- [Guy] She defeated 21 accomplished opponents.

Iron Chef Cat Coraaaaaa!

(dramatic music) - There are kitchens that make you and kitchens that break you.

Chef Cat Cora knows both.

Did you have extra pressure because you're a woman?

- Yes, a million percent.

- [Host] She fought her way through a world that told her no at every turn.

- [Cat] I think there is that disconnect that when it comes to male versus female in the same industry that women are often treated like second class citizens.

- [Host] The hardest battles weren't always in the kitchen, where nearly 80% of head chefs are men.

- I was going through so many traumatic things.

- [Host] Long before she picked up a knife, Cat Cora was learning how to survive and how to lead, and she would need both to step into the fire of her future.

- I do a little bit of everything.

I got a degree in exercise physiology and nutrition before I became a chef.

It just, you have that light bulb for some things in your life.

- She was the first female iron chef, now she's building the next generation of chefs.

How is she as a mentor?

- She's great.

- She's amazing.

- [Host] This is a story about a hunger for greatness and healing.

This is Cat Cora and she was first.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program provided by Felicia Taylor, a journalist who dedicated much of her life's work to honoring and celebrating the accomplishments of women.

(upbeat music) - [Host] So what is on tap for this morning?

- Well we're gonna be cooking with three to five year olds.

I've always wanted to instill the next generation with the love of cooking.

- I love it, all right, and here they are.

- [Cat] Here we go.

- Good choice.

Ready?

I like your Mario shirt.

If you're ready to cook, stand in chef's position.

Beautiful work, everyone.

So welcome to cooking class today.

Can everyone say hi to my friend Cat?

Hi Cat!

- [Host] Chef Cora has launched more than 20 acclaimed restaurants worldwide, authored multiple bestselling books, and served as a television host, judge, and competitor on some of the most celebrated culinary and lifestyle television shows.

- You wanna take them over and clean them?

You have your onions, your peppers, and your tomato.

- But before the spotlight and stadium kitchens, Cat was a lot like these kids, small hands and big dreams.

Would you like to be on "Iron Chef" one day?

- Yeah.

- Do you think you could win?

- Yeah, I can win.

- Yeah, definitely.

- Oh, big confidence.

See, I told you, this is what Little Kitchen Academy does, builds confidence.

- [Host] But instead of a classroom kitchen, her first lessons came at home with her grandma and her mother, where she learned to cook with heart.

- That's how I learned to cook Greek food was my mom.

At seven years old rolling grape leaves, making spanakopita.

- [Host] In the deep south, where being Greek made her different and deeply rooted.

- Grew up in Jackson, Mississippi.

I was adopted at 10 days old.

Even though we were in the deep south in Mississippi, I grew up in such a Greek American household where a lot of kids were eating fried catfish and fried okra.

We were eating- - Classic southern food.

- Classic southern, which I love by the way.

We were eating steamed artichokes with extra virgin olive oil and lemon.

Let's do a toast Greek style.

Raise your glass to Kouzzina.

Opaaa!

This is a restaurant that I've dreamed about and it's like coming to my house for dinner.

And it's all of my favorite authentic Greek recipes that have been in my family for generations.

- [Crowd] Opa!

- Ta-da!

- There we go.

Hold the piece that you're gonna cut.

One, two, three.

- Will you show me how to do it?

Yeah?

I have to push hard to to it?

Isn't it funny, they call it red onion, but it's really purple onion.

Cat, I feel like I could be everybody's sous chef.

- [Cat] You can actually, you can run this.

- I'm very comfortable at this level.

Chopping vegetables, yes, I got it.

- For me, this is one of the things that I love about Little Kitchen Academy is that you are teaching kids to love cooking from such a young age.

And they can do it.

I mean, she's cutting, they're cutting.

I mean, they're little chefs.

And the great thing too is that they go home and they teach their parents and then they bring the family in.

And this trickles over into the whole family.

(bright music) - [Host] As a kid, did you cook?

- I love tea parties.

I have a lot of pictures of me with tea parties and everybody had to sit around and we had the tea party- - [Host] Is there cooking at a tea party.

- That's how it started making Greek cookies with my mom.

