Lidia Celebrates America

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.

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 this clip from Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes, Lidia Bastianich tries whisky shots from Calvin Riggleman's distillery. Riggleman owns an 80-acre expanse, and grows all kinds of fruits and vegetables. He manages a farm stand, travels to farmer’s markets, and makes his own jams, jellies and sauces, as well as several kinds of local moonshine.

In this clip from Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes, Matt Smiley discusses how farming can help veterans coming home, the similarities between farming and soldiering, and why farming is so important to him.

In this clip from Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes, Alvina Maynard describes how farming gives a person purpose. Alvina raises alpacas, as the owner of River Hill Ranch in Richmond, Kentucky.

In this clip from Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes, pig farmers, Jon and Tara Darling make a Porchetta Roll with Lidia. They have dinner outside with family and friends. Jon and Tara farm lambs and hybrid pigs, but also create and serve farm-to-table dinners for local friends and veterans.

At a celebratory dinner, Lidia gives a moving toast to the Homegrown Heroes.

In this clip from Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes, we learn about Kelly Carlisle's journey, from her youth in a crime ridden neighborhood, to the Navy, and now farming. Kelly explains how farming and gardening made her a better person. She has founded Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project, a non-profit urban farm that focuses on serving at-risk youth from kindergarten to 8th grade.

Nate Looney and Edgar Hercila work on a farm that they started in the middle of the city. It uses hydroponics to grow microgreens. See how the process works, in this clip from Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes.

In this clip from Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes, Mark and Denise Beyers make a turkey, and then fresh, homemade ricotta with Lidia. Mark and Denise have a 15-acre ranch where they farm maple trees for syrup, raise turkeys and chickens, and sell both eggs and honey with the help of their growing family.

In Homegrown Heroes, Chef Lidia Bastianich looks at veterans who return home and find farming to be a path back to civilian life. Seven poignant veterans’ stories take Lidia from the heart of Appalachia in Loom, W.Va. to Richmond, KY and Anaheim, CA, and prove that farming, beekeeping, and raising livestock can help individuals reconnect in a meaningful way to the community.

Yonas Hagos (Yorkville, IL) is a retired army staff sergeant who came to the USA from a refugee camp in Sudan at 10 years-old; he is also a Purple Heart recipient. In this clip Lidia tries Yonas's mother's wonderful cooking.