| Personal Details Summary | |
|---|---|
| Name | Karine Bakhoum |
| Birthday / Age / Date of Birth / How old is Karine Bakhoum | May 14, 1963. As of 2025, she is around 62 years old. |
| Wedding & Marriage / Husband / Spouse / Partner | Divorced and possibly single now. Check the full bio for relationship details. |
| Children / No. of Kids | 2 |
| Ethnicity / Origin / Heritage / Race | Mixed (Egyptian descent) |
| Nationality | American |
| Is Karine Bakhoum palate insured? | Karine Bakhoum’s pallet is insured for $1 million by Lloyd’s of London. |
Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
- A regular judge on Food Network’s Iron Chef America, Karine Bakhoum is an American visionary of Egyptian descent, specializing in hospitality consulting, luxury lifestyle, public relations, and networking. She is also an active NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) member.
- A creative, passionate, enthusiastic, and devoted professional, Karine is the Founder of Iron Palate Consulting, based in New York.
Personal Life, Parents and Family Details :
- Karine is quite close to her sister Shireen Pharaony.
- She is a mother of two children, a daughter named Isabelle Riffaud and a son named Jean-Baptiste. For many years, she was married to Pascal Riffaud, the former owner of PrimeTimeTables. PrimeTimeTables was a service that used to charge their customers for the service of providing exclusive restaurant reservations. Currently, Karine is a divorced single mother.
- She is also much fond of her goddaughter, Sailor.
Education : Qualifications, High School & College Info
- Karine wasted no time diving into the business, considering her indulgent passion for food from a young age.
- As a teenager, she used her business-savvy nature to create her own “All Natural, Homemade Honey Nut Bran Muffins” and sold them to health food stores in Manhattan.
- After graduating from Convent of Sacred Heart High School in 1981, Karine attended the American University of Paris. She graduated with a Comparative Literature and International Business degree in 1985.
- In 1985, Karine continued at the American University of Paris and earned her B.A. in International Business and Comparative Literature. She graduated in 1989.
Career, Job, Salary and Net Worth :
- Karine founded KK.B.Network News in 1993 and served as the company’s President until February 2020. KK.B.Network News (KBNN) was a leader in consumer lifestyle, luxury hospitality consulting, and media networking services.
- Post that, Karine took her expertise and time-tested palate to the next level with the launch of Iron Palate Consulting in February 2020.
- With close to three decades in the food and hospitality sector, Karine is credited with consulting for top global hospitality brands such as Bay Kitchen Bar, 21 Club, Bagatelle, Le Bilboquet, and Armani Restaurant, among countless others.
- Over the years, Karine has worked with a number of the world’s top chefs such as Bobby Flay, Michael White, Alain Ducasse, Gari Masatoshi Sugio, Todd English, Marc Forgione, and Geoffrey Zakarian, as well as restaurateurs Stephen Hanson (BB.R.Guest), Jeffery Chodorow (China Grill), Jonathan Segal (The One Group) and John Meadows (LDV Hospitality), and leading hotelier Steve Wynn.
Interesting Facts, Height and Trivia :
- Karine’s extensive knowledge of food, remarkable palate, and unmatched reputation quickly earned her a spot as a female judge with the most appearances on Food Network’s Iron Chef America.
- Her venerable palate is also known as ‘The Million Dollar Palate’ when it became the first-ever to be insured for $1,000,000 by Lloyd’s of London in 2007.
- Her tasty recipes have earned a spot in Costco’s Home Cooking Cookbooks and entertained various luminaries of the culinary world as a formidable cook herself.
- Due to her creativity, enthusiastic nature, and food expertise, Karine has been a part of numerous T.V.shows – Cooking Channel’s Unique Eats, Food Network shows like 24 Hour Restaurant Battle, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. She was also on the finale of Food Network’s Worst Cooks in America (2010).
- Besides her culinary accomplishments, Karine takes pride in having complete proficiency