Biba Caggiano (October 18, 1936 – August 29, 2019) was an Italian-American cookbook author, television chef, and restaurateur.

Biography

She was born in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. Her first exposure to professional cooking was through her mother, who owned and operated a

trattoria A ''trattoria'' (plural: ''trattorie'') is an Italian-style eating establishment that is generally much less formal than a '' ristorante'', but more formal than an '' osteria''. A ''trattoria'' rooted in tradition may typically provide no pr ...

in Bologna. She married a

New Yorker New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to: * A resident of the State of New York ** Demographics of New York (state) * A resident of New York City ** List of people from New York City * ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925 * '' The ...

named Vincent. She grew up cooking the food of her native

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

region. In 1960 she moved to New York, the hometown of her husband. In 1969 the family moved to

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, which at the time did not have an Italian restaurant of note. In 1986 she opened her own restaurant, Biba, which went on to become one of the most famous Italian restaurants in California. Both Caggiano and her restaurant won many prestigious awards. Caggiano's cooking show, '' Biba's Italian Kitchen'', aired on

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

and Discovery Channel and lasted for over 100 episodes. Caggiano was a

cancer survivor A cancer survivor is a person with cancer of any type who is still living. Whether a person becomes a survivor at the time of diagnosis or after completing treatment, whether people who are actively dying are considered survivors, and whether ...

. She died at age 82, after a two-year battle with Alzheimer and

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Books

As an author, Caggiano penned eight widely selling cookbooks, which together have reportedly sold more than 600,000 copies. These include the following: * ''Trattoria Cooking'' * ''Biba's Taste of Italy'' * ''From Biba's Italian kitchen'' * ''Italy al dente'' * ''Biba's Italy'' * ''Northern Italian Cooking'' * ''Spaghetti Sauces''

References

1936 births 2019 deaths American chefs American food writers American restaurateurs Women restaurateurs Italian chefs Italian emigrants to the United States Italian food writers Mass media people from Bologna American women chefs Women cookbook writers Women food writers Writers from Sacramento, California 21st-century American women {{Italy-writer-stub