Immigrant of the Day: Lidia Maticchio Bastianich (Croatia)

Born in Croatia, Lidia Maticchio Bastianich (born 1947) is a chef and host of television cooking shows on PBS. She has opened several acclaimed restaurants and has authored several cookbooks. Bastianich currently hosts the show “Lidia’s Italy.”

Lidia Bastianich is widely regarded as the “First Lady of Italian cuisine and restaurants in the United States.” She was born in Pula, Istria, a region formed by the Gulf of Trieste and the juncture of Italy and the former Yugoslavia, and she came to New York in 1958. Her television show, Lidia’s Italian American Kitchen, began airing in 2001. Her third cookbook by the same name as her television show was released in 1998. Lidia is the author of the monthly column, Lidia’s Italian Table.

Lidia was also one of the five top television chefs to be featured in a Julia Child hosted millennium cooking special, An American Feast, which aired in December, 2000.

Lidia is also considered an acclaimed chef and restaurateur.

Lidia developed her own line of pasta sauces, Lidia’s Flavors of Italy, with one of her television sponsors in 1998. Currently the sauce is found nationwide.

Bastianich is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

For a N.Y. Times list of resources about Lidia Bastianch, click here.

KJ