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PAUL:

Last week, we had Jackson Food & Wine chef chair Nick Wallace on the show. And what a great chat we had about the upcoming event and all that Nick sees Mississippi has to offer. Today, you're in for a treat as his co-chair joins us on the podcast.

Hey, it's Paul Wolf with a front row seat to conversations on culture from Jackson, Mississippi. We call our podcast Soul Sessions. It's the people, places and events that make the City With Soul.

Our guest is none other than Jackson, Mississippi native and Iron Chef, Cat ƒCora. Cat returns home on March 2 - and says she can't wait - and talks today about her memories and culinary roots in Jackson.

Cat, you serve as the co-host alongside Nick Wallace for Jackson Food & Wine. Why was it so important for you to participate?

CAT:

Well, this is my hometown. I mean, when all's said and done, no matter where I've traveled to, where I live now - I'm in Los Angeles, you know, Santa Barbara - but Jackson is still my heart and soul. And, you know, it's where I grew up for so many years. It's where I started my career. So many people in this industry, my family, my mom, my dad, my grandmother, my godparents, my godfather had restaurants that I grew up around. The Continental, the Shamrock, Peter Jay's and, just learning how to cook, being around the Greek Orthodox, being Greek American, being around the Greek Orthodox community in Jackson. It just taught me so much about food, the love of food, along with my family who were such wonderful cooks themselves. And I just have, you know… it's got such a rich tapestry of food culture, the people, the music, so much soul. I mean, that's why it's called the City With Soul. It's really where I cut my teeth as a chef, where I really got my start.

I started cooking at Amerigo. I went to the University Club, spent a lot of time in various - in and around 400 East Capitol, which was a place where I actually started. A lot of, you know, waiting tables and bartending. I kind of did a little of everything there with Nick Apostle. I think it's just been such a, so many great memories. I want to share that with the world, the country. I love that Jackson is having so many diverse chefs, not only from the South, but also from other parts of the country so that we can show what a rich culture we have in Jackson and what an incredible landscape of culinary diversity here. And that was happening when - before I even left to go off to New York and start my culinary career. I mean, we were eating Greek food, we were eating Wasabi Grill with Lena, and we were, you know, Hal & Mals, of course. Now they have Yaya's Kitchen, which was one of my mom's favorites. Tony Somali's. I mean, just so many memories of not only the South, but so much diversity, such a melting pot in Jackson. And I want to share that with the country because I think that people think you just come here and it is, yeah, we have some of the best catfish you'll ever taste. Cock of the Walk. I went there, you know, I think for my prom, you know, and would go out there. We have the Crawdad Hole, which I love bringing people to because it's so fun and great barbecue, of course.

I think people think we are just Southern food, but there's so much diversity. You know, I'm so happy that Jackson is finally doing a Food and Wine Festival. I mean, it's, overdue because we've, we have so much to celebrate.

PAUL:

You've hit the nail on the head and you've hit a greatest hits of Jackson oldies and goodies, those still around and those people will remember. Chef Nick Wallace calls our cuisine Southern eclectic. Now, speaking of Chef Nick. He speaks very highly of you and your family. And I want to know how did that relationship come about?

CAT:

You know, I really, really respect and admire and just adore Chef Nick Wallace. I mean, I think he has, I've watched him grow over the years and we met actually at the Jackson Mall in West Jackson. We were doing an event, I believe, for the University Medical Center for a Nurses Association or something. My mom was a part of getting me involved with that and bringing me back to town. And Nick and I first met there and then we met again on this crazy diverse path of the culinary world and food and a lot of motley crew of people that we were all friends with. But I've watched him grow into, you know, he was a great chef when I first met him and I've just seen him grow and his career grow. And he really is such an ambassador to Jackson. I mean, as a culinary figure, we stay in touch all the time. He's just a really incredible talent. I really admire him a lot. I really respect him a lot. He's asked for mentorship in the past. When I come to Jackson, he's always the best host. And so we just have this really good kinsmanship that has just weathered all the years. And I'm just so happy to be back and hosting this with him and co-hosting this incredible event with him, because I think he just represents what the best of Jackson is.

PAUL:

Cat, I've got to backtrack just a little bit because I hear your love for this city in everything that you say, and it's a genuine love. I can tell. Why do you have such an affinity? How and why did it make such an impression on you?

CAT:

Look, I was adopted by my parents. I was 10 days old. They brought me into this incredible Jackson life in the hub of Mississippi, but also into the Greek American community. I think that having two rich cultures, and then of course we spent a lot of time in New Orleans. I mean, add Cajun and Creole, to the mix. You have an incredible, beautiful array of different heritages and cultures and cuisines. I think growing up in that small Greek community in Jackson really instilled in me so much love for food, so much love for faith, cultures and people. And my parents, it was just a melting pot in our own home. It's like every color of the rainbow was welcome. Every - it didn't matter who you were. My mom always said, “we all bleed red” It didn't matter who you are, who you were, where you're from, what religion you were, what race, gender, sexual orientation, everybody was welcome. And so I think that just, for me, was such an incredible upbringing in being so tolerant and loving of all people.

And I saw that so much in Jackson as well. I think it's such a progressive city and I'm so proud of that. The deep South is just such a rich place in general. I mean, with music and all of the incredible novelists have come out, and the musicians and the chefs and the food and just all of the wonderful talent and creativeness that comes out of Jackson and Mississippi in general is just something that has been beloved all over the world. As I've traveled all over the world and all over this country and movies are made about it. And it's just so something that I'll always be proud of. And I think that coming back now is just really for me, the icing on the cake to come back and be able to really celebrate that and to have so many chefs from all over the country to come and see that for themselves.

PAUL:

Much of your work, your mission, Cat, centers around young people and this event benefits a local charity that helps young people kickstart their culinary careers. What would you say to a young person who is thinking about taking on this life, this world that you love so much?

CAT:

Well, I mean, I'm all about education and I'm all about mentorship. And, you know, as a matter of fact, five years ago, six years ago, now, maybe I became a partner in Little Kitchen Academy, which is a Montessori style cooking school for three-year-olds to teens. We're putting those all over the country and also globally we're expanding. And to me, that's just being able to tell the message of how important education is, especially in the culinary world learning. You don't have to end up being a chef to learn so much, to learn life skills, to take you throughout your whole life. It's such a rich education for so many and starting kids at three years old and really showing them how wonderful this world is, is something that I really pride myself on. And I think that mentorship has been a big part of that. I've had a mentorship program with young chefs for a while now since before COVID. Matter of fact, I'm bringing one of my sous chefs that's coming with me. She ended up being on Next Level Chef with Gordon Ramsay, and now I'm bringing her to Jackson with me to cook with me. So, I'm excited about that. But I would say to any young person that wants to be in this industry is go work in the industry, go check it out. That's what I did. Being at Amerigo I had no idea at the time - I loved food and I thought maybe this was something - but I had no idea where that trajectory would take me. But fell in love with it so quickly that I continued on. But I got a lot of education from those first jobs of do I really want to be, I might love food, I might love going to restaurants and I might love that being around that atmosphere but is this the career for me? And I think, going and working in a restaurant and starting at, you know, on the lowest part of the totem pole, you know, really starting at the bottom and working yourself up and having those long hours and working the holidays and working the weekends. And if you come out of that and you say, I still love this and I want to do it for my, for my career, then you're on the right path.

PAUL:

Jackson Food & Wine coming up March 2. You are the co-host, but you'll have a little taste of something for us too. What is on your plate that night?

CAT:

Well, I can't do anything in Jackson unless I'm going to add some Gulf shrimp or something from the Gulf. Those are my favorite shrimp. I've eaten, you know, prawns and langoustines and shrimp all over the world, but I still come back to my favorite and that's a good Gulf shrimp. And so I'm going to be doing jumbo or colossal shrimp. This is always a big hit when I do it at food festivals. So I'm going to bring it to Jackson and I'm doing a basque rub on the Gulf shrimp. And that's, you know, just real simple dried orange zest, chili powder, cracked pepper, sea salt, a nice rub on that. You know, let it sit for 24 hours and then we're going to grill them off and we're going to put a nice chimichurri, my signature chimichurri sauce on it.

PAUL:

I can't wait to have a taste of what you're bringing and what all the other chefs are bringing to Jackson Food & Wine. Cat, it's an honor to have you here and I appreciate you taking time today.

CAT:

Absolutely. I'm looking forward to it, Jackson. I'm coming to see you.

PAUL:

As our favorite HBCU marching band would advise, Get Ready! Don't you dare miss Cat and Nick and all the other incredible local, regional and national stars coming to Jackson Food & Wine. It's March 2 at the Mississippi Museum of Art Art Garden and tickets are available right now at jxnfoodandwine.com.

Soul Sessions is produced by Visit Jackson, the destination organization for Mississippi's capital city. Our executive producers are Jonathan Pettus, Dr. Ricky Thigpen and I'm our managing editor. You want to know more about what we do at visit Jackson? Well, you can find it all on our website at Visit Jackson.com.

I'm Paul Wolf and you've been listening to Soul Sessions.

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