In article >,
Kate Connally > wrote:

> On 1/18/2011 3:20 PM, sf wrote:
> > On Tue, 18 Jan 2011 14:50:44 -0500, Kate Connally
> > > wrote:
> >
> >> I also added garlic, the absence of which I
> >> can't fathom. (It's an *Italian* recipe for cryin' out loud! Isn't it
> >> against the law to make an Italian dish that doesn't contain garlic?
> >
> > PS: Lidia is one of those Italians who doesn't like garlic and used
> > to say it frequently on her show. She was born and raised in a
> > section of Italy that is now modern day Croatia.
>
> I watch her show from time to time, not on a regular basis. But
> I don't recall her ever saying that. Maybe I just wasn't paying
> close enough attention. Anyhoo . . .
>
> I didn't know about the Croatia thing. I thought she was of
> mixed ancestry. Bastianich doesn't sound very Italian so I thought
> her father might have been something else. She sometimes has her
> mother on the show and her mother is *VERY* Italian. :-)

Lidia was born in Istria which has had a mixed Slavic and Italian
population for centuries. Her family strongly identified as Italian and
were forced to leave when the region became part of the former
Jugoslavija. She was around 12 rears old at the time. The "Croatia
thing" would have nothing to do with her not liking garlic. Garlic is
not an uncommon ingredient in that region. There is an Istrian
restaurant in San Francisco called 'Albona'. Their menu can give you
some idea of Istrian food. http://www.albonarestaurant.com/menus.html

D.M.