Felice Bastianich was the former husband of Italian-American chef, restaurateur, author, and TV host Lidia Bastianich.
Felice was born to his parents in 1940 in Istarska, Croatia. He was a restaurateur.
He was a Croatian-American citizen by nationality.
Marriage And Children
Felice’s first marriage was with Lidia. They both met each other at Lidia’s 16th birthday party.
They were teenagers, and they fell in love and started dating.
Felice tied the knot with Lidia in 1966, and they married for over three decades.
They worked together and started their restaurant. They shared two children named Joe and Tanya. They got divorced after marrying for three decades.
After that, Felice remarried and got settled again. He was married to his second wife until he died in 2010.
Age And Net Worth
Felice was 70 years old at the time of his death. He had a net worth of $1 Million. His source of income was business.
Felice Left His Shares
Felice and his ex-wife Lidia started their own business after they got married.
They both had a similar passion, so they decided to open a restaurant named Buonavia.
Felice’s wife started training her as the restaurant chef, and together, they earned success in business.
However, their relationship started to go wrong when Lidia shared her thoughts about expanding the business.
She wanted to take their business to the next level, but Felice disagreed.
Because of that, they ended their relationship, and after that, Felice left his shares in his restaurant.
He gave his shares to his children and started his own.
Lidia Is Not Her Actual Name
Lidia has written a book about her life titled Lidia.
There, in the book, she talks about her whole life, and the very first thing she talks about in her book is her name.
Lidia knows her, but it’s not even her real name.
She was born in a small town in Italy, which was later named Yugoslavia after World War II.
After communism, people had to change their names and couldn’t follow or practice their religion.
Because of that, her mom baptized her secretly and told her sister, whom Lidia called Santol, to keep her name Juliana first.
Her Santol’s name was Lidia, too, so she kept Lidia instead of Juliana.
Because of that, her name became Lidia, and her mom called her Juliana, but for the world, it was Lidia.
Lidia Connects Herself With Food
Lidia talked about her connection with food in CTV Your Morning.
She came to the USA as an immigrant, and before that, she spent her three years of life in a refugee camp.
As a child, she grew up in a family where her Nona and aunt cooked food, but after communism, the whole family wasn’t allowed to leave the place at once.
They made a plan to escape, so Lidia, her mom, and her brother went to visit their relative at the border; later, her dad escaped, too, and they just left the country.
Because of that, she never got to say goodbye to anyone.
When she moved to the USA, she was just a young child who didn’t know anything, not even the language, and because of that, food became her escape zone.
She started to express herself through the food and her love for her grandma. She expressed it by making her grandma’s and aunt’s recipes.
That’s how she started communicating with her food and connected herself.
Lidia’s Food Passion Is Because Of Her Grandma
Lidia is one of the best chefs in the whole world. She started developing her passion for her food when she was too young.
As a child, she grew up in a big family. She was very close to her grandmother and spent more time with her.
Back then, her grandma was responsible for making food for everyone.
She had pigs, chicken, goat, and their farm.
Her grandma used delicious food, and as the food and her grandma surrounded her, she started developing her passion for the food.
When she left her country, she knew she wouldn’t be able to meet her grandma again, so she started living her memories with her grandma and cooking using her recipe.
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