Lidia Bastianich
Lidia Bastianich was born in Pula, Istria County, Croatia on February 21st, 1947 and is the Chef. At the age of 77, Lidia Bastianich biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
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In 1971, the Bastianiches opened their first restaurant, the tiny Buonavia, meaning "good road", in the Forest Hills section of Queens, with Bastianich as its hostess. They created their restaurant's menu by copying recipes from the most popular and successful Italian restaurants of the day, and they hired the best Italian-American chef that they could find.
After a brief break to deliver her second child Tanya, in 1972 Bastianich began training as the assistant chef at Buonavia, gradually learning enough to cook popular Italian dishes on her own, after which the couple began adding traditional Istrian dishes to their menu.
The success of Buonavia led to the opening of the second restaurant in Queens, Villa Secondo. It was here that Bastianich gained the attention of local food critics and started to give live cooking demonstrations, a prelude to her future career as a television cooking show hostess.
In 1981, Bastianich's father died, and the family sold their two Queens restaurants and purchased a small Manhattan brownstone containing a pre-existing restaurant on the East Side of Manhattan near the 59th Street Bridge to Queens. They converted it into what would eventually become their flagship restaurant, Felidia (a contraction of "Felice" and "Lidia"). After liquidating nearly every asset they had to cover $750,000 worth of renovations, Felidia finally opened to near-universal acclaim from their loyal following of food critics, including The New York Times, which gave Felidia three stars. One of Felidia's chefs was not Italian. He was Puerto-Rico-born David Torres, known at the restaurant as Davide'. He died of throat cancer in 1996.
Although Lidia and Felice sent their two children to college without expectations that either would go into the restaurant business, Joseph, who had frequently done odd jobs for his parents at Felidia, gave up his newly launched career as a Wall Street bond trader and in 1993 convinced his parents to partner with him to open Becco (Italian for "peck, nibble, savor") in the Theater District in Manhattan. Like Felidia, Becco was an immediate success and led to the opening of additional restaurants outside New York City, including Lidia's Kansas City in 1998, and Lidia's Pittsburgh in 2001.
In 1993, Julia Child invited Bastianich to tape an episode of her Public Television series Julia Child: Cooking With Master Chefs, which featured acclaimed chefs from around the U.S., preparing dishes in their own home kitchens. The guest appearance gave Bastianich confidence and determination to expand the Bastianich family's own commercial interests.
By the late 1990s, Bastianich's restaurants had evolved into a truly family-owned and operated enterprise. Bastianich's mother, Erminia Motika, maintained the large garden behind the family home, from which Bastianich chose ingredients to use in recipe development. Joe was the chief sommelier of the restaurant group, in addition to branching out into his own restaurant line. Bastianich's daughter Tanya Bastianich Manuali used her PhD in Italian art history as the foundation for a travel agency partnership with her mother called Esperienze Italiane, through which Tanya and friend Shelly Burgess Nicotra (Executive Producer of Bastianich's television series and head of PR at Lidia's Italy) offered tours throughout Italy. Tanya's husband, attorney Corrado Manuali, became the restaurant group's chief legal counsel.
In 2010, Bastianich and her son partnered with Oscar Farinetti to open Eataly, a 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) food emporium in Manhattan that is devoted to the food and culinary traditions of Italy. Bastianich offers culinary and gastronomy classes to the public at Eataly's school, La Scuola. Eataly's motto is "We sell what we cook, and we cook what we sell". Eataly is now in Chicago and São Paulo, Brazil. They opened a second store in New York at the World Trade Center in Manhattan in 2016 and another one in Boston the same year. Recent openings include Eataly in Los Angeles in 2017, in Las Vegas in 2018, and in Toronto in 2019.
The fall of 2010 also marked the debut of Lidia's Kitchen, an exclusive line of commercial cookware, and serving ware for QVC. Along with her daughter Tanya, and son-in-law Corrado Manuali, Bastianich launched Nonna Foods as a platform to distribute an array of both existing and new LIDIA'S food products. Nonna Foods has 9 cuts of pasta and 9 varieties of sauces (including two USDA Certified Organic sauces) available nationwide. Together with her son Joseph, Bastianich produces award-winning wines at Bastianich Vineyard in Friuli Venezia Giulia and La Mozza Vineyard in Maremma, Italy.
In 1998, Public Television offered Bastianich her own television series which became Lidia's Italian Table. It established her as a fixture in the network's line-up of cooking shows. Since then she has hosted additional public television series, including Lidia's Family Table, Lidia's Italy, Lidia's Italy in America, and Lidia's Kitchen.
She also hosted a series of hour-long Public Television specials called Lidia Celebrates America, which premiered in 2011 with Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday Tables & Traditions. In the series, Bastianich celebrates the diversity of cultures across the United States and explores the American immigrant experience. The following special, Lidia Celebrates America: Weddings – Something Borrowed, Something New, aired in 2012; Lidia Celebrates America: Freedom & Independence in 2013; Lidia Celebrates America: Life's Milestones in 2013; Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday Tables and Traditions in 2015; Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday for Heroes in 2016; Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes in 2017, and Lidia Celebrates America: A Heartland Holiday Feast in 2018, and Lidia Celebrates America: The Return of the Artisans in 2019. Bastianich ends each episode of her show with an invitation to join her and her family for a meal, Tutti a tavola a mangiare! (Italian for "Everyone to the table to eat").