Like (speaking Greek) working with filo dough and making baklava.

- [Host] Those tea parties sparked a love of cooking.

Now as the mother of six boys, it's her turn to stir up that same joy at home.

(gentle music) - Show you a little good technique.

So you have a half a onion, oops, that just fell out.

So what you wanna do is make sure you use your claw.

We've learned that from the 3-year-old today.

Very gently, I'm gonna get it started for you, but this is what makes the dice is when you cut through it and then what you wanna do is turn it around now.

That's where you get the dice from.

But we have some people that can help us.

We have some recruits.

Boys, come on in!

Nash, Cage, Zorn, Thatcher, Gavin, Jonas.

All right, you guys.

Hi.

You guys are gonna be on Greek salad.

Jonas and Zorn, you're on steak.

This is how we do it at the house.

Gavin, you're on cookies.

- Awesome.

- Thatcher, you're on cookies.

- [Host] Swapping cookies for onions?

Mine looks much more complicated.

(family chattering) - Cage can help with onions.

Perfect.

All the skin has to come off.

- [Host] Yes, see?

This is why I would've swapped onions with cookies.

You're doing taste testing and I'm- - Oh, I know.

They were smart, they peeled the cucumber.

Peel the cucumber, yeah.

It's all coming back to me.

All right, let's go, guys.

Everybody can start.

- What has your mom taught you about cooking?

- Ooh.

- Why is everyone laughing?

- Uh, hello?

Remember our conversation, no, I'm kidding.

- It requires a lot of technique, that's for sure.

But after a lot of practice, it's good.

- I want them to have food memories.

My parents were amazing cooks, and every time I walked in the door, my food memories are of extra virgin olive oil, onions, and garlic, that smell.

So I always want my kids to have that.

Yeah, pretty great cooks.

You guys learned a lot from me.

You're welcome.

- When did you know that you would become a professional chef?

- My grandfather had restaurants.

My godfather had restaurants.

I was around restaurants my whole life.

And when it really hit me, I was about 15 years old, like I think I want to do this, like I really want to cook.

- [Host] But you didn't go to culinary school right away?

- At the time I didn't, I took a different path, because at the time, I thought that I'd wanna be a restaurateur, but I didn't have a lot of examples around me.

PBS was our only place to see cooking.

- Well here's a little change of pace, with sweet breads and brains.

We're doing them today on "The French Chef."

- I saw that Julia Child was coming to Natchez, Mississippi, and she was doing a book tour.

I stood at the end of line and I said, "I'm an aspiring chef.

You are my hero.

You're my icon."

And she said in her voice, "Well, you must go to the Culinary Institute of America because it's the Harvard of Culinary schools."

That's a bad example.

- [Host] It's pretty good, it's close.

- But close, you know.

And that's exactly how she said it.

- She became your mentor.

- She became a mentor.

- Julia Child, that's insane.

- And so I went home, applied immediately, and got accepted to the Culinary Institute of America.

I was looking at my Wikipedia page and it says Cat Cora goes to high school, then culinary school, becomes famous.

And there was so many stories and missteps before that getting here.

- [Host] At the Culinary Institute of America, Cat Cora found her stride, sharpening her skills and setting her sights on the world stage.

But excellence wasn't enough.

When it came time to apply for apprenticeships, her resume didn't face scrutiny, her gender did.

- I sent a packet to ten three star Michelin chefs to get hired to do an apprenticeship.

We call it a staj, but it's an apprenticeship.

You have to remember, especially back then in the early '90s, there's been chefs that have committed suicide over losing a star in France.

- [Host] So this is the top of the top?

- Top of the top.

I got eight rejection letters back.

And they said in the letter, this was only 22 years ago, they said in the letter, "We do not accept women in our kitchens," if you can imagine.

But I got two acceptance letters.

One from George Blanc, which is near Leon, and one from Roger Verge, which is down in Cannes.

And I was like, "Wow, these are north and south."

I said I can't take one, I gotta take both.

So I just did both of them.

(bright music) - That is such a type A lady answer.

- Type A for sure.

- So I did both.

- So I did both- - But did you feel like I have to overprepare and overcredential?

- All the time, like my whole career.

