My American Dream: A Life of Love, Family, and Food [Paperback]

For decades, beloved chef Lidia Bastianich has introduced Americans to Italian food through her cookbooks, TV shows, and restaurants. Now she tells her own story for the first time in this “memoir as rich and complex as her mushroom ragú (O, the Oprah Magazine).

Born in Pula, on the Istrian peninsula, Lidia grew up surrounded by love and security, learning the art of Italian cooking from her beloved grandmother. But when Istria was annexed by a communist regime, Lidia’s family fled to Trieste, where they spent two years in a refugee camp waiting for visas to enter the United States. When she finally arrived in New York, Lidia soon began working in restaurants, the first step on a path that led to her becoming one of the most revered chefs and businesswomen in the country. Heartwarming, deeply personal, and powerfully inspiring, My American Dream is the story of Lidia’s close-knit family and her dedication and endless passion for food.“A memoir as rich and complex as her mushroom ragú.” —O, the Oprah Magazine

“Bastianich is one of our great culinary matriarchs. . . . She recounts how she went from asylum seeker to the embodiment of America’s most enduring myth about itself.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A loving and often mouth-watering picture of [Bastianich’s] culinary adventures.” —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 
“[Bastianich’s] memory for evocative detail . . . and her writing style make for compelling reading. . . . She reflects on her life with a matter-of-factness that makes the stories all the more poignant.” —The Washington PostlSE