Premieres Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App + Encore Friday, Dec. 29 at 2:30 p.m. on KPBS TV

The much beloved James Beard and Emmy award-winning chef, Lidia Bastianich is celebrating twenty-five years on public television. With one of the longest running cooking shows on PBS, Lidia is also a lifetime restaurateur and a bestselling cookbook author who has a compelling backstory as an immigrant personifying what it means to be living the “American Dream.”

In honor of her 25th anniversary, “25 Years With Lidia: A Culinary Jubilee” is a documentary special that will – with the help of family and some celebrity friends – roll back the years and take a very intimate look at the trajectory of Lidia’s life both on and off the screen. It was in New York – and eventually Astoria, Queens – where Lidia began constructing her life in America as an authority on classic Italian cooking.

Lidia made her foray into the “working world of food,” which included a job at Walken’s bakery where she worked with Christopher Walken (it was his family’s bakery) doing everything together from sweeping floors to delivering cakes.

While Lidia stepped slowly into the restaurant world, she eventually became the matriarch of a far-reaching restaurant empire. We’ll travel back in time, unpacking memories of this remarkable journey including the opening of her first restaurant in Queens, Buonavia.

Lidia built her culinary career at a time when American diners were enamored with nouvelle cuisine, but she stuck to the rustic cuisine of her childhood. After spending even a short time with Lidia, it’s clear that everyone feels they are part of Lidia’s family, even popes — she’s cooked for two of them. Most recently, Lidia, along with her daughter Tanya and son Joe, prepared meals for Pope Francis during his stop-over in New York.

The hour ends with an intimate celebratory meal. Included on the guestlist are longtime friends; Jacques Pépin, Christopher and Georgianne Walken, Geoffrey Zakarian.

Watch On Your Schedule: The documentary will stream on PBS.org and the PBS App, also available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.

Credits:

Producers: GBH, Five O’Clock Films LLC and Tavola Productions. Executive producers: Lidia Bastianich and Laurie Donnelly. Lidia Bastianich is host. Executive Producers are Lidia Bastianich and Laurie Donnelly. Underwriter: Corporation for Public Broadcasting.