Cat Cora life and biography

Cat Cora is a Greek-American professional chef best known for her featured role as an Iron Chef on the Food Network television show Iron Chef America.

Cora, a Greek American, was born in Jackson, Mississippi, where she was raised in a Greek community. Her grandfather and father were both restaurateurs. When she was 15 years old, she brought a business plan to her father and grandfather, knowing they could help her. Cora's style of cooking was influenced by Julia Child, Barbara Tropp, M.F.K. Fisher and her grandmother, Alma. Her cuisine is a blend of her Greek and Southern roots and her favorite dishes include kota kapama (chicken stewed with tomatoes, onion and cinnamon), Garlic Couscous, and slow-cooked lamb shanks with feta salsa verde.

After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise Physiology and Biology at the University of Southern Mississippi, she enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Cora has appeared on Simplify Your Life. She was also a co-host of the Food Network show Kitchen Accomplished. She has coined the term Hellasian, referring to a fusion cuisine combining Greek and Asian cooking. She is the only female Iron Chef in its franchise history (including the Japanese version of Iron Chef). At the end of every Iron Chef America competition, she shares a shot of ouzo with her team.

In January 2005 Cora co-founded Chefs For Humanity, which describes itself as "a grassroots coalition of chefs and culinary professionals guided by a mission to quickly be able to raise funds and provide resources for important emergency and humanitarian aid, nutritional education, and hunger-related initiatives throughout the world." She has also participated in charity wine auctions held by Auction Napa Valley.

In 2006 she was hired as a paid spokesperson for InSinkErator Evolution series garbage disposals. In partnership with 3 Street Media, she is developing The Cat Cora Show, a talk show devoted to food and wine which she will produce and host. Cora is also Executive Chef for Bon Appétit magazine and a UNICEF spokesperson. In March 2006, Cora was the Grand Marshal for Hal and Mal's St. Paddy's Parade in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. In the September 2006 issue of FHM, Cora was featured in the cooking section, where she demonstrated various recipes using items purchased from a convenience store. Cat Cora also belongs to Macy's Culinary Councils, amongst Tyler Florence, Rick Bayless, and others. She has worked as an entertainer for The Olivia Companies, a travel company catering to the lesbian market.

Cora was a winner of the Bon Appétit American Food and Entertaining Awards for 2006. In 2008, she was awarded the Hero Visibility Award by the Human Rights Campaign.

It was announced in Spring, 2009 that Cora would partner with the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida in a new restaurant venture, Kouzzina. The restaurant is located at Disney's BoardWalk Inn, in the former Spoodles venue. The restaurant opened on August 15, 2009.

The eponymous Cat Cora, a new bar and lounge style restaurant, opened at Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The restaurant opened in April 2011.

Cora now hosts the new online web series, "The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora", an online cooking show featuring the Muppets.

Openly gay, Cora has four sons Zoran, Caje, Thatcher, and Nash with her wife, Jennifer Cora, whom she married in 1999. (Jennifer bore the first three; Cat gave birth to Nash three months after Thatcher was born.) She currently resides in the Santa Barbara, California area with her family.

Filmography:

Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine (Video Game) (voice)
2004 Kitchen Accomplished (TV series)

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