was a Japanese

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

, food writer, and founder/leader of the charity "Kagurazaka Women's Choir".

Biography

Katsuyo Kobayashi was born in Osaka in 1937. A graduate of Tezukayama Gakuin College, she became a homemaker after marriage. When she got married at the age of 21, she couldn't cook although she was a homemaker. She started learning how to cook from her mother and neighbors who could cook well. In 1963, initiated by a letter to a TV program, her career as a gourmet scholar started: she got her own TV program at the local television station in Osaka. In 1970, she debuted as an essayist, and published many cookbooks and essays. She appeared on NHK's cooking programs such as “Kyou no Ryouri (Today’s Dinner)” for the last 26 years and received public attention. She also created household products. Her serving dish “Kiai” was awarded the Good Design Award by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion Organization, which is instituted by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan, in 1990. In 1994, she participated in Iron Chef and defeated Kenichi Chin, the Iron Chef of Chinese cuisine. In addition, her English cookbook “The Quick and Easy Japanese Cookbook” was awarded the Best Cookbook in Asia by the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2000. She published nearly 200 cookbooks and essays and she also supported people who are living in the disaster areas of the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake in 1995. In 1994, she participated in the TV cooking contest ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle bu ...

'', winning against Chen Kenichi. Kobayashi, whose son Kentarō is also a celebrity chef, published more than 200 books. A strong believer in

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution is a clause in the national Constitution of Japan outlawing war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state. The Constitution came into effect on 3 May 1947, following World War II. In its text, the state formally renounces t ...

, she was one of the founders of ''Magazine 9''. After suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage in 2005, she died on January 23, 2014, of

multiple organ failure Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is altered organ function in an acutely ill patient requiring medical intervention to achieve homeostasis. Although Irwin and Rippe cautioned in 2005 that the use of "multiple organ failure" or "multis ...

References

External links

Katsuyo recipes
smart phone site)
Katsuyo Kitchen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobayashi, Katsuyo 1937 births 2014 deaths Japanese chefs Food writers People from Osaka Women food writers