25 Years With Lidia: PBS Sets Date for Lidia Bastianich Celebration — See First Photos (Exclusive)

Tutti a tavola a mangiare!

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PBS will raise a glass to Lidia Bastianich this December, when it celebrates 25 years of her public television shows.

The documentary 25 Years With Lidia: A Culinary Jubilee will premiere Monday, Dec. 18 a 8/7c, TVLine can report exclusively, and offer “an intimate portrait of the beloved chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, television host, and Italian food ambassador.”

As seen in exclusive photos above and below, the hour-long examination of Bastianich’s legacy, from her immigration to America to becoming the authority on authentic Italian cooking, will feature special guest appearances and interviews from Jacques Pepin, Mary Sue Milliken, Elizabeth Falkner, Geoffrey Zakarian and childhood friend Christopher Walken, along with the guest of honor’s family and other longtime associates.

25 Years With Lidia: A Culinary Jubilee chronicles some of the most memorable highlights from Bastianich’s remarkable journey, along with rare and never-before-seen video and photographs of her career. “Viewers will follow Lidia to 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,” the official synopsis tells us. “It was also in Queens where Lidia and her husband later 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,” the overview reads. “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.

Produced by public media leader GBH and funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 25 Years With Lidia: A Culinary Jubilee culminates with a celebratory meal, held at Lidia’s family-owned restaurant Becco in Manhattan, with longtime friends Pépin, Walken, Zakarian, NYC restaurateur Angelo Vivolo and Geoffrey Drummond, who was Julia Child’s producer and helped Lidia get started in television.

“Lidia’s extraordinary life story personifies the American dream, yet her ‘elegance-made-easy’ recipes and tips make the aspirational seem achievable,” says executive producer Laurie Donnelly. “The same encouragement that she gives to viewers in the kitchen is mirrored in her off-camera mentorship of women chefs and business owners. She makes everyone feel like part of the family, and, of course, family is at the heart of everything she does.”

In addition to airing on PBS, 25 Years With Lidia: A Culinary Jubilee will stream on PBS.org and the PBS App, also available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.

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