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

Manhattan Beach, California Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Coastal California, Pacific coast south of El Segundo, California, El Segundo, west of Hawthorne, California, Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, and north ...

Early life

Mollenkamp grew up in Southern California and attended

Rolling Hills Country Day Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact ...

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 referred to ...

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. in

hospitality management Hospitality management may refer to: * Hotel management occupation, the practice of running hotels * Hospitality industry The hospitality industry is a broad category of fields within the service industry that includes lodging, food and beve ...

from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

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

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

, then moved to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, living between

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, for two years. She attended culinary school and received a Grand Diplôme from

Le Cordon Bleu Le Cordon Bleu (; French: " The Blue Ribbon"; LCB) is a French hospitality and culinary education institution, teaching haute cuisine. Its educational focuses are hospitality management, culinary arts, and gastronomy. The institution consists ...

in Paris in 2004. Over the years, she has worked at several restaurants and hotels in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, including

Chez Melange Chez Melange was an American seafood restaurant and gastropub located in Redondo Beach, California, which closed on February 29, 2020. It was opened in 1982 and owned and run by Michael Franks and co-owner and head chef Robert Bell. History Ch ...

California Pizza Kitchen California Pizza Kitchen, Inc. (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 ...

, and the Hotel Bel-Air, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

-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 unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

series, the interactive cooking program '' Ask Aida'', 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 and spin-off of Food Network. Both are owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media ...

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

''Keys To The Kitchen''

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.

Personal life

Mollenkamp's mother is

Italian American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

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 official website
{{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 American women chefs Chefs from Los Angeles