Lidia Celebrates America

In Petoskey, Michigan, Lidia joins Justin Rashid foraging for mushrooms with his grandson. Justin was a pioneer in the American farm-to-table movement.

In Denver, Colorado, Lidia pays a visit to the Comal Heritage Food Incubator, where budding chefs can take their family recipes and elevate them for public consumption through a restaurant and catering business. Erika Rojas is a recent graduate of the program who has started her own food truck business.

At Ironbound Farm in Asbury Township, New Jersey, Head Chef, Gunnar Bentley, shows Lidia how to cook mushrooms as well as chicken on what they call the “mother fire,” an incredible 30-foot-tall outdoor grill. Opened as a cidery only a few years ago, the Farm has a big mission: training members of chronically underemployed populations with valuable farming skills to bring back to their communities.

To learn about Walker, MN and its traditions, Lidia visits local chef Maxwell Mraz. He shows Lidia how to prepare salted eelpout cakes. Eelpout is found in Minnesota’s lakes. They also make Lefse, a recipe from Max's Scandinavian grandmother. In her latest special A Heartland Holiday Feast, Lidia Bastianich travels cross-country meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.

Watch the preview for Lidia Celebrates America: A Heartland Holiday Feast. In her latest documentary special A Heartland Holiday Feast, Lidia Bastianich takes viewers on a cross-country journey. She explores how Americans representing diverse heritages are both preserving their own culinary traditions and transforming local cuisine.

Lidia visits Natchitoches, Louisiana, in Creole Country, where she meets Lillie Delphin, who is renowned in the area for her Creole cooking. Together they make a delicious Gumbo to share with friends. In her latest special A Heartland Holiday Feast, Lidia Bastianich travels cross-country meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.

In Wasau, WI, Lidia joins Lee Lor, to prepare Pork and Mustard Greens, a traditional dish of the Hmong community, refugees from Southeast Asia. Lidia Bastianich's latest special A Heartland Holiday Feast, shows her traveling cross-country, and meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.

In rural Pennsylvania, Lidia hosts a celebratory meal for the family and friends she connected with on her journey through America's heartland. Here she toasts her friends, and a guest sings a beautiful operatic song. In her latest special A Heartland Holiday Feast, Lidia Bastianich travels cross-country meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.

In Bethlehem, PA, Bonnie Boyer and her grandson Adam show Lidia how to make shoofly pie. Bonnie is locally renowned for her Pennsylvania Dutch recipes; she has the reputation for making some of the best shoofly pie in the area. In her latest special A Heartland Holiday Feast, Lidia Bastianich travels cross-country meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.

At Milpa’s Kitchen, in Denton, TX, Lidia connects with owner Jorge Landeros and his cousin Cecilia. Together they make some of the legendary tamales that Milpa's is known for. In her latest special A Heartland Holiday Feast, Lidia Bastianich travels cross-country meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.

On the frozen Leech lake in Walker, MN, Lidia and her grandson Miles meet Jason Rylander, an expert eelpout fisherman. He helps them catch the elusive fish, and because it's an eelpout fishing tradition they each give the fish a kiss! In her latest special A Heartland Holiday Feast, Lidia Bastianich travels cross-country meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.

In rural Pennsylvania, Lidia hosts a celebratory meal for the family and friends she connected with on her journey through America's heartland. Here she makes an Italian Risotto for her guests. A Heartland Holiday Feast is Lidia Bastianich's latest special, in which she travels cross-country meeting Americans with diverse heritages and culinary traditions.