Celebrity Chef Cat Cora Talks Early Kitchen Influences and Breaking Culinary Barriers (EXCLUSIVE)
Cat Cora has long been one of the most recognizable and beloved celebrity chefs around, but that doesn't mean her path to the top was essay.
Cora, who is best known for being the first female Iron Chef on the popular Food Network show Iron Chef America, trained at the Culinary Institute of America at a time when women in the industry were often underestimated. “I put time and effort into my culinary career," she tells Woman's World as our new covergirl (click through to buy a copy!). "Julia Child was a mentor of mine."
“I became a chef when it was still very male-dominated, not only in culinary schools, but also going out working in three-star Michelin restaurants in France, where women weren’t even allowed in the kitchens," she says. "I got threatening letters saying, 'We don’t want women in our kitchens.'"
That was back in the early '90s, but Cora caught a break when famed chefs Georges Blanc and Roger Vergé said they would love hosting her in their kitchen.
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Through all the ups and downs, Cora stayed optimistic. “Oprah once told me that if you follow your dreams, success will come," she says. "And my grandmother told me to know my value. That really helped propel me.”
Along the way, the world-renowned chef, author, restaurateur, TV personality and health and fitness expert opened more than 18 restaurants across the country and highlighted her health, wellness and sustainability philosophy. She was even awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award by former President Barack Obama, for her work addressing needs in her community and country, as well as the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for building a stronger nation through her volunteer service.
Cora found the inspiration to pursue her dreams and shatter the glass ceiling through her supportive family. An eternal optimist, she says, “My mom and family were always like, 'Pull yourself up. Today’s a new day.' And that’s what I say in my kitchen — every day is a new day.”
Read on to see how Cat Cora has consistently found joy and innovation in the kitchen.
Woman's World: What are some lasting memories from your childhood kitchen?
Cat Cora: Onions and garlic. My mom always started everything with onions and garlic — that was the base, plus good olive oil. The memories that I have around food growing up are wonderful. I’d walk in from school and it always smelled like onions and garlic.
My mom cooked from scratch and taught me how to make baklava and spanakopita and roll phyllo dough. I was making those when I was 6 years old. I have great memories around food. I hope it can be a generational thing of food memories that keep going. It connects all of us.
My mom began a tradition of Friday nights being pizza nights, so I bring that to my home. Every Friday night we have pizza night — veggie for me and margarita for the boys.
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WW: Has your childhood growing up in Mississippi helped form some of your culinary skills or did you find that on your own?
Cat Cora: It definitely formed my culinary skills. I grew up in a house where everyone was a great cook. My dad was amazing on the grill with smoked meats and marinating. He taught me how to grill and smoke meats and chicken, and what kind of rubs should be used.
My mom was amazing, having lived all over the world — my grandfather was a general in the Air Force and they lived in Tokyo, Honolulu — all over. So they had a global palette of different dishes. Being in Mississippi, we cooked some southern foods, but we cooked a lot of Mediterranean because my father was Greek-American.
WW: What was the first meal you ever made?
Cat Cora: I remember it because my godfather was also a great chef and he owned restaurants in Jackson, Mississippi. The thing I learned from him was how to roast a great chicken. Start with a roasted chicken and then go from there — I was taught that when I was 14.
I went about mastering roasting a chicken. I got better and better with the seasoning I would put on it, and I would do different things whether it was garlic, olive oil and lemon or something Asian. I remember making that for my family, and it that was the first meal I mastered.
Vivien Killilea/Getty for Glamour
WW: What was your first failure in the kitchen?
Cat Cora: I was very ambitious in learning how to cook. I really got the bug, but I think it’s always been in my DNA. My biggest culinary failure was a Clafoutis — French custard. I decided it wasn’t cooking fast enough, so I just turned up the heat a little. That was an amateur move. You could have used it as a Frisbee. It was a miserable failure, but a learning experience.
WW: What’s your number-one kitchen rule?
Cat Cora: Clean as you go, at home and in any kitchen. I don’t have a lot of rules because I love to have people come into the kitchen and it gets messy, but that’s okay. The flour can be all over the counter to make pizza dough, but that can always be cleaned and the memories are there. I find those are some of the best moments I can have with my kids. We’re constantly cooking in the house. Not every chef loves to come home from work and cook some more, but I love doing that.
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WW: You're an ambassador for Little Kitchen Academy, a program that offers cooking classes for kids and teens. What inspired you to get involved with this?
Cat Cora: I’ve always wanted to do something to give back to our younger generation with cooking. We’re teaching these kids life skills that they can take with them forever. Not only that, but it’s giving them practical skills for confidence and independence. I wanted to change children’s lives from scratch.
Little Kitchen Academy teaches children ages 3 to 18 in a Montessori-inspired style of learning. No computers, no phones. These children are focused for three hours, and they learn everything from cleaning as you go to making a different recipe each day.
Everything is tactile, so they are learning how to measure, how to build something from scratch, learning math and knowing the science behind things. It’s a wonderful time for growth with these kids. It gives them a purpose and place to go. They even get to take home some of what they’ve made and share it with their family. I’m so proud to be a part of it all.
WW: If I went into your own kitchen, what nutritional staples would I always find?
Cat Cora: Always citrus — limes, lemons, grapefruits, because I love to cook with citrus. You can always find great Greek olive oil, tons of spices, every utensil you can think of, pots and pans. I have a lot of things stocked in my kitchen. We’re constantly cooking in the house; I just love to cook.
Vivien Killilea/Getty for Glamour
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