BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:America/Halifax X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/Halifax BEGIN:VEVENT UID:630@devourfest.com DTSTART;TZID=America/Halifax:20191025T093000 DTEND;TZID=America/Halifax:20191025T103000 DTSTAMP:20190925T204026Z URL:https://devourfest.com/program/book-signing-with-lidia-bastianich/ SUMMARY:Book Signing with Lidia Bastianich DESCRIPTION:Bring your well-used copy of any of Lidia's amazing cookbooks\, or pick up a brand new copy of the FELIDIA cookbook for Chef Bastianich t o sign for you\, hot off the press!\n\nSponsored by the Italian Trade Comm ission\; this will take place in the VIP Lounge at Devour! HQ. Free admiss ion.\n\nLidia Bastianich\n\n“Everyone knows me as a chef\, TV host\, res taurateur\, and author\,” says Lidia Bastianich. “But I am also a refu gee who has lived the American dream.” \n\nLidia grew up behind the Iro n Curtain in Pola\, a small city on the southern tip of the Istrian Penins ula. While in many ways she enjoyed an idyllic childhood—it was an old w orld life\, spent close to the land in her grandmother’s backyard and in vineyards\, orchards\, and courtyards—her family suffered under Yugosla via’s communist regime\, eventually becoming one of its targets.\n\n“W hile life seemed great for me at the time\, what I didn’t know as a chil d was how communism took away almost everything my family stood for. Commu nists changed our last name. We couldn’t speak our native Italian langua ge. They took away our religion\; I even had to be baptized in secret! Com munism threatened my dad’s business. So we were forced to flee\,” Lidi a says.\n\nIn 1956\, Lidia and her family escaped across the border to Tri este\, Italy\, where they spent two years in the refugee camp of the Risie ra di San Sabba\, grim barracks that used to be a Nazi concentration camp. During her time there\, Lidia helped the nuns of the school she attended by cooking in the kitchen—her first taste of working in a big commercial kitchen. Finally\, in 1958\, sponsored by Catholic Charities\, the family boarded a plane to New York. \n\nLidia vividly remembers the kindness th ey received when arriving in America. “Complete strangers and nonprofit organizations were willing to give us a home\, fill our cupboards with foo d\, and find my parents a job. There was so much generosity and to this da y we have so much gratitude for the people and organizations that helped u s when we most needed it.” \n\nIn her new memoir\, My American Dream: A Life of Love\, Family\, and Food\, Lidia takes readers from her life unde r communism\, a dramatic escape across the border and life as a refugee\, to her journey to America—penniless—and the launch of her food busines s. She describes the struggle to open her flagship Manhattan restaurant\, Felidia\, and all the accolades that followed\, including the night that J ulia Child and James Beard came to dine (which later resulted in the launc h of Lidia’s TV career). The rest\, they say\, is history. \n\nToday\, Lidia is an Emmy Award-winning public television host\, a best-­selling c ookbook author with a dozen books published to date\, a successful restaur ateur\, and owner of a flourishing food and entertainment business. Most i mportantly\, Lidia has accomplished all of this by marrying her two passio ns in life—her family and food—to create multiple culinary endeavors a longside her two children\, Joseph and Tanya. \n\nLidia’s cookbooks\, c o-authored with her daughter Tanya\, include Lidia’s Celebrate Like an I talian\, Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine\, Lidia’s Common sense Italian Cooking\, Lidia’s Favorite Recipes\, Lidia’s Italy in Am erica\, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy\, and Lidia’s Italy—all co mpanion books to the Emmy winning and four-time nominated television serie s Lidia’s Kitchen\, Lidia’s Italy in America\, and Lidia’s Italy. Li dia is the owner/co-owner of four acclaimed New York City restaurants—Fe lidia\, Becco\, Esca\, and Del Posto—as well as Lidia’s Pittsburgh and Lidia’s Kansas City along with her daughter Tanya. Together with Tanya and son-in-law Corrado\, Lidia also has developed a line of artisanal past as and all-natural sauces\, LIDIA’S\, which are sold at fine food stores nationwide.\n\nWith her son Joseph and Italian business magnate Oscar Far inetti\, the team opened Eataly—the largest artisanal Italian food and w ine marketplace—with current locations in New York City\, Chicago\, Bost on\, Los Angeles\, and Sao Paolo\, Brazil. \n\nLidia is a member of Les D ames 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 t he United States of America’s Adopt-A-Future program\, in support of ref ugee education. \n\nAmong the numerous awards and accolades Lidia has ear ned are 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 Outstand ing Culinary Host (2013 and 2018). \n\nBut perhaps her most treasured hon or was when she was chosen by Pope Benedict (2008) and also Pope Francis ( 2015) to cook for them during their much-lauded visits to New York City. F or Lidia\, food remains a medium—a way of connecting with others. “In this world today\, more than ever\, sitting together to connect with famil y and friends is so important\,” she adds. “We may have hundreds of fr iends on social media\, but our real friends are the ones we share meals w ith. Sharing food is a way to connect and nurture others with something yo u made.” LOCATION:Devour! Studios\, 360 Main Street\, Wolfville\, NS\, B4P1C4\, Cana da GEO:45.091942;-64.359045 X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=360 Main Street\, Wolfville \, NS\, B4P1C4\, Canada;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=Devour! Studios:geo:45. 091942,-64.359045 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/Halifax X-LIC-LOCATION:America/Halifax BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20190310T030000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0400 TZOFFSETTO:-0300 TZNAME:ADT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR