Aida Marianne Mollenkamp (born April 15, 1980) is a cook, television personality, and food writer from Manhattan Beach, California.

Early life

Mollenkamp grew up in Southern California and attended Rolling Hills Country Day and

Chadwick School Chadwick School is a nonsectarian independent K-12 day school located in an unincorporated area on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Specifically it is located at the top of the neighborhood referre ...

in Los Angeles. Before she got interested in cooking, she played soccer, tennis, did classical ballet, and other extracurricular activities including music and volunteering. In high school, a skiing accident rendered her temporarily unable to dance and she turned to cooking as a means of expressing herself creatively.

Education and career

Mollenkamp attended the Cornell Hotel School and graduated with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

hospitality management Hospitality management may refer to: *Hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and drink service, event planning, theme parks, travel and tourism. It inc ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

. Following this, she worked in hospitality real estate consulting at

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

, then moved to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, living between

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

for two years. She attended culinary school and received a Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris in 2004. Over the years, she has worked at several restaurants and hotels in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, including Chez Melange,

California Pizza Kitchen California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) is an American casual dining restaurant chain that specializes in California-style pizza. The restaurant was started in 1985 by attorneys Rick Rosenfield and Larry Flax in Beverly Hills, California, United States ...

, and the

Hotel Bel-Air The Hotel Bel-Air is a boutique hotel located in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California. The hotel is one of the nine luxury hotels operated by the Dorchester Collection, which is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA). The hotel has a total of 10 ...

, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Following her return to the U.S. in 2005, Mollenkamp became an editor at the

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

-base
CHOW.com
online food magazine.

Food Network and Cooking Channel

Mollenkamp's first

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

series, the interactive cooking program ''

Ask Aida ''Ask Aida'' is an interactive cooking show on the Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which hold ...

'', began airing on August 2, 2008 and filmed three seasons. Her second show, '' FoodCrafters'' for Food Network's new sister network,

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting ...

, debuted May 31, 2010. In ''FoodCrafters'', she leaves the kitchen to uncover handmade food finds from around the nation.

Keys To The Kitchen Cookbook

Her first cookbook, ''Keys To The Kitchen: The Essential Reference for Becoming A More Accomplished, Adventurous Cook'', was published by Chronicle Books in October 2012.

Family

Mollenkamp's mother is Italian American and her stepmother is French, both of whom helped foster her passion for cooking while she was growing up. Her father is of Lebanese origin. Mollenkamp's cooking style is influenced by her family's origins yet it also was shaped by the multi-ethnic nature of Los Angeles, where she grew up. She has prepared recipes on her show inspired by her family, including her sister Ivy and their grandmother. Mollenkamp's brother, Christophe Lindstrom, was shown on the ''Dear Food Network Grilling'' episode titled "Grilling in Paradise."

References

External links

*
Aida Mollenkamp biographyAida Mollenkamp official websiteAida Mollenkamp LinkedIn ProfileAida Mollenkamp Twitter pageAida Mollenkamp Facebook PageAida Mollenkamp Pinterest PageAida Mollenkamp Keys To The Kitchen Cookbook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mollenkamp, Aida 1980 births Alumni of Le Cordon Bleu American expatriates in France American expatriates in Italy American people of Italian descent American people of German descent American people of Lebanese descent Cornell University School of Hotel Administration alumni Food Network chefs Living people Writers from Los Angeles