MEET THE CHEFS

Jimmy Dean^® Chef Catherine DeOrio is a leading food expert who regularly appears on network affiliates and media outlets across the country, including WMAQ-TV (NBC, Chicago), WUSA-TV (CBS, Washington, D.C.) and WJBK-TV (FOX, Detroit), to share her culinary expertise. Chef DeOrio is also a food/trends contributor to In Touch Weekly and was recently published in Thirsty? Chicago, a hip new guide on where to find the best drinks in Chicago.

Growing up in a large Italian family in a suburb of Chicago, she learned to cook at the foot of a true master: her Nana Kay. It was then that she developed a deep appreciation of the power and pleasure of great meals, which she honed while living in Venice, Italy.

Chef DeOrio attended the prestigious Kendall College culinary school in Chicago, Illinois, and has worked with nationally renowned chefs Gene Kato of Japonais and James Beard Award-winning Tony Mantuano of Spiaggia. Prior to Kendall College, Chef DeOrio was an attorney who, fortunately for our stomachs, decided to pursue her true passion — cooking.