PBS series, "Lidia's Italy".

All four generations of the family have appeared at one time or another as contributors to Lidia's TV shows; "Lidia's Family Table" frequently featured Lidia giving simple pasta shaping lessons to her young grandchildren, and episodes of "Lidia's Italy" often feature the adult Bastianiches touring the various areas of Italy significant to their family as well as to the recipes demonstrated in the episodes.

In an interview with American Public Television, Lidia shared her opinion on how important passing along family traditions is to her and to her family:

"...food for me was a connecting link to my grandmother, to my childhood, to my past. And what I found out is that for everybody, food is a connector to their roots, to their past in different ways. It gives you security; it gives you a profile of who you are, where you come from." [ [http://www.aptonline.org/aptweb.nsf/vOtherDocs/Interview-Interview+with+Lidia+Bastianich "American Public Television Online"] ] .

References

External links

* [http://www.lidiasitaly.com "Lidia's Italy"] official website