Emmy Award-Winning Host Of ‘Lidia’s Kitchen’ To Visit Montclair

MONTCLAIR, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of the Montclair Public Library and Foundation. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here.

Montclair Public Library and St. Luke's Episcopal Church will host Lidia Bastianich, author of eleven cookbooks and Emmy award-winning host of public television’s “Lidia’s Kitchen,” to discuss her book My American Dream: A Life of Love, Family and Food, published by Penguin Random House in 2018. Lidia will be in conversation with Montclair food writer Marissa Rothkopf Bates, a trained chef and author of Newsweek’s “Gadget Lust” column.

• Open Book/Open Mind: My American Dream
• Thursday, March 21 at 7:00 PM
• St. Luke's Episcopal Church at 73 South Fullerton Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042

About the book: Lidia's memoir details her upbringing in Pula, a formerly Italian city turned Yugoslavian under Tito’s communist regime. She enjoys a childhood surrounded by love and security–despite the family’s poverty–learning everything about Italian cooking from her beloved grandmother. When the communist regime begins investigating the family, they flee to Trieste, Italy, where they spend two years in a refugee camp waiting for visas to enter the United States–an experience that will shape Lidia for the rest of her life. At age 12, Lidia starts a new life in New York. She soon begins working in restaurants as a young teenager, the first step toward the creation of her own American dream. And she tells in great, vivid detail the fulfillment of that dream: her close-knit family, her dedication and endless passion for food that ultimately leads to multiple restaurants, many cookbooks, and twenty years on public television as the host of her own cooking show. (Publisher’s summary.)

Tickets to this event will include a paperback copy of the book which can be signed by the author at the event. Please visit LidiaTickets or call 973-744-0500 x 2275 to purchase tickets. For full event details, visit montclairlibrary/MyAmericanDream

We welcome donations of non-perishable food items to Toni’s Kitchen at St. Luke’s Church, at the event. Montclair Public Library and Toni’s Kitchen partner to provide free lunches for children at MPL when school is not in session during spring and summer breaks. Toni’s Kitchen and its friendly staff is also known for serving nutritious, homemade meals four days a week at its soup kitchen, and so much more. In their own words, Toni’s Kitchen “envisions a community where everyone has reliable access to healthy food. Our mission is to provide food to our neighbors in need in ways that improve health and independence. Our door is open and all are welcome.”

"The Montclair Public Library is delighted to have Lidia share her story with us. We are proud to bring another fascinating, worthwhile conversation to our community," said Peter Coyl, Director of the Montclair Public Library. "We also look forward to helping Toni's Kitchen continue its mission to feed our neighbors in need."

Our Open Book Club will discuss My American Dream before the event in the library’s Isabel Rose Café on March 13 at 7:00. Register at openbookclubmyamericandream

Rounding out the spring season, we also have these OB/OM discussions to look forward to:

• Julia Alvarez: In the Time of the Butterflies, Thursday, April 11 at 7:00 at Central Presbyterian Church, Montclair
• Edward Tenner: The Efficiency Paradox: What Big Data Can’t Do, Friday, May 3 at 7:00 in the MPL Auditorium
• David Itzkoff: Robin, Sunday, June 2nd at 4:00 in the MPL Auditorium

This event is part of the week-long “MONTCLAIR BOUNCE: A Festival of Optimism and Resilience” community health programming created by St. Luke’s and the YMCA of Montclair. For more information, please visit montclairbounce.org/.

Our OB/OM series is generously sponsored by The Montclair Public Library Foundation, Investors Bank and The Montclair Foundation.

For more information about upcoming OB/OM events visit montclairplf.org/obom/about-us/.

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