Yeah, absolutely.

As a female, you had to over, over, over.

(upbeat music) It was like one of the tipping points in my career.

We worked hard, we got yelled at, we got screamed at.

I paid all my dues.

I was just shaving asparagus and this kid next to me was chopping chives.

And he was taking the ends and putting them in the garbage, which is a no-no in the kitchen, you don't waste anything.

And the chefs come around periodically and look in the garbage to make sure you're not throwing things away, saw that he was wasting all those chive ends, and he dumped it all over the floor and he smacked that kid down to the floor.

I'd only been to France 24 hours and I almost hyperventilated.

I did, I had to walk out of the kitchen, and they came running after me, "No no no, don't worry.

We're not gonna do that to you.

We're not gonna do that to you."

- Unless you decide to throw some stuff in the garbage.

- I'll learn how to have a thick skin.

So when I came back to America and I worked in kitchens, the men looked at me differently because I'd been to France.

That was a game changer.

And it prepared me to be an Iron Chef.

(dramatic music) No one believed that women could cook, they could run a restaurant as well as a man, that they had that level of talent.

And the only thing close to that was someone who had worked in three star Michelin restaurants and had seen firsthand the very top of Mount Everest when it came to cooking.

And I got a call and they said, "Well, you've been to France, you cook like a guy.

I know you can beat guys.

Do you wanna be the first female Iron Chef?"

And I said yeah.

- I mean every competition show really owes itself to "Iron Chef," right?

Because that model did not exist in the United States.

- At all.

I always say that "Iron Chef" was like the Olympics of cooking in the very beginning because it was the most competitive.

It was so serious that a lot of chefs wouldn't compete because they were scared that if they lost, that they would lose customers at the restaurant.

- There'd be real life impact if you flubbed.

- It was that serious back then.

No ingredient could throw me, and no competitor could stop me.

No one believed that women could cook and compete against men.

No one believed that.

- Don't you think that's weird?

- Now it is.

All male chefs are taught by their mothers, grandmothers, and aunts how to cook usually.

But I think women are often treated like second class citizens.

They aren't given the respect they deserve, they aren't given the investments.

They aren't given the trust that they're going to be marketable.

- Did you have extra pressure because you were a woman?

- Yes, a million percent, extra pressure because I was a woman.

Ironically, the men were so respectful.

"Chef Cora, so excited to battle you."

So you know.

The women would come and be like, "I'm gonna take you down.

I have been waiting for this day to take you down.

That was the difference."

- [Host] I love it.

Because you're opening doors.

- Yeah.

Come on in, we're gonna have a great workout.

- Wow, this is fancy.

- Not too bad.

Got Pilates.

I got a degree in exercise physiology and nutrition before I became a chef.

I'm pushing, and then real slow, get a nice point on the ceiling.

- I keep forgetting to look up.

- And that helps your back tremendously.

It helps everything, even in your core.

- So you do this every day?

You do weights every day?

- I do weights every day.

I do weights about five days a week.

But I do something cardio or active six or seven times a week because it's just for mental.

Now it's all mental.

Women especially, we wanna please everybody.

We're doing everything, you know?

And sometimes we have to do it 10 times better and we have the pressure to do it 10 times better and we like to people please.

And I'm guilty of that.

And so I think it's such a de-stressor too to come in and just have that moment where I get to take care of myself.

(upbeat music) - [Host] Cat Cora has always believed healthy food fuels a healthy life.

- I love food, I love cooking.

Now I can put a nutrition aspect to it.

And so that's kind of where my philosophy in cooking became based around all this.

- [Host] So when First Lady Michelle Obama launched her Let's Move Campaign, Cat jumped in, combining her love of fitness and food to help kids build better habits.

- Gotta have a laugh track- - Is this thing on?

Hi, welcome to "The Cat Cora Show."

We're live in Santa Barbara.

- With the world watching, Cat Cora became a household name and a media darling.

But even as she built an empire, there were questions and wounds that lingered beneath the surface.

- Although on the glossy magazine covers and on TV, it seems like a perfect life.

You know, I have adversity just like everyone else.

(somber music) The sexual assault from a cousin started at six until 11, that was pretty devastating.

