Award-winning chef, PBS host comes to York
A conversation on old country cooking is coming to York Sunday when Emmy-award winning chef and cookbook author Lidia Bastianich will speak at Penn State York’s Pullo Center.
The event, “An Intimate Conversation with Lidia Bastianich,” features an interview with the host of PBS's "Lidia's Kitchen," followed by a crowd-sourced question-and-answer session.
“I owe something to these people,” Bastianich said. “(My fans) watch me, and they’re very loyal and faithful. I really feel that I need to touch out to them.”
The appearance is a bit of a homecoming for Bastianich. She spent a few months living in Sunbury, just a few hours north on the Susquehanna River, when she first came to the United States from Italy.
Bastianich embraces a variety of questions from the crowd. In prior events, she was asked questions ranging from how to choose the best olive oil to her personal history.
“I love these personal questions,” Bastianich said. “Once they get an opportunity to talk to me, they can ask anything they want.”
Bastianich gained her passion for cooking from her grandmother in Italy and has honed the skill over the years. She owns several Italian restaurants in New York, Pittsburgh and Kansas City. Her latest cookbook, “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine,” was released last month.
Bastianich gave a bit of advice for chefs looking to be better in the kitchen – pay attention to ingredients and buy local.
“Whatever is local is going to be less expensive and be nutritionally more efficient,” Bastianich said. “Go to the basics. The products are at the source of any good meal.”
If you go…
What: An Intimate Conversation with Lidia Bastianich
Where: The Pullo Center,
When: 4 p.m. Nov. 6
Cost: $40, $85 for VIP tickets and a signed cookbook, $125 for VIP platinum tickets, a signed cookbook and a meet and greet with Lidia Bastianich
More information: pullocenter.york.psu.edu/events/
