Iron Chef Cat Cora featured at Telluride Wine Fest

Friday, June 25,  9:30 – 11 a.m.,Telluride Farmer’s Market, the Iron Chef signs copies of “Cat Cora Classics with a Twist.” That same afternoon, 2:30 – 4 p.m., she puts her words to the test at a cooking demonstration in the private home of Chef Chad Scothorn. (Seating is extremely limited, so reserve your ticket now.) Saturday, June 26, Cora goes “uptown” to the Mountain Village, where she is joined by Chef Michael Weist for a luncheon at Allred’s inspired by recipes from the cookbook. Telluride Wine Festival co-director, Steve Olson, aka the wine geek, and Ted Diamantis pair Cora’s “classics” with Greek wines, tying into roots of this Olympian chef. Both the demonstration and the luncheon should debunk the mythology that all Greek food is straight out of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” heavy and greasy.

Cat Cora was raised in a small Greek community in Jackson, Mississippi, in a family for whom cooking and eating were the center of life. At the Cora home, it was common to enjoy spices from the South, along with fresh sheep and goat cheeses, and home-cured olives sent by relatives from the island of Skopelos. Cora’s first cookbook, “Cat Cora’s Kitchen” was inspired by her Greek and Southern heritage. By age 15, Cora 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.

Outside the kitchen, Cora is known for her philanthropy. She is president and founder of Chefs for Humanity, an organization which evolved in response to the 2004 tsunami disaster.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to Cora’s interview.