- You wrote about it in your memoir.

Was that helpful, or did it feel like, ugh, walking through this again?

- It was very cathartic in a lot of ways.

And it was painful.

I really felt like I wasn't gonna sugarcoat it because my life hasn't been sugarcoated.

You live with a lot of shame and a lot of guilt for many, many years.

Although it wasn't my fault, you live with that and it's a lifelong road.

I mean, you're only as sick as your secrets.

And so I had a lot of secrets.

It was just not talked about back then in the '70s like it is now.

(gentle music) I was afraid, but you know, there's been many times in my life where I've been afraid, and there's something, there's an inner strength, there's an inner fire.

- There's a lot of people who I think that kind of really awful experience would derail them.

I mean I know you know that.

- And it almost did me as well, several times.

I mean I had to work really hard to, I went to a lot of therapy, I've done a lot of EMDR, I've done a lot of other healing practices.

I've forgiven because I had to, I can't forget, never forget, but I've forgiven.

- [Host] Did cooking become an outlet for you in the aftermath of that?

- Cooking became a huge outlet.

I felt very different.

And a lot of that was shame.

I also knew I was gay, and those things all together, it's amazing that I'm here today.

- And not just here, like killing it.

- Amazing.

- [Host] Does it ever surprise you?

- It shocks me.

- It does?

- Sometimes.

When I think about it now in this context, yeah.

It's all I can think about is that God just had plans for me.

I'm here, which used to be the home of the Mississippi Children's Home where I was adopted.

This is where it all started for me.

I was an orphan for 10 days.

My birth mom was young, unwed mother, 16 years old.

And her family thankfully had her put me up for adoption.

- How did being adopted shape your identity?

- The first eight or nine years of my life, I didn't even know I was adopted.

Actually my older brother, who was adopted as well, he decided that he wanted to tell me that I was adopted one day, and I didn't know what that meant, ran to my parents, and then they sat me down and told me.

And they also told me my whole life that if you ever wanna find your birth parents, we will absolutely support you when the time is right.

- When did you meet your birth mom?

- So she had been trying to find me my whole life.

She'd been sending letters to the children's home where I was adopted.

And they said, "When she turns 18, call us."

And so she did.

And I was going through being gay, you know, sexual abuse at a young age, and my parents being wonderful parents, just trying to, you know, heal me through everything.

And so they said, "Probably not a good time, 18, call back when she's 21."

The day I turned 21, she called.

And my parents said, "Yeah, she's in a good space.

Let's do it."

On my 21st birthday, they put in front of me a stack of letters that she'd been writing my whole life.

I've now met my birth mom and my whole extended family.

So that's been amazing.

- What was that like?

- Surreal.

Like just unbelievable that someone, getting teary.

- Why does does make you cry?

- It just so beautiful that someone holds that want and need and love for you for so long and they follow you your whole life.

And they get turned down so many times, but they keep trying.

And I just think it's so brave, and it makes me feel special, it makes me feel wanted.

Hey everybody, I'm Chef Cat Cora, and I'm so excited to be part of Cook Unity.

- [Host] Cook Unity, a chef-crafted online delivery service, showcases Cat's cooking talents while letting her pay it forward.

- Chicken just came out.

We have our Tabbouleh here.

We have our couscous (indistinct) Greek whipped potatoes, salmon, our meatballs have just come out of the oven.

- I think it's interesting how you're using this model to kind of take your restaurant business online to also mentor people.

And why do it that way?

That's so interesting.

- I got to meet Julia Child.

That's 1 percent.

- Go out and work with the very best people you can find and suck all their juices out.

- The one thing I will never forget is she said, "When you become a chef," like she already knew, "When you become a chef, pay it forward."

Pay it forward.

And I will never forget that.

- [Host] So how will it work?

- I have my three leads and partners, Mia, Carmen, and Erin.

And we made them partners because I feel like they're invested financially, not only in their motivation, their enthusiasm, their skill, but also financially they're motivated, and it's a sustainable model.

- How old are you, Mia?

- I'm 19.

- Yeah, right?

- So let's talk about you for a moment like you're not here.

So Mia's 19, and she is obviously getting mentoring from you.

