The Kitchen Isn’t the Only Place Cat Cora Stirs Things Up
Television personality, celebrity chef, cookbook author, Bon Appetit executive chef, nutritional spokesperson for UNICEF, Food Network’s first (and only) female “Iron Chef,” and bonafide southern gal, Cat Cora adds one more designation to her plate: ardent philanthropist. Founding Chefs for Humanity (CFH) in 2005, in response to the 2004 tsunami disaster, Cora and her ambitious team provide nutrition education, hunger relief, and global emergency and humanitarian aid to those in need. We met up with the culinary phenom to chat about CFH, and being raised to lend a hand.
Check out the highlights here.
At 5′2″, Cat Cora may be petite, but everything else about this Jackson, Mississippi native–determination, spirit, compassion–is downright colossal. She graduated with honors from the Culinary Institute of America, was mentored by the great Julia Child, and apprenticed in France with three-star Michelin chefs.
HB: How did the idea for Chefs for Humanity come about?
CC: I’d been thinking about it for a while. There was no go-to organization where chefs or culinary professionals could do something when tragedies strike, in terms of emergency feeding. Then, when the tsunami hit in 2004 and I was getting support for UNICEF, I saw that people really wanted to roll up their sleeves. So I thought, okay, we need to do this.
HB: You’re now out there in the field, going on missions. [Last December, Cora embarked on a field visit to Nicaragua and Honduras to observe nutrition challenges facing areas affected by drought, poverty, and the devastation caused by Hurricane Felix.] Why was that important for you to do?
CC: We absolutely have to do missions. If I’m going to talk about it, I have to be there, touch it, see it. I truly believe it’ll make me better at what I do–in every aspect of my life.
Cat Cora: master chef, talented juggler
Photo: Robert Quailer
HB: You’ve got such a strong sense of self-belief. Where did that come from?
CC: Watching the way my parents did things helped me to go out into the world, live out my dreams, and give back. When I was in high school, my mom went away to get her doctorate in nursing. It was hard at first; she came home every other weekend. I gained tremendous respect for her when she did that. It taught me never to settle for anything less than my best. (Cat’s mother, Dr. Virginia Lee Cora, now sits on CFH’s advisory board as a medical advisor.)
HB: What’s your take on being viewed as a role model?
CC: I’m so honored. It’s incredible to hear young, aspiring chefs–or just women in general–tell me how [becoming the first female Iron Chef] empowered them.
HB: And when Bon Appetit bestowed their Teacher of the Year Award on you in 2006?
CC: It was so unexpected, and one of the best compliments anyone could give me for my career. I mean, when someone calls you a teacher, and you’re just doing what you love? Wow.
HB: It sounds like you just followed your dreams and the rest is history…in the making.
CC: That’s it. Honestly, I just wanted to open a restaurant. That, and to always give back. I never thought for one second that all of this other stuff would happen. I love what I do, and was born to do it.
