Cat Cora is a world-renowned chef, author, restaurateur, contributing editor, television host and personality, avid philanthropist, health and fitness expert, lifestyle entrepreneur and proud mother of six.
The Jackson, Mississippi native, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America and went on to cook at two 3-star Michelin restaurants in France, has been captivating audiences since she made her TV debut in 1999, as co-host of Food Network’s Melting Pot with Rocco Di Spirito. She went on to host My Country My Kitchen: Greece, Date Plate, and was one of the featured hosts on Fine Living’s Simplify Your Life. Cat Cora is also a woman who holds a series of “firsts” for women in the culinary industry.
In 2005, Cat Cora made television history when she became the first-ever female Iron Chef on Food Network’s hit show: Iron Chef America. Since then, she shattered the glass ceiling as one of the first females to dominate the historically male culinary industry. After Cat’s Iron Chef debut, she was featured extensively on a number of television shows, including as co-host on BRAVO's "Around the World in 80 Plates" as well as FOX's "My Kitchen Rules.” and ABC’s “Family Food Fight”.
In 2006, Cat was awarded Bon Appetit Magazine’s “Teacher of the Year Award” and was named the Executive Chef of the magazine. Since then, she has blazed her own trail through the culinary world, becoming the first female inducted into The American Academy of Chefs Culinary Hall of Fame.
Cat has opened more than 18 restaurants across the United States and globally, highlighting her platform on health, wellness and sustainability:
Cat Cora’s Kitchen, and Cat Cora’s Gourmet Market, located in numerous airport locations throughout the U.S., Cat Cora's Taproom located in the Detroit Metro Airport, Ocean by Cat Cora, an award-winning restaurant in Singapore, Kouzzina by Cat Cora at Disney World, CCQ at Macy's, Postino in San Francisco's East Bay, and Olilo by Cat Cora and Wicked Eats by Cat Cora have over 500 pop-ups across the country.
Cat is changing lives from scratch as Little Kitchen Academy’s Official Brand Ambassador, Advisory Board Member, Proud LKA Parent, and Honorary Head of Recipe Development. To families seeking educationally enriching activities for their children ages 3-18, Little Kitchen Academy is the first-of-its-kind Montessori-inspired cooking academy providing a safe and empowering environment to learn practical life skills, confidence, independence, and healthy eating habits to last a lifetime.
In 2018, Cat partnered with WW on a first-of-its-kind health food destination inside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, called WW FreestyleTM Café: BKLYN. That same year, Cat was also proud to be featured in the permanent collection of the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Museum’s Kitchen Table exhibit in Meridian, Mississippi.
Based in Vancouver, Canada, the concept was co-founded by proven global branding, franchise expert and serial entrepreneur, Brian Curin, his wife, Montessori-trained, culinary expert and visionary, Felicity Curin, and social impact investor and entrepreneur Praveen Varshney, with the vision of becoming the global leader in teaching practical life skills and food literacy to children in order to promote a more educated, independent and healthier society.
True to its mission, LKA is empowering children to make independent choices, enabling them to change their lives, and those around them. Part of that mission includes empowering students to learn how they can make the world a better place through How Can I Help by Little Kitchen Academy, LKA’s signature philanthropic program, supporting Crisis Text Line, The Global FoodBanking Network, Kids Help Phone, and One Tree Planted. In addition to charitable partnerships, LKA has forged strategic global brand partnerships with AeroGarden, BIRKENSTOCK, ChefWorks, ChopValue, Emeco, Iron Chef Cat Cora, PRISE Inc., and Welcome Industries. Little Kitchen Academy’s flagship venues are in Vancouver, B.C., and Los Angeles, California. For a taste of Little Kitchen Academy, visit littlekitchenacademy.com or join its communities on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
As if that wasn’t enough, Cora is also a prominent published author of three successful cookbooks, one children’s book and, in 2015, her raw and remarkably candid memoir called Cooking as Fast as I Can: A Chef’s Story of Food, Family and Forgiveness.
Outside the kitchen, Cora is best known for her philanthropic efforts. She is the President and Founder of Chefs for Humanity, a non-profit dedicated to reducing hunger worldwide by supporting humanitarian relief and promoting nutrition education.
In 2018, Chef Cat Cora launched her Women’s Empowerment Culinary Internship Program to mentor, give back and help women succeed in the culinary arts. Each year, Chef Cora and family will host a female student in culinary school for a week in Santa Barbara, CA. The candidate will be given the opportunity to have hands on experience in both the back and front of the house at one of Chef Cora’s restaurants. Additionally, they will experience the daily operations of Cat’s business in its entirety.
President Barack Obama awarded her The President’s Volunteer Service Award for helping to address the most pressing needs in her community and our country and The President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for building a stronger nation through her volunteer service.
Cat’s upbringing in Jackson, Mississippi’s intimate Greek community had an incalculable influence on her career. Raised by a family for whom cooking and eating were the center of life, meals at the Cora house often combined spices from the South with fresh cheeses and home-cured olives sent by relatives from the island of Skopelos. Cat shares these stories and more in her memoir, Cooking as Fast as I Can: A Chef's Story of Family, Food, and Forgiveness. Her first cookbook, Cat Cora’s Kitchen was inspired by her Greek and Southern heritage and contains many of her family’s favorite recipes.
In her second book, Cooking From The Hip: Fast, Easy, Phenomenal Meals, Cat elevates at home cooking to new levels, applying her “go-with-what-you’ve got” philosophy to creating simple, yet sensational meals. Cat’s third cookbook, Classics With a Twist: Fresh Takes on Favorite Dishes (Houghton Mifflin, June 2010) showcases her signature fast and healthy approach to family-friendly recipes from around the world.
Cat resides in the Santa Barbara area with her partner and biggest fans, her six sons.
Outside the kitchen, Cat is known for her philanthropy. She is President and Founder of Chefs for Humanity, an organization that originated in response to the 2004 Tsunami disaster. Modeled after Doctors Without Borders, the not-for-profit gathers the culinary community together to raise funds and provide resources for important emergency, educational and hunger-related causes. Recognizing Cat’s altruistic determination in the food world, UNICEF named her a nutritional spokesperson to help raise awareness for humanitarian crises around the world.
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