Cat Cora

On and off-screen, Chef Cat Cora (www.catcoracooks.com) continues to make a lasting impression on the culinary community. Her food aspirations began at an early age, and by 15, she developed a business plan for her own restaurant. In 2005, she made television history on Food Network's Iron Chef America as the first and only female Iron Chef, and in 2006 Bon Appetit Magazine named her Executive Chef and bestowed her with their Teacher of the Year Award. From partnering with Macy’s for a new restaurant concept that premiered in December 2008 to her first stand alone restaurant that opened at Walt Disney World BoardWalk Resort in September 2009, Cat’s bringing a taste of her culinary influence to both coasts.

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 (Houghton Mifflin), Cat elevates at-home cooking to new levels, applying her “go-with-what-you’ve got” philosophy to creating simple, yet sensational meals.

Outside of the kitchen, Cat is known for her philanthropy. She is President and Founder of Chefs for Humanity (www.chefsforhumanity.org), 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.

Cat 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. A documentary, Cat’s In The Kitchen, was also made about her first James Beard dinner in April, 2002. Preceding Iron Chef America, Cat co-hosted Kitchen Accomplished on Food Network, where she worked with a design expert and contractor to surprise a homeowner with a 3-day kitchen makeover. In 2006, Cat appeared in NBC’s Primetime Miniseries, Celebrity Cooking Showdown, where celebrities were paired with famous chefs and competed in a timed cook-off à la Iron Chef.

Cat resides in the Santa Barbara area with her family, including her biggest fans, her four sons.

Follow Cat on Twitter (@catcora) and Facebook.