Lidia Bastianich

Lidia Bastianich full name is Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and she was born in 1947. He is an American celebrity chef, a restaurateur, author and television host. She specializes in the Italian-American and Italian cuisine. She had been a regular contributor to the television cooking shows from the year 1998 and in 2014; she launched a fifth television series called Lidia’s Kitchen.  She is the owner of many restaurants in USA that specialize in the Italian cuisine together with her son Joe Bastianich and a daughter Tanya Bastianich Manuali.  The most famous ones are Becco, Esca, Del Posto and Felidia.

Lidia Bastianich was born in Pola which was a part of Yugoslavia and she lived her first nine years under the communist regime of Yugoslavia until they decided to flee to Italy.  

The families claimed the political asylum from the Communist Yugoslavia they lived in the camp with other refugees who remained in the camp for a long period.  For the family, the camp had been in the place which was an abandoned rice factory and in the Triste which was converted to the Nazi concentration camp in the World War II and it was destroyed at the end of the war, it wascalled Risiera Di San Sabba.  While in Italy, a wealthy family employed her mother to be a cook and a housekeeper while the father was a driver for their limousine. After living in the camp for two year, the family application for the displaced people had been granted and they were allowed to move to USA.  They moved to New Jersey first and afterwards to New York.  The family new roots in America were made possible by the Catholic Charities who were their new sponsors.  They were the one who brought them to United States, they got their father a job and they were able to settle down. She said that she is an example that when someone is given an opportunity, he will find his way.

Lidia Bastianich started to work when she was only 14 and this is the legal age for the work permit and during this time, it was owned by the father of Christopher Walken.  When she graduated, she started to work for full time at the pizzeria of Upper west side of Manhattan. When she was at the age of sixteen, she was introduced to Felice or Felix who become her husband. He was also an immigrant from Istrian Italian and he was a worker of Labin or  Albona. They got married in 1966 and their son Joseph was born in 1968, while their daughter Tanya was born in the 1972 but their marriage ended up in a divorce.

Lidia Bastianich is living with her mother and her kitchen was the set for her television series and the garden maintained by her mother gives most of the ingredients used in the recipes in these shows. Her mother is most of the time the sous-chef in some episodes of television series.  His son gives the wine expertise on the show while her daughter is the owner of Tavola Production which produces her series. She lives near her mother.  Because of age, the hair of Lidia had already thinned out. 

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