Lidia Bastianich

Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is an Emmy award-winning public television host, best‐selling cookbook author, successful restaurateur, and owner of a flourishing food and entertainment business. Most importantly, she has accomplished all of this by marrying her two passions in life—her family and food—to create multiple culinary endeavors alongside her two children, Joseph and Tanya. 

Lidia’s love of food, cooking, and its ability to connect family and friends was nurtured as a child in Pola, a small city on the Istrian Peninsula of what was then Yugoslavia. Lidia and her family were forced to flee the communist regime. After a dramatic escape that involved temporary separation from her father in Italy, they registered as refugees and lived in a refugee camp in Italy before they were resettled in the United States when Lidia was eleven. It was here that Lidia's culinary journey took flight, influenced by her experiences and the diverse cultures she encountered. Her cooking style is a tribute to her grandmother Rosa's farm-to-table approach, Aunt Nina's sophisticated techniques in Trieste, and the commercial cooking skills she acquired in a refugee camp kitchen. 

After their immigration to the USA, Lidia’s family settled in Astoria, Queens, where, as a teen, she made her foray into the food industry, taking an entry-level job at Walken’s Bakery, owned by actor Christopher Walken’s parents. It was also in Queens where Lidia and her husband opened their first restaurant, Buonavia, to critical acclaim in 1971.

After opening her third restaurant, Felidia – one of the first women-owned fine dining restaurants in America – legendary chefs Julia Child and James Beard came to dine one evening with Lidia. Soon after this memorable first meeting, Julia invited Lidia to appear as a guest on her famed PBS cooking show, which catapulted Lidia into the world of television. Once she stepped in, Lidia never looked back: creating Emmy Award-winning cooking programming over the last 25 years including Lidia’s Kitchen, Lidia’s Family Table, Lidia’s Italy, and Lidia’s Italy in America, as well as the three-time James Beard Award-winning series Lidia Celebrates America. Lidia’s cooking shows air nationwide in the U.S. on public television and CREATE, internationally, and on various digital networks including Amazon Prime, Tubitv, and Xumo. Her cooking segments are also part of her TUTTOLIDIA YouTube channel. 

Along with her television series, Lidia has published numerous cookbooks, co-authored with her daughter Tanya. Her most recent book is Lidia’s From Our Family Table to Yours which was released in October 2023, a companion to her new 26-part public television series, Lidia’s Kitchen. She is also the author of the English and Italian version of her memoir: My American Dream: A Life of Love, Family, and Food. 

Lidia is a celebrated chef and restaurateur and a founder of Eataly. Together with Tanya and son-in-law Corrado, she also developed a line of all-natural sauces called LIDIA’S. In March 2023, she released a line of cookware with HSN.

Lidia is a member of Les Dames D’Escoffier and founding member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, two non-profit organizations of women leaders in the food and hospitality industries. She is also a champion for the United Nations Association of the United States of America’s Adopt-A-Future program, in support of refugee education. 

In June 2024, Lidia was honored with the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. She has also earned seven James Beard Awards (Outstanding Chef, Television Food Show, Best Chefs in America, Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, Specials 2016, Special 2017 and 2018) and two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Culinary Host (2013 and 2018). In 2022 Lidia received the Silver Award from APT for 25 years on Public Television.

AWARDS

2024

Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award

2023

TASTE AWARDS: The Andrew Zimmern Discovery Award Honoree at the Festa Italiana in Albany (Governor’s Mansion) and Troy, NYNation’s Restaurant News MenuMasters Winner: Hall of Fame Award Fresh Air with Terry Gross Interview & Lifelong Learning Award

2019 

New York Festivals. Silver World Medal 

2018

Gold Telly Award for Lidia Celebrates America: Home Grown Heroes–"General Documentary: Individual" category.James Beard Foundation Award for Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes–Best Special on TV or Web.

2017

James Beard Foundation Award for Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday for Heroes–Best Special.

2016

James Beard Foundation Award for Lidia Celebrates America: Home for the Holidays–Best Special.Telly Award for Lidia Celebrates America: Freedom & Independence.

2014

Nominated for James Beard Foundation Award for Lidia Celebrates America: Freedom & Independence–Best Television Program, On Location.New York Film Festivals finalist for Lidia Celebrates America: Weddings – Something Borrowed, Something New.

CREDITS: LIDIA CELEBRATES AMERICA

GBH

This program is a Production of Tavola Productions and GBH Studio Six, which is solely responsible for its content.

©2024 WGBH Educational Foundation and Tavola Productions All Rights Reserved

Produced by:

Support for this program provided by: