Male Speaker: Thank you for coming out.
It's nice to see that the printed word still has such an appeal,
speaking as someone who's involved in that for my livelihood.
So thank you.
Our next speaker, many of you probably know as Iron Chef Cat Cora.
She is not only the first female Iron Chef,
but she's still the only female Iron Chef.
And from what I hear -- just a little bit of gossip for you,
from what I hear about the new search
for the next Iron Chef that's coming along, I think her position
as the only female Iron Chef is secure.
So just a little tidbit for you.
Cat has a very interesting background, Greek-American,
but raised in the deep South,
which meant that when her neighbors were eating fried ochre,
she was eating grilled artichokes, and sheep's milk cheese and olives
that were sent over from her family in Greece.
But she also has serious cooking chops, not only from Iron Chef,
but working with three Michelin star chefs in France.
And now she's on the Macy's Culinary Council, very prestigious position.
And she's known very much for her philanthropy.
But she's also just one of those people
who attracts a crowd wherever she goes, as you can tell
by the people wanting to get signatures here in the back.
Shirts have already come out to be signed.
Nobody, so far, has asked for her to sign any bare skin.
But I think it might only be a matter of time,
unless I get her up here.   So ladies and gentlemen, Cat Cora.
Cat Cora: Hi.
Hi, everybody.   DC, I love it.
How is everybody?   What a great crowd.
I love all these smiling faces.   Everybody excited about books?
I am so happy to see people excited about books.
Isn't that fantastic?
[applause] Well, it's always great to be here.
I mean, I absolutely -- I do not get to DC anywhere near enough.
I want to be coming to DC more.
They need to start filming an Iron Chef here or something.
They've got to do something.
I'm going to have to talk to them at Food Network.
They've got to do something in DC because it's such a gorgeous city.
It's our state capitol [sic].   It's beautiful.
It's one of the prettiest cities in the whole country.
And believe me, I see a lot of them these days.
And it's just fantastic to be here to see people so --
I just can't get over the people that are so excited about, you know,
the books, the reading, the literacy.
I've been -- my family, my mom was a teacher, my dad -- and a nurse.
And my father was a public school world history teacher for 35 years.
And I love those teachers.   And -- [applause] Yes.
So reading was -- my parents always had a book in their hand, whether --
it didn't even matter what, whether it was a fiction, nonfiction.
Either way, they always had a book in their hand.
And I learned at a very -- you know, whether I started with Nancy Drew
or whatever, it was just I was always reading something
and have become a voracious reader, you know, really my entire life,
and absolutely support that.
As a matter of fact, I'm going to tell you guys a little something.
I actually -- a little secret that really has not been announced yet.
But we -- I was on an airplane.   I guess it was about six months ago.
And we had just launched -- I was on book tour.
We had just launched Cooking from the Hip, my new cookbook
with Houghton Mifflin, which is a fantastic publisher.
And on book tour, on a plane, I was feeling guilty about leaving my son
at home, as a lot of us do that travel a lot.
And I actually wrote my first children's book on the airplane.
And we just got an offer on it.   So I'm very excited about it.
[applause] Yes.
And it doesn't really have -- it's really not about food.
It's really about traveling.   And it's called My Traveling Mommy.
So you'll be seeing it soon.
And it really is about the emotion behind traveling
and really connecting with your kids and the time you're away from them
and making those moments really special, that quality time.
But it also plays right into what I learned
as a child growing up, and cooking and eating.
And that's about gathering and quality time.
And, you know, I get asked a lot, "How did you come
up with the idea of Cooking from the Hip?
Where did that come from?"
Well, I wrote an article for four years for Contra Costa Times,
the second largest paper in the San Francisco Bay area.
And it was called "Cooking from the Hip".
And it was really a column, an article, which --
it's so funny because it kind of came full circle with Iron Chef,
because we have a secret ingredient.
Well, this was really -- this was way before I became an Iron Chef
or even had an inkling that I was going to be an Iron Chef.
And what I would do is I would pick one seasonal ingredient and write
about it, you know, whether it was figs or olives or tomatoes
or what have you, and write a whole article and put in there a recipe.
But it was really a recipe without recipes.
It was really like I was in your living room talking to you
and walking you by the hand through this cooking process.
And it was just a fabulous article.
And it really inspired me to write Cooking from the Hip,
because what cooking from the hip is, is really going
with what you have on hand.
I mean, that's what I really wanted to write about.
I have worked in -- obviously, in my career,
one of the reasons why I became an Iron Chef,
was asked to be an Iron Chef, was because of my background,
my culinary background, a graduate of the Culinary Institute
of America, which I was actually told
by Julia Child that I must go to.
I was actually lucky enough to be mentored by her before I went.
And she said, "It's the Harvard of culinary schools."
So, of course, if Julia Child told me to go to Culinary Institute
of America, what did I do?   I applied the next day.
And the rest is history.
But you know, in working with three-star Michelin chefs
and all this fancy cuisine and very high-end cuisine --
but what I found, and what I am finding with a lot of chefs, even,
you know, all the top chefs, what we've got to do is we've got
to reach out and share our tricks of the trade and our philosophies
with all of you and show you how we have a quality of life
at home around food and dining.   Because we're a lot like you.
We have to come home at 5:00, 6:00 o'clock, 8:00 o'clock,
what have you, put dinner on the table for the family.
We've got kids.   You know, so we feel your pain.
And you know, what I have done with Cooking
from the Hip is really show you that you're kind
of already cooking from the hip.
How many of you have gone home during, you know, a long day,
and you've looked in your refrigerator and your pantry,
and you have picked a couple of things up here and there,
and you have thrown something together.
How many? Everybody, right?   That's cooking from the hip.
But what I am doing in my book, and what I do when I'm on the road,
is I teach people how we do it quicker, faster, more efficiently.
We do it on a budget.
We do it -- you know, we create simple gourmet cuisine
by taking ordinary ingredients and making them spectacular.
And that's really the joy of cooking.
The joy of cooking is really -- yeah, there's those moments where,
you know, foie gras has -- I wouldn't say foie gras.
It does not have its place.   [laughter] Caviar.
Let's say caviar, lobster.   You know, those are nice.
But what about celery root?   What about fennel?
What about a great just organic chicken?
You know, what about those kinds of --
you know, what about just a really great, you know,
can of organic chickpeas that are really fantastic,
and tomatoes that are in season and a little sea salt on the tomatoes
and great fava beans in spring?   You know, what about those foods?
And I learned from a lot of great chefs, like Alice Waters,
working with her for a summer, you know,
that when you get a fabulous batch of fava beans,
what do you need for those fava beans?
Really nothing.   They stand on their own.
All you need is a little great olive oil,
a little bit of [unintelligible], a little sheep's cheese,
a little bit of sea salt, and they're fantastic just like that.
All you want to do is enhance the quality.
All you want to do is enhance the flavor of it.
And so that's really my philosophy.
It's really about seasonality, great quality over quantity,
and absolutely going as organic as possible when you can, sustainable,
all natural, and really eating as pure as you possibly can.
And the biggest thing is sharing that with your family and friends.
That's the biggest -- turn the TV off at night, sit down to a meal.
Ask each other what you did today, "How was your day?"
"How was your day?"   And really gather around food,
because that's what's really important.
Those moments are gone like that.
And so having kids has really taught me that that's an important part of,
you know, bringing back a lot of that tradition that I grew up with.
And my mom said, "All right, kids."
You know, we wouldn't be happy about the TV being turned off.
But she turned it off every meal, you know?
"I'm going to ask you" -- you know, we -- yeah, aah.
Okay. Yeah.   "What did you do today?"
"I don't know."
You know, we went through those phases.
"I don't know."   Well, let's talk about it more.
You know, let's talk about it.   Let's come together.
You know, let's share around food.
And so I was really blessed to have that.
And that's what I want to share with the nation,
is really about coming together, enjoying cooking again,
getting in the kitchen again, and making it a joy
and not a chore, all right?   Enjoying it.
And by doing that, we show you -- chefs like myself and other chefs
out there are showing you the tricks of the trade, how chefs enjoy food
and quality time with their family.
And I think, to me, that's what cooking from the hip is about.
That's what the joy of cooking is really about.
When Julia Child wrote those books early -- when she was a legacy,
she started the whole television -- Jack Bafan [spelled phonetically].
They started television.   They started the cookbooks.
That's what they talked about.   And I think that it's timeless.
You guys agree, it's timeless, right?
[applause] So in saying that, I want to take some questions
because I really want -- I want more time for Q
and A because I think it's really important to have some interaction
with all of you and really find out what's on your minds
and if I can answer some questions around here.
Anybody? I know somebody's got a question about Food Network.
I know somebody wants to hear some kind of gossip.
I know you.   I know all of you.
Yes. I think we have a microphone.   Female Speaker: I love Iron Chef.
And I was wondering, when the secret ingredient is shown to you,
do you just have that hour, or do you have time to think
of a menu before you start cooking?
Cat Cora: Well, we don't have any time.
But I'm going to answer three questions right off the bat
and clear the air.
Yes, I know I look taller on television.
[laughter] We'll just get that out of the way right now.
I know this.   I look taller on television.
No, we do not know the secret ingredient.
And yes, it's realtime.   But I will say this.
It takes about six hours to produce the whole -- one show.
And in that timeframe, what they do is -- we have about five minutes --
after they reveal the secret ingredients, we have five minutes
to kind of converge with each other and say, "Okay, you know, all right.
We're going to use, this, this, maybe, you know,
throw this together, maybe do this sauce."
And so it's really quick.
And you've got to think on your feet.
And I think that's why -- you know, there's certain challengers
that they pick because of their chops, their cooking chops,
and there's certain Iron Chefs that they pick.
Because you've really got to be able to think on your feet like that.
And it's really -- we all say, Bobby, Mario, Morimoto,
we all say it's the hardest out of --
we can be in front of a thousand people.
We can be on morning shows all day long.
We can write cookbooks.   We can open restaurants.
But Iron Chef is absolutely the hardest thing we do, still.
Six seasons, it's still the hardest thing we do.
We all go, "Oh, another season."   Bobby always walks around --
he's completely joking because I know he loves it more than anything.
He walks around, "When is this show going to get canceled?"
Yeah. [laughter] That's his big thing.
About "When's the show going to get canceled?"
It won't. The ratings are higher now than it's ever been.
So you've got a few more seasons, Bobby.
Yes? Yes? Female Speaker:
I just want to say you're a great inspiration.
Cat Cora: Thank you.
Female Speaker: And for us, where is like -- what do you suggest?
I have two little ones, as you see.
What would you suggest like making an easy meal if I don't feel like,
you know -- Cat Cora: Cooking.   Female Speaker: Cooking, yes.
Basically yes.
Cat Cora: Let me finish your sentence for you.
I know what you're thinking.   You know what?
I want to tell you a fun thing that I did with my oldest.
I have a three-and-a-half-year-old.   And you know, he eats pretty well.
He's got a good palate.   We started him off early.
But, you know, kids go through phases.
Female Speaker: Yeah.
Cat Cora: One day, it was just like "I want a bowel of cereal."
All he wanted to eat was cereal.   He didn't want vegetables.
He didn't want protein, nothing.
So what I did -- and I think he was talking about pancakes
or breakfast or something.
So what I did was, I said, "All right.
Let me think.   I've got to get creative here."
That's when my chef brain
and mom brain started trying to work together, right?
Female Speaker: Yes.   That's what I need.
Cat Cora: It's kind of getting there.
You know, it wasn't quite firing on all -- but I was getting there.
So what happened was I decided, "All right."
I pulled out some vegetables.   I pulled out some chicken.
And I cooked it up real quickly, put it all in the food processor,
made a quick pancake batter.   Female Speaker: Oh, wow.
Okay. Cat Cora: Threw it all in the pancake batter
and made savory pancakes with chicken and vegetables in it.
Female Speaker: Oh, wow.
Cat Cora: Put a little Maple syrup on it.
He devoured the whole thing.   And you know what?
He didn't care if there -- he didn't know that there was chicken
in it and broccoli and corn.   And it was fantastic.
He was asking for more.   Female Speaker: Thank you.
Thank you.
Cat Cora: So that's a good one right there.
Try it sometime.
"Look, Honey, we're having pancakes for breakfast," you know?
They'll love it.   Yes. Female Speaker: Hi.
I'm from Seattle originally, and I have lived here for five years.
And I'm sure, as you know, Seattle has loads of fabulous female chefs.
Cat Cora: Yes.
Female Speaker: I come here, and all I see --
whenever you hear about chefs, it's all men, men, men.
The cover of Washingtonian, all the hot new chefs, all men.
Cat Cora: Yes.
Female Speaker: I was just wondering if you --
Cat Cora: I know a lot of them.
Female Speaker: [inaudible] -- about that.
Cat Cora: Yeah.
You know, I think -- this is what I say a lot about --
you know, I get asked a lot about, you know,
"Why is there not more women chefs?"   Why -- you know, there really are.
But what I try to urge women in this industry to do -- and any industry.
This can go for any industry.   It's not just the food industry.
Is -- we have to -- we're kind of Harper Lee-ish about the way we are.
You know, we're a little modest about what we want to do.
And I love -- I mean, she's one of my -- you know, my youngest son,
his middle name is Atticus, so there you go.
But I think we tend to be -- we don't pat ourselves.
We don't really pat ourselves on the back and toot our horns like men do.
And I think that there are a lot of fantastic women chefs.
But they've got to get out there and really promote themselves.
I mean, men are -- the male chefs
in this industry are fantastic about that.
You know, they're constantly marketing themselves.
I do a lot of that myself.
And I think you have to -- all the women that you see out there,
you know, Rachael and Giada, I mean, we all know each other.
We all network, we all have the same agent.
We all are the type to get out there,
and we really promote ourselves.   And it's okay to do that.
You know, I tell women, "You're a fantastic chef."
You know, she's -- somebody might say, "Well,
why are there not more women chefs?"
Or some of the women chefs that I know, who are not well-known --
they're known in my circle, but they're not well-known to the public
as much -- but they're fantastic chefs.
And it's because they don't want to --
they're a little bit afraid to get out there and really pat themselves
on the back and say, "Wow, look what I'm doing here."
And it's okay.
That's one of my big mantras in the industry is to get women
to really pat themselves on the back more, market themselves more,
and really get out there and say, "Hey, come here.
Look what I'm doing.   I'm doing great food."
Get out there, and market yourself a little more.
And I think if that happens, then we will -- these women are out there.
They're cooking.
They're cooking hard in their kitchens.
And I think if they do that,
and they start really appreciating getting out there
and appreciating what they're doing themselves more,
I think all of us will know them more, and we'll appreciate it.
Yes. Female Speaker: Hi.
I am 22, and I just graduated college in June and moved out here
and so -- Cat Cora: Congratulations.   That's an accomplishment.
Female Speaker: Thank you.
And so the first time in my life I'm really focusing on cooking just
for myself and paying attention to recipes and trying to make something
for dinner other than macaroni and cheese and --
Cat Cora: And what type of macaroni and cheese do you use?
Female Speaker: You know, Kraft.
I mean, what other kind is there, really?
Cat Cora: Or is it cheese and macaroni?
Female Speaker: Both, you know.   Carbs and cheese.
Can you go wrong?
And so the biggest challenge I face is that in reading recipes
and going shopping and trying to cook,
is that I'm cooking for just myself.
So I want to know if you had any advice for someone
who is shopping, cooking for one person.
Cat Cora: Yeah.   I mean, I do.
I really -- you know, I'm actually about to start a second season
of a show I call -- it's actually a Web series.
It's broadband with MSNBC and Kraft.   And I did it again.
It's called Chef to the Rescue.
And it's a fantastic series because I do exactly that.
I talk about a lot of different topics, whether it's how
to revamp leftovers, what do you do with leftovers.
I personally love leftovers.
I think you can do -- and when you learn to really do wonderful things
with them, they can be delicious.
And cooking when you're single, for one person --
I just had someone else who -- my father-in-law, who said,
"What do we -- you know, my wife and I are getting older.
What do we do when it's just the two of us?"
Because he loves to cook, and he -- you know, when you love to cook,
you want to cook for five people or six people, not two people.
So you tend to overcook food.   And so I think that it's really --
my advice to you would be to really branch out,
pick up a Bon Appetit magazine.   I'm executive chef.
I've got to give them a plug.   But they have a great magazine.
They have a lot of great recipes in there.
Pick up magazines, cookbooks, you know.
Pick up books that -- you know, go on the Internet.
Find -- you know, key word, "single meals", things like that.
Start really -- you've got to reach out and get beyond your four walls
and really reach out there.
You guys have the Internet at your fingertips.
You can look up recipes like that.
You know, whether it's Food Network, you know foodtv.com,
whether it's going to kraft.com and finding some
of my recipes from Chef to the Rescue.
But they're out there.   Just take a look.
And then make yourself a list, you know, really experiment.
Don't be afraid to experiment,
because honestly, sometimes you can cook.
If you go out and shop for just -- hello --
if you go out and shop for just really great fresh ingredients,
sometimes it can be a little bit cheaper too, than buying a lot
of prepackaged foods as well.   So, you know, really get out there.
You know, use that computer.   I know you're computer literate.
So use that computer and get on there and look for single meals
and check it out and see what you find, okay?
Female Speaker: Okay.   Thank you.
Cat Cora: Got it.   Male Speaker: Hi.
Cat Cora: Hi.
Male Speaker: With respect to organic foods,
do you have any precautions that we should keep in mind on it,
because they -- without pesticides, there might be pests.
Cat Cora: Without pesticides, what?   I'm sorry.
Male Speaker: There may be pests.   Cat Cora: Right.
Okay. Male Speaker: So what precautions would you take?
Except for when you're cooking food -- that will kill them.
But when you are having fresh foods.   Cat Cora: Yes.
Male Speaker: What precautions would you recommend?
Cat Cora: Well, I think the great thing
about organic farming is it has gotten a lot better.
If you go to the farmers markets, places like --
you know, if you go to the farmers markets or even
in your local grocery stores, everybody is carrying organic now.
And they are really -- the handling of organic products --
and I know exactly what you're talking about.
The handling of organic products, just like fish, just like chicken,
just like all of the products across the board have gotten much better.
So that's one great thing about what's happening
with all natural products and organic products.
I would say just make sure that when you are looking for anything,
if it's an apple, if it's --
you know, especially produce, just take a look at it.
Look at it.   Is there any worm holes in it?
I mean, you can tell.   You can look at it.
If there's a little brown hole, things like that.
Sometimes that's going to happen, especially with organic products
that don't have -- there's no waxing on it.
There's no pesticides.
There's nothing that can really kill those things off.
I would just look.   Is there any bruising?
Just like you would at regular products when you look for it.
You look for it to see, is it nice and firm?
Are there any worm holes?   Is it bruised in any way?
Is it, you know -- is it scratched up?
Is there any dents in it or cuts in it?
Things like that.   If there are, put it back.
You don't want to -- you know, you just don't want to mess with that.
Because what's happened is, especially if it's broken the skin
on something -- you know, the apple, if the skin is broken --
or the orange or fennel or lettuce, things like that --
you don't want that anyway.   Male Speaker: Right.
Thank you.
Cat Cora: So that's what I would look for.
Yes. Hi. Male Speaker: I think a lot of people here have a real passion
for food, but they may not work in the food industry.
Cat Cora: Sure.
Male Speaker: And for you, how did you know that your passion
for food would turn into a career for you?
Cat Cora: Well, you know, I really didn't for a long time.
You know, I knew when I was about 15, I think.
I gave my -- you know, I knew I wanted
to have a restaurant when I was 15.
My godfather had restaurants, and he was a big inspiration for me.
My parents -- I had great cooks in my family.
But I grew up around his restaurants.
And so it was the smell, it was the vibe of restaurants.
And it was really, you know, that kind of --
I grew up around and really, I guess, got in my blood a little bit.
And so when I was 15, I wrote a business plan.
I have no idea today what it would look like.
Surely, the financials would be way off.
But I still kind of have the same vision.
The vision then is really similar to the vision that I have today.
And so I think then I'd have to say is when it --
I wanted to have a restaurant.
Now when I wanted to be a chef -- that was much later down the road.
I knew I wanted to have a restaurant,
and I always thought I would be an owner.
You know, I thought I would be in the front, you know, owning it,
running it like you did in the old days.
Like my god -- I saw my godfather being, you know,
a man of all trades in the restaurant.
He was front of the house, back of the house, a little of everything.
And that was before the phenomenon
of Food Network really started kicking off.
You know, at that time Emeril was just some guy cooking
that had a funny accent.
I mean, it was like, "Who is this guy?"
You know, that was way before Food Network really kicked off
and the whole chef phenomenon.
So I went to college first and got a degree in Exercise Physiology
and a minor in Biology and Nutrition and did wellness for a little while
and kept the dream about wanting to have a restaurant.
And so when I wanted to --
after college, I wanted to backpack through Europe.
That was one of my dreams and goals.
And so I said, "I'm going to get a job at a restaurant
to make some quick cash so I can go to Europe."
And I started working at a restaurant, in the front, you know,
bartending, waitressing, you know, server.
But I was always back in the kitchen going, "What's that?
What's that?"
And I would get yelled at all the time.
"Cat, CatHY, get back out on the" -- I was "Cathy" then.
"Get back out on the floor," you know?
"You've got tables."
So I'd always get yelled at by the management, you know,
to get back out ON the front of the house, you know, in the front,
because I was always in the kitchen.
And I'd go home after work and just start --
I'd see a dish, and I would go home,
and I'd get the ingredients, and I'd go home.
And I would kind of start cooking it.
And my mom said, "You know, you really have a knack for this.
You should think about going to culinary school."
And that's actually when I met Julia Child.
Very soon after that, I met her
at a book signing in Natchez, Mississippi.
And I drug my family there.   I saw it in the paper.
I said, "We have to go.   I've got to meet Julia Child."
And so I took my book there.
And she actually -- I went up to her.
I was absolutely in awe, obviously, you know, took my book up to her.
And you know, I said, "I'm an aspiring chef.
I'm thinking about going to culinary school.
Do you have a minute to talk to me?"
And she actually took 45 minutes and mentored me and gave me advice on,
you know, the first steps of becoming a chef,
where to go to culinary school.
I mean, really took a lot of time with me.
And I'll never forget that the rest of my life.
And actually, that's when I was saying, the next day I applied
to the Culinary Institute of America
because that's what she told me I should apply to.
And the rest is really history.
And I actually got to meet her when I was going
to the Culinary Institute of America.
About a year later, a friend of mine won a scholarship to go to her house
and watch her tape the Master Chef series,
when she was still doing the Master Chef series in Cambridge.
And Rick Bayless, I'll never forget Rick Bayless,
who I am very good friends with now, was the chef there that day.
And we got to spend the whole day with her.
And I actually got to tell her.   And she's so gracious.
I'm sure she didn't remember.   She meets millions of people.
But she, at the time, was so gracious because I was able
to tell her that, "You gave me the advice to go
to the Culinary Institute of America.
And look, I'm here.   I'm about to graduate."
So it was really a full circle moment for me.
And so that's kind of -- you know.
I don't know if that answered all of your questions,
but that's kind of a roundabout way.
Male Speaker: It definitely does, because I'm kind
of in your shoes now, thinking about it.
Cat Cora: Yes, yes.   Well, good luck.
And I mean, it's really about perseverance, and it's really
about setting a goal and going for it and not --
you know, when I went to culinary school, I had no idea.
All of this is icing on the cake.
The cookbooks, the shows, I mean, it's really a sweet surprise for me,
because that was never my goal.
My goal was just to be a good cook and a great chef, you know.
And so this has all just been really,
really a blessing in a lot of ways.   So just keep doing it.
Go for it.   Male Speaker: Thanks.
Thank you.   Cat Cora: You got it.
Yes. Hi. Female Speaker: First of all, thank you very much
for coming and joining us today.   Cat Cora: Absolutely.
My honor. Female Speaker: It's appreciated.
Iron Chef question.   Cat Cora: Yes.
Female Speaker: Has there ever been a secret ingredient that one
of your other iron chefs has received
that you have done the happy dance of gratitude
that you didn't have to deal with it?
[laughter] Cat Cora: You know,
probably sea urchin, even though I love uni.
I mean, I love sea urchin.
And, you know, now I probably -- I think earlier in my first seasons,
I was probably pretty glad I didn't get uni, you know, sea urchin.
And the live fish battles are tough because they're all over the place.
I know that -- I think Mario or Bobby got barramundi or something,
some kind of fish that was just huge and slippery
and big and had -- oh, catfish.   They got catfish, you know?
Although I could cook a mean catfish.
But when you're trying to handle them live, they're pretty ferocious.
So I was probably pretty glad I didn't get that.
But yeah, there's, you know -- I think we --
and then there's sometimes when we say to them like, you know,
"Why did I get butter, and you got something easy like duck?"
You know, I mean, what's that about?
Because I think proteins -- any time you get a protein,
or you get something that's, you know, kind of a star --
because everything you make has to be the star of the dish.
So when you get duck or you get a protein like that or some kind
of fish, it's always much easier than, say, honey, you know,
or butter or milk or some kind of obscure type.
Now, I will say -- before I have to leave, though -- I will say --
I mean, I can talk all day.   I was getting the five-minute mark.
But don't we have like five more minutes?
I can talk all day to you guys.
But I will say this before I do have to get off the stage.
I think I can take a couple more questions.
But we did -- and I am okay to advertise this a little bit.
But we did a very incredible Iron Chef --
we just finished the sixth season.
Thank goodness, got another season under my belt.
But I did a battle this season that's going
to be airing for the holidays.   Paula Deen is on my team.
[cheering] Cat Cora: And it's so funny because they got her --
they were trying to get her to do the --
go up against me for three seasons.   She goes, "Are y'all crazy?
It will be a cold day in hell before I go up against Cat Cora."
And we love each other.
I call her my southern aunt all the time.
You know, we're southern sisters.
But they say, "Well, what about being on Cat's team?"
And she was like, "Oh, I'll do that.   Okay. I can do that."
So we did.   We're doing a holiday special.
And we went up against Tyler Florence and Robert Irvine.
Female Speaker: Oh, God.
Cat Cora: And I can't tell you who wins.
I cannot tell you who wins.
But I'll tell you this, don't mess with southern women.
All right.   Female Speaker: Thank you, chef.
Cat Cora: I'll take one more question.
Female Speaker: I enjoyed reading about you
in Runner's World magazine recently.   Cat Cora: Runner's World, yes.
Female Speaker: I don't know if you were aware,
but there is a triathlon in town today.
Cat Cora: Yeah.
I was actually going to lunch while that was happening.
I was sitting out watching them run by while I was drinking a glass
of sunsere [spelled phonetically] and eating some escargot.
So anyway, yes.
Female Speaker: I wanted to ask you, for people who exercise a lot,
what do you recommend after a long run or an event like they had today?
What's the best thing to replenish?
Cat Cora: You know, I really say you really want some --
definitely anything that's going to give you potassium,
anything that's going to give you a nice balance,
because you have sweated a lot.
And believe me when I say that I was sitting there lunching.
Later, when they're eating a really nice dinner,
I'm going to be at the gym.   So, you know, it all balances out.
But are you guys cutting me off?   Okay. There it goes.
They'll just turn the microphones off on me and get a big hook.
But I would say bananas, any kind of --
you know, something that's hydrating, any kind of, you know --
definitely a really good power -- you know, not a power drink,
but a Gatorade, a little bit of Gatorade,
anything that can give you back some potassium,
some sodium back in your body.   That would be the first thing.
Apple, banana.
And then I would try to go into some maybe a little granola,
something like that, and then ease back into it.
I saw one guy eating a hamburger.
And I'm like, "Ooh, I don't know about that."
You might be hurting later, because, I mean, that's a lot on your body.
I don't know how long -- how far -- do you know how far it was?
Female Speaker: It was an Olympic distance.
Cat Cora: Oh, wow, okay.
Yeah. Female Speaker: So a quarter of an Iron Man.
