The Gateway Community College Foundation is pleased to announce that notable chef, author and restaurateur, Lidia Bastianich, will be at Gateway Community College (GCC) on April 11 for a book signing and reception. Bastianich has been a beloved public figure for decades, but she has never told her full story until now, in her memoir MY AMERICAN DREAM: A Life of Love, Family, and Food (Alfred A. Knopf, April 3, 2018). 

In her memoir, Lidia takes readers from her life under communism, a dramatic escape across the border and life as a refugee, to her journey to America - penniless – and the launch of her food business. She describes the struggle to open her flagship Manhattan restaurant, Felidia, and all the accolades that followed, including the night that Julia Child and James Beard came to dine (which later resulted in the launch of Lidia’s TV career). The rest, they say, is history.

An ambassador for Italian cuisine and culture and a passionate chef and businesswoman who has grounded her career in her family, Lidia continues to demonstrate the hard work, determination, and optimism that have characterized her entire life. Despite the pain of losing her home and her country, Lidia found her way, in one of the great American success stories of all time. Starting with a single restaurant in Queens she opened with her husband in the 1970s, Lidia worked full time as a chef while raising a family, becoming one of the first female chefs to emerge on the male-dominated New York restaurant scene. Through ups and downs—including near financial ruin when struggling to open Felidia in 1981—she eventually grew the business to heights she could never have imagined.  Her successes include many bestselling cookbooks, her show “Lidia’s Kitchen” on Public Television, now in its twentieth year, restaurants including Becco and Del Posto, and the ever-expanding Eataly chain.  Thirty-seven years later, Felidia remains a thriving New York mainstay.

The book signing takes place from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Gateway Community College.  Tickets are $26 and include a copy of My American Dream, along with admission to the meet & greet book signing. A private reception follows in GCC’s intimate demonstration kitchen and restaurant, Café Vincenzo, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  Guests will enjoy culinary treats from Lidia's recipes, prepared by GCC culinary students under the direction of Chef Dave McCoart. Private reception tickets are limited to the first 60 guests at $100 per person, and include a copy of the memoir. 

This event is made possible through the GCC Foundation Chefs Of Our Kitchen (COOK) Series, and is sponsored by People's Untied Bank and Barnes and Noble Booksellers in North Haven.  For tickets to the book signing and/or the private reception, and to reserve a copy of My American Dream: A Life of Love, Family and Food, visit www.GatewayFDN.org/cook-tickets or call (203) 285-2617. 

About the Author
Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is the author of 11 previous cookbooks and the Emmy award-winning host of Public Television's Lidia's Kitchen. She owns four acclaimed restaurants in New York including Felidia, Becco, Esca, and Del Posto, as well as Lidia's Pittsburgh and Lidia's Kansas City, co-owned with her daughter, Tanya. She is also a partner in the acclaimed Eataly, the largest artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace in the world, in New York, Chicago, Boston, São Paulo, and Los Angeles. Lidia is the founder and president of Tavola Productions, an entertainment company that produces high quality broadcast productions and she also has a line of pastas and all natural sauces called LIDIA'S. She lives on Long Island, New York.

About the Gateway Community College Foundation, Inc.
The Gateway Community College Foundation, Inc., incorporated in 1993, is a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to support Gateway Community College and its mission.The Board of Directors is comprised of volunteers from Greater New Haven’s business, education, government and health care sectors who generously donate their time and expertise to support Gateway Community College through, scholarship selection and other volunteer activities. Money raised by the Foundation funds student scholarships, helps purchase state-of-the-art classroom equipment and materials and provides professional development opportunities for college educators and personnel.