Candice Kumai is an American author and

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

. Kumai is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Biography

Kumai was born in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to a Japanese mother and

Polish-American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Poles, Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing abou ...

father. She has one sister. She worked as a model when she was a teenager. Later, she trained as a professional chef in Southern California, cooking on the line at several restaurants. In 2006, Kumai was the youngest chef competing on the first season of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional chef ...

''. She was the fourth chef to have been eliminated from the competition. Her approach to cooking is based on her Japanese American heritage. Kumai became the host for Lifetime's show, ''Cook Yourself Thin''. Kumai has been involved in 1,000 Days, which is an initiative started by

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

in 2010 to improve nutrition for mothers and children worldwide. In 2014, she became a Kirin brand ambassador. Her series of books in the ''Clean Green'' series have made the bestseller list of the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. Kumai is also a contributing editor to ''

Shape Magazine ''Shape'' is a monthly English language fitness magazine started by Weider Publications in 1981, founded by Christine MacIntyre (a pioneer in women's free weight fitness) and became the number one women's fitness magazine. At that time, Weider ...

''.

Education

Kumai is a graduate of California State University, Long Beach where she studied interpersonal and organizational communications.

Books

Television

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kumai, Candice American television chefs American cookbook writers American people of Polish descent American people of Japanese descent American chefs of Asian descent Top Chef contestants Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Women cookbook writers American women chefs American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American women