Iron Chef Cat Cora

Catherine 'Cat' Cora (born c. 1968) is a professional chef. She is best known for her featured role as an "Iron Chef" on Food Network's television show Iron Chef America. She is also Executive Chef for Bon AAppetit magazine and a UNICEF spokesperson.

Cora was raised in a Greek community in Jackson, Mississippi. Her grandfather and father were both restaurateurs. Cat was inspired by Julia Child, Barbara Tropp, M.F.K Fisher and her grandmother Alma. Her cuisine is a blend of her Greek and Southern roots like her favorite dish Kota Kapama (Greek cinnamon chicken), and slow-cooked lamb shanks with feta salsa verde.

After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in exercise physiology and biology, she enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Cora has also appeared on Simplify Your Life. She was also a cohost of the Food Network show Kitchen Accomplished. She has also 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).

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 In-Sink-Erator® Evolution Series™ Food Waste 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 lives in northern California with her partner, Jennifer, and her son Zoran.