Celebrity Chef to Freshen Look
of Catfish Advertising

U.S. Farm-Raised Catfish will soon have a much prettier face, thanks to a new advertising partnership sponsored by The Catfish Institute.  With agreements finalized in early November, Food Network Chef Cat Cora has become the industry's first celebrity spokesperson.

Iron Chef Cat Cora   A Few of Cat Cora's
Favorite Recipes:
  Coconut Catfish with Plum Dipping Sauce
  Catfish Scaloppini with Vine Ripened Tomatoes
  Catfish Lettuce Tacos
  Faux Fried Catfish
   

A native Mississippian, Cat will be featured alongside some of her favorite catfish recipes in a national print advertising campaign that will begin in early 2007.

Cat's culinary aspirations began at an early age, and by 15, she had developed a business plan for her own restaurant. In 2005, she made television history on Food Network's Iron Chef America as the first and only female Iron Chef. 

In November 2006, Bon Appetit Magazine bestowed her with their Teacher of the Year Award, which she calls "the greatest recognition she could achieve as a chef." That same month, she was also honored with another great culinary distinction when she was named Bon Appetit's Executive Chef.

Cat's upbringing, no doubt, had an influence on her career. She was raised in a small Greek community in Jackson, Miss., by a family for whom cooking and eating were the center of life.  Her first cookbook, Cat Cora's Kitchen was inspired by her Greek and Southern heritage and contains many of her families' favorite recipes.

With advice from of her famous mentor Julia Child, Cat left Mississippi for New York, where she received the education of her dreams at The Culinary Institute of America. While in New York, she apprenticed with and then worked for Chef Anne Rozenweig at Arcadia and worked at the Beekman Tavern under Chef Larry Forgione of An American Place.

Cat's culinary education continued in Europe with apprenticeships with two of France's three-star Michelin chefs. After returning to New York, Cat honed her skills as a Sous Chef at The Old Chatham Shepherding Company under Chef Melissa Kelly. She soon headed West to plant her roots in Northern California, where she served as Chef de Cuisine at Napa Valley's Bistro Don Giovanni.

Cat made her TV debut in 1999, as co-host of Food Network's, Melting Pot with Rocco Di Spirito. She went on to host My Country My Kitchen: Greece, Date Plate, and was one of the featured hosts on Fine Living's Simplify Your Life. A documentary, Cat's In The Kitchen was also made about her first James Beard dinner in April, 2002. 

Cat is currently working on her second book, Cooking From The Hip which Houghton Mifflin will publish in April 2007. Her signature restaurant is also set to open in 2007.

Cat resides in Northern California with her family, including her biggest fan, her three year old son.