Bestselling author, Emmy award-winner and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich wants people to embrace what she calls “food diplomacy.” As she sees it, food is the common denominator and direct line of communication between people. 

Bastianich has been using food as a tool to communicate since she was a child living in Istria, which transferred from Italian to Communist Yugoslavian rule shortly after she was born. Her family clung to its Italian identity while living as refugees in Trieste, Italy, before relocating to the United States in 1958. Bastianich says food and a bit of luck led to the cavalcade of opportunities that included television programs, book deals and a restaurant empire.