Cat Cora: Okay.
Yeah. You want to start off with something like --
ease back into food, like solid foods and really rehydrate,
potassium, a lot of potassium-sodium balance,
get your electrolytes back in place.   Female Speaker: Thank you.
Cat Cora: Yes.   Thank you.
Any more? Can we take one more?   Female Speaker: Okay.
We love watching the Iron Chef, my daughter and my friends.
And every time we see it, we drool over the food when they present it,
and we always think, "How do we get a job
as a taste tester on the Iron Chef?"
[laughter] Cat Cora: That's a good question.
Female Speaker: Or will they ever have an average Joe person
as a taste tester?
Cat Cora: You know, they've had -- I mean, that's a great question,
and you know, it's always a good thing.
I always tell people to always write letters.
You know, if you're ever -- I mean, they're very responsive to letters.
Any time people write emails and letters,
they're always responsive to that.
If you can get enough people, you know, to write, you should.
And you know what?   Sometimes they do.
They try to mix it up with, you know, people that are foodies
and culinary professionals with people who are just kind of --
you know, they're not necessarily -- they're people that are known.
I mean, like they're people that are --
you know, whether designers or what have you.
But I think they should just --
I think they should have some audience members come up and do it.
I think it would be great to have people like yourself,
people that are just -- who love food
but may not be a culinary professional
but are foodies and who enjoy food.   I think it would be fantastic.
You could take Jeffrey Steingarten's place for a little while.
[laughter] Female Speaker: Tired of him, huh?
Cat Cora: I like Jeffrey outside of Iron Chef.
When he's trying to be Simon Cowell of Iron Chef, then,
you know -- it's something.   He has it out for Bobby and I.
He always loves to go after us.   I'll take one more over here.
And then they will turn my microphone off, I'm sure.
Female Speaker: Okay.
Thank you for your work and for the creation of Chefs for Humanity.
Cat Cora: Chefs for Humanity, yes.
Female Speaker: And my question today is about my 14-year-old
who is -- wants to be a chef.   And he is looking for a project
in his Iron Chef group in his high school.
And he loves New Orleans.
So I just wanted to ask you, what would be a good thing
to get you help these high schools get involved
in giving back to the communities?
Cat Cora: Well, he should email us at chefsforhumanity.org.
And all of you go to chefsforhumanity.org,
and we're actually doing -- we have an incredible plan for 2008.
But he should go on there.   We have an email address.
Those emails come to myself and to the executive director.
I'm very hands-on.
We have an incredible chef council of 15 chefs
from all over the nation.   And you guys know all of them.
They're all the top chefs.
And I'm actually going to the Mosquito Coast and to Honduras
to do some awareness work in December for --
there's a lot of aftermath from Hurricane Felix in those areas,
and also a lot of issues -- children -- with the kids there,
the orphanages and malaria and the malnutrition.
So I'm going there to see -- with the United Nations,
doing a trip for the World Food Program to see what we can do
to get involved and what our role can be.
So we've got a lot of great programs going on.
If anybody wants to come on, volunteer -- have your son email us.
We can get involved and help him in some way.
And if you can't volunteer, then if you want
to donate, it's a great cause.   Female Speaker: Thanks.
Cat Cora: So go check it out.   And thank all of you.
I guess they're going to pull me off.
Let's take one more.   One more. I can't pass that up.
Go ahead, sweetie.
Female Speaker: What's your favorite part about being on Iron Chef?
Cat Cora: Inspiring people like you.
[laughter] Really, I think, you know, that was the best surprise
of ever being an Iron Chef.   And I really didn't realize it.
When I was walking out of the Today Show three years ago,
when they called me on my cell phone and said,
"Do you want to be the first female Iron Chef?"
And I went, "Yeah," without thinking about what I was getting into.
I had no idea how far-reaching this show has been
in inspiring not only -- I mean, you know adults, and, you know,
we've got the whole gamut of -- I know I'm in overtime.
Now they have an overtime.
But the kids, inspiring girls like you, inspiring the kids.
And that's just been a treasure for me.
So thank you for asking that question.
Thank you.   [applause] [end of transcript]