Cat Cora’scareer has taken her around the world and back—from her run as the first femaleIron Chefto operating multiple businesses, including Cat Cora’s Kitchen, which can be found in airports around the US, to her current home in California. But her family roots remain here in the South. Born and raised in Jackson,Mississippi, to a Greek Orthodox family, Cora has chow chow and fresh-caught catfish running through her veins. “My heart in my cooking is never far from Mississippi,” she says.
Cora’s life in Jackson revolved around her family’s large, close-knit circle of friends. “We entertained together almost every weekend. My dad would grill something smoky and succulent. My mom would make delicious side dishes like a large Greek salad, rice pilaf, or a spinach pie with feta. And everyone brought something artisan-made, like fresh bread, savory fig jam from figs picked from their tree, or pickled okra from the garden,” Cora recalls. There was lots of laughter, plenty of healthy debate, and, she says, “good intellectual conversations. I learned a lot from that special group!”
Being part of a Greek Orthodox family meant being surrounded by amazing cooks and home chefs who ignited her fire for cooking. “I was making dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), spanakopita (spinach pie), baklava, and moussaka from when I was 7 or 8,” she says. “Southern food is my heart but Greek and Mediterranean food are my love language.”
Though wealth and television fame would come later for Cora, growing up in Jackson, she says her family “didn’t have a lot of money but we had all the riches of what the South had to offer.” Gardening was a central part of their lives, with neighbors swapping big brown bags of fresh tomatoes for figs as large as baseballs. And peaches went into fresh-churned ice cream, “the old-fashioned way—with rock salt and a lot of muscle,” she says.
Today, at Cora’s home base in California, all six of her sons are picking up her appreciation for the South thanks to what she puts on their plates. “It’s barbecue, fried chicken, and chicken and dumplings at least once every year, plus pecan pies every holiday,” Cora says. They also return to Jackson when they can. On a recent trip, Cora taught her boys to catch catfish, which her brother fried and served along with hushpuppies while she shared stories of growing up.
This March, Cora returns to Jackson to headline the first Jackson Food & Wine Festival—but also to dig into her favorite Southern food memories. “I’ll start off by stopping at the nearest stand for hot boiled peanuts—that gets my taste buds ready for what’s to come,” she says. There will be fried catfish and hushpuppies, tamales, barbecue (her favorite is the crispy burnt ends), spicy crawfish, and fried dill pickles with comeback sauce. And, if there’s a roadside stand, she’s stopping, she says. “I’m bound to pick up some homemade goods and a pie.”
Where Cat Cora Finds Southern Food Around the Country
“Their food is delicious, traditional, and made from scratch,” she says. Go for the smothered chicken or pork chop, oxtails with baked mac and cheese, and sweet potato pie or peach cobbler to finish.