What happens to Mia next?

At what point does she... Does she move on?

Does she stay within your organization?

She's a partner.

She owns a piece of the business.

- I've trained them.

What she'll do next and what Carmen will do next and what Erin will do next.

Someone will stay here and watch and oversee this team and someone will next go to New York.

- And build your New York business.

- And build a New York model.

And then somebody will leave from New York and will go to the next, we might go to Chicago, we can go to Miami, we can go to Arizona, we can go to Denver.

- How is she as a mentor?

- She's patient, she's humble, she's easy to work with.

She breaks it down for you in very simple steps.

- I want them to be able to say in a year, two years, three years, 10 years from now, like, "Oh my God."

Like they have a career.

This isn't a job, they have a career.

- Is there a point in the day where you're like, "I gotta lie down for 25 minutes," because you go go go.

You run a business, you're a chef, you have six kids, you are doing a million voluntary things.

There's really no point in my day where I stop to take a rest.

Instead of napping, I would just exercise.

I would do something that gets me, you know, focused, refocused again, wake me up a little bit.

- Get exercise, not a nap.

- Not a nap, yeah.

I find that some of the most successful people I know, you know, they rise early, they do something active during the day.

They push you in such a different mind space.

Couscous here, we have a little extra peppers, those two tops, all right.

So what we'll do is we'll take these bags and we'll fill up as many as we can in each one.

Perfect.

- [Host] Everything that's here is being donated.

- Yes.

We're taking the food to Be Strong and Gem and they're gonna take it out and deliver it to churches.

They'll take it to shelters.

They'll take it all around and disperse it.

We're gonna do one more.

- So nothing is wasted?

- Nothing is wasted.

All right, well thank you guys, nice to meet you.

Appreciate it.

- You guys are awesome.

- [Host] The same generosity Cat shows in the kitchen is at the heart of who she is outside of it too.

Hey Elizabeth.

Here you go.

We got some more meals.

We come bearing gifts.

Six years before Jose Andres founded World Central Kitchen, Cat Cora created Chefs for Humanity, which brings chefs together to respond to natural disasters with food and care and urgency.

- I'm fighting for Chefs for Humanity, which is a charity I founded.

We're an anti-hunger organization, and we also do emergency feeding relief.

We work to end hunger in the world.

And I want this to be my legacy one day.

- Done a lot of things first, but I'm curious, what do you think of as your most important first?

- Wow.

I would have to say being the first female inducted to the Culinary Hall of Fame, which is huge.

Receiving the lifetime achievement award from President Barack Obama, first historic Black President.

And also the humanitarian award from them.

I think that those are things that I look at and go, "Wow, those are achievements."

- [Host] Cat Cora is also inspiring others to pay it forward.

And so for you, Mia, what is your goal?

- I think it's like such a dream that like, yeah, we're gonna expand right away, like to other locations and teach like our generation as well like what Cat, our mentor, has like shown us.

- What advice would you give to other people who are trying to figure out a path and sometimes when there's so much adversity around them?

- I mean, I would say that... Be easy on yourself.

Don't be so hard on yourself.

You're amazing.

When I say that to my kids too and I say, you know, just take a deep breath, when something's scary, take a deep breath.

I mean, I walked into French kitchens when I was not allowed in French kitchens, and that was one of the scariest things I've ever done.

And I've done a lot of scary things in my life.

We all have potential to reach our goals and dreams.

It's a fear, the fear that keeps you from doing that.

- [Host] Cat Cora's journey shows us greatness isn't just about breaking barriers, it's about reaching back and helping others rise with you.

Each obstacle she's overcome has become a lesson she now passes onto others.

- I think being first is breaking a glass ceiling for so many other people to come through.

It was just from that early determination in my life to keep going, to take that next step, to be brave enough to make an impact.

Somewhere in my soul, I knew that somehow I was gonna impact the world, that I had something to offer, and I really believe we're all destined for something.

We're all here for a reason.

(upbeat music) (gentle music) - [Announcer] Major funding for this program provided by Felicia Taylor, a journalist who dedicated much of her life's work to honoring and celebrating the accomplishments of women.

(dramatic music) (upbeat music) (bright music)