Women's History Month: Cooking from the Hip and the Heart

Cat Cora

Cat Cora, a Food Network and Iron Chef star, has cooking in her roots, so to speak, because her grandfather and uncle had restaurants in Mississippi. Chef Cora’s training at the Culinary Institute of America and under chefs in the United States and France, including Roger Vergé and Georges Blanc, prepared her well. She was able to cook for and impress Chef Jacques Pépin, and she also became the first female Iron Chef on the Food Network show, Iron Chef America. (Hamilton, pp. 87-93)

The library has materials by or about Chef Cat Cora, and they are listed below for you. You may borrow any of the following from the Sullivan Lexington Library:

• Cat Cora’s Kitchen: Favorite Meals for Family and Friends by Cat Cora; 641.5949 C787c 
• Chef’s Story: 27 Chefs Talk about What Got them into the Kitchen edited by Dorothy Hamilton and Patric Kuh; 641.5092 C515c
• Chef’s Story: Cat Cora; DVD 641.5092 C515cat
• Cooking as Fast as I Can: A Chef’s Story of Family, Food, and Forgiveness by Cat Cora; 641.092 C787c
• Cooking from the Hip: Fast, Easy, Phenomenal Meals by Cat Cora; 641.5973 C787c

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Sources:

Cora, C. (2015). Cooking as Fast as I Can. New York: Scribner.

Hamilton, D. and Kuh, P., eds. (2007). Chef’s Story: 27 Chefs Talk about What Got Them into the Kitchen. New York: Harper Perennial. Pp. 87-95

Check out this blog post about a book that features other female chefs.

Skirt Steak

Skirt Steak: Women Chefs on Standing the Heat and Staying in the Kitchen by Charlotte Druckman;

The author speaks with over 70 chefs, including Lidia Bastianich, Alice Waters, and Judy Rodgers, to learn their tips on surviving in the culinary world.

This book is now available in the Sullivan Lexington Library with the call #: 641.5082 D794s.

A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove

A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women ToldThrough Food, Recipes, and Remembrances by Laura Schenone

As the title suggests, author Laura Schenone presents a history of American women and the food culture surrounding them in this book that is packed with recipes and stories.

This book is available in the Sullivan Lexington Library with the call #: 641.5 S324t

Her Pursuit of Excellence

In Pursuit of Flavor by Edna Lewis and Mary Goodbody

Perhaps no other cook has played such a central role in the renaissance of traditional southern cooking as Edna Lewis. When asked who has influenced them most, chefs from New York to Little Washington to Charleston cite Ms. Lewis and her classic collection of recipes, In Pursuit of Flavor, first published in 1988. Summary provided by the University Press of Virginia. This book is now available in the Sullivan Lexington Library with the call #: 641.5975 L631i.

There is a picture book biography of Chef Lewis too. The book is Bring Me Some Apples and I’ll Make You a Pie: A Story about Edna Lewis by Robbin Gourley, and it is now available in the Sullivan Lexington Library with the call #: JF G.