Lidia Bastianich has been welcoming people to her table on PBS for 25 years with the same call-out: "Tutti a tavola mangiare," which is Italian for "Everyone to the table to eat!" It's more than a catch phrase, it's her governing principle. Throughout her storied career, she has been fueled by a passion for simple, home-cooked meals, shared with family and friends.
"I’m straightforward. I’m simple. I don’t over-create. I’m sort of a transporter of a culture, my Italian culture to my American culture and family, so I feel very comfortable in that position," she said on Boston Public Radio on Thursday, "and when you’re comfortable, you know what you’re doing, you just move along without major fuss.”
When Bastianich opened her first restaurant, Buonavia, in New York City in 1971, her menu focused on regional Italian fare, not the more accessible Americanized version of the cuisine already found in the city at the time. As she gained acclaim, she recalled, James Beard and Julia Child both walked in to see what she — and, specifically, her risotto — was all about.
The PBS connection was forged after Bastianich invited Child to her home for an Italian risotto lesson. Child, whose show "The French Chef" first aired on PBS in 1963, offered straightforward lessons to empower home cooks — something Bastianich vowed to do herself.
"She was really in the mode to have this viewer-cook. She made it simple, she showed that mistakes could happen, that chickens could fall on the floor, all of those things, and I must say that ... I took away exactly what she was doing," she said. "I wanted the people out there that watch me, to cook Italian food. And certainly, Italian food lends itself to simplicity, straightforward: it's all about the products."
Bastianich said the pandemic helped fuel a new wave of home-cooking enthusiasts, but it's nothing new.
"Cooked food at home is much more nutritional, it's tastier, and it gives you great satisfaction," she explained. "To be able to cook for your family, to feed, to nurture your family, it's an act of love."
Bastianich has been on public TV since 1998. Her fifth show, "Lidia's Kitchen," is currently in its 10th season.
"I wanted to be on PBS because of all the values that PBS brings to the viewer and the listeners, and that’s where I am for the last 25 years," she said, "and I love every lesson, every month, every year and so on."
