Cooking as Fast as I Can - Cat Cora

[goodreads]

Title: Cooking as Fast as I Can: A Chef's Story of Family, Food and Forgiveness
Author: Cat Cora
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 256
Date read: September, 2015

Before she became a celebrated chef, Cathy Cora was just a girl from Jackson, Mississippi, where days were slow and every meal was made from scratch. Her passion for the kitchen started in her home, where she spent her days internalizing the dishes that would form the cornerstone of her cooking philosophy incorporating her Greek heritage and Southern upbringing - from crispy fried chicken and honey-drenched biscuits to spanakopita. But outside the kitchen, Cat's life was volatile.

In Cooking as Fast as I Can, Cat Cora reveals, for the first time, coming-of-age experiences from early childhood sexual abuse to the realities of life as a lesbian in the deep South. She shares how she found her passion in the kitchen and went on to attend the prestigious Culinary Institute of America and apprentice under Michelin star chefs in France. After her big break as a co-host on the Food Network's Melting Pot, Cat broke barriers by becoming the first-ever female Iron Chef.



Full disclosure: I knew nothing about Cat Cora prior to picking up this book. However, I've long been interested in chef's memoirs, so I knew I wanted to read it all the same.

As many memoirs it was a bit slow to start, but after about 50 pages, it quickly made up for it and I found it difficult to put down. Cat's journey from cooking at home with her grandmother to being the first female Iron Chef and opening her own restaurants was absolutely fascinating, and certainly made me try my hand at cooking some of her delicious-sounding meals as well!

The story of Cat's rise to stardom was nicely seasoned with anecdotes from her more private life, and I appreciated the insight we got into her family, her relationships and her personal life in general. Cat Cora arose from the pages as a fully formed human being, instead of merely a 2-dimensional chef.

I'll have to check her out on youtube, and see if I can find any of her Iron Chef competitions.