For the 2010 holiday season, her new television production company, Tavola Productions, created an animated holiday children's special for Public Television "Lidia's Christmas Kitchen: Nonna Tell Me a Story" to go along with the book by the same title that was written by Bastianich.
In 2013, Bastianich returned to Public Television with Lidia's Kitchen, a 26-part series produced by Tavola Productions. The sixth season ran from October 2018 through March 2019. The seventh season premiered in October 2019.
Among Bastianich's television show appearances, she participated as a celebrity judge on MasterChef USA, an adaptation of the BBC MasterChef (UK TV series) in 2000. Her son, Joseph Bastianich, would later go on to star as a celebrity judge on the Gordon Ramsay version of MasterChef. Bastianich has also appeared on the Italian television show Junior MasterChef Italia in 2014 and 2015 for Season 1 and Season 2. In 2016 and 2017, she was a judge for the Italian television show, La Prova del Cuoco. In 2020, alongside son Joe Bastianich and Antonino Cannavacciuolo, she was a judge on the cooking competition show on Sky, Family Food Fight.
Bastianich has authored several cookbooks to accompany her television series:
- (1987) Recipient of Woman of the Year/Innovation Award, Restaurant Category, Women's Institute of the Center for Food and Hotel Management
- (1993) Nominated for "Best Chef in New York" by the James Beard Foundation; Felidia
- (1994) Nominated for "Best Chef in New York" by the James Beard Foundation; Felidia
- (1996) Nominated for "Best Chef in New York" by the James Beard Foundation; Felidia
- (1996) Recipient of "Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America" James Beard Award
- (1997) Nominated for "Best Chef in New York" by the James Beard Foundation; Felidia
- (1998) Nominated for "Best Chef in New York" by the James Beard Foundation; Felidia
- (1999) Named "Best Chef in New York" by the James Beard Foundation
- (2001) Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen wins International Association Culinary Professionals (IACP) cookbook Award in "Chefs and restaurants" category
- (2002) Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen nominated for James Beard Award in "Best National Television Cooking Show or Special" category
- (2002) Named "Best Outstanding Chef" by the James Beard Foundation
- (2002) Named "The First Lady of Italian Cuisine and Restaurants in the United States" by Senator George Onorato
- (2007) Lidia's Family Table nominated for James Beard Award in "National Television Food Show" category
- (2008) Lidia's Italy: 140 Simple and Delicious Recipes from the Ten Places in Italy Lidia Loves Most nominated for James Beard Award in "International Book" category
- (2008) Lidia's Italy nominated for Emmy Award
- (2009) Lidia's Italy named "Best Cooking Show" by the James Beard Foundation
- (2010) Lidia Cooks From the Heart of Italy nominated for James Beard Award in "International Book" category
- (2011) Lidia Celebrates America receives highest honor of Silver Award for in Film/Video Silver Winners category for the 32nd Annual Telly Awards
- (2012) Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday Tables & Traditions nominated for "Outstanding Documentary" by the James Beard Foundation
- (2013) Wins Emmy for "Outstanding Culinary Host"
- (2013) Inducted into Culinary Hall of Fame
- (2013) Lidia Celebrates America: Something Borrowed Something New receives New York Festivals Award
- (2014) Three Tavola productions- Lidia's Kitchen, Lidia Celebrates America, and Amy Thielen's Heartland Table on the Food Network nominated for a James Beard Award
- (2014) Lidia Celebrates America: Freedom and Independence receives Telly Award
- (2014) Lidia Celebrates America nominated for a Rockie Award at Banff World Media Festival in "Lifestyle" category
- (2016) Lidia Celebrates America: Home for the Holidays wins "Best Special" by the James Beard Foundation
- (2016) Lidia Celebrates America: Home for the Holidays named "Best Food Program" at Taste Awards
- (2017) Nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in "Outstanding Culinary Host" category
- (2017) Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday for Heroes wins James Beard Award for "Best Special"
- (2017) Recipient of the StellaRe Prize by the Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation
- (2018) Wins Daytime Emmy Award in "Outstanding Culinary Host" category
- (2018) Lidia's Kitchen nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in "Best Culinary Program" category
- (2018) Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes wins James Beard Award for "Best Special"
- (2018) Lidia Celebrates America: Home Grown Heroes recipient of Gold Telly Award in "General Documentary: Individual" category
- (2019) Lidia's Kitchen nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in "Outstanding Culinary Program" category
- (2019) Recipient of Master of the Aesthetics of Gastronomy Award from Culinary Institute of America
- (2019) Awarded the Premio Artusi by the Scientific Committee of Casa Artusi