Lidia Bastianich visits Viscardi’s Culinary Skills program

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Celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich visited Albertson-based The Viscardi Center.

Bastianich was there to see Viscardi’s Culinary Skills training program, which introduces youth and adults with disabilities to hospitality career opportunities, from commercial and noncommercial food service to jobs in the front and back of house.

“Food needs to make you feel good. Cooking is a great gift… the opportunity to feed someone,” Bastianich said, according to a news release about her visit. “They trust you when they eat your food.”

The visit comes at a time when the unemployment rate for those with a disability is 7.2%, nearly twice as high as those with no disability, according to data released earlier this year from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

At Viscardi, the Culinary Skills Training program provides a certificate to those who complete the program, to highlight the person’s overall understanding of the food-service industry. The program claims a 100% employment rate for those who complete the program and follow up with employment services.

While visiting Viscardi, Bastianich sampled the kale crostini, lamb meatballs with lemon sauce and risotto cakes – all created by the program’s aspiring chefs, using her recipes.

And while acknowledging that food services is hard work, she said “there are lots of opportunity and work available at all levels – everyone eats.” By always learning, employees can pursue opportunities to take on more responsibility and expand their skills, she said.

Bastianich offered advice to those wishing to work in food services.

“You need to love this and be happy doing it,” she said. “That’s when you get excited to cook.”

She emphasized the importance of, when speaking with employers, expressing what job candidates can do, and “acknowledging that much of the next step is learning on the job,” according to the news release.

Every restaurant, she pointed out, has its own unique personality.

“You need to learn it and fit in,” she said. “Once there, make them trust you, trust them, work as a team and then, over time you can develop your style and personality.”

Bastianich also shared her personal story, including before she became a restaurateur, author and TV host. Her love affair with cooking began when living under communism, after the Italian peninsula where she lived became part of communist Yugoslavia. At the time, food was scarce. Her family relied on fruits and vegetables, including olives and figs that were grown and harvested from their garden, and livestock. She milked goats to transform the milk into cheese, and gathered eggs from chickens. After immigrating to the United States, cooking reminded her of her childhood in the kitchen with her mother and grandmother.

While in Albertson, Bastianich toured the Henry Viscardi School at the Viscardi Center, learning about the lifespan of services it provides that are designed to educate, employ and empower people with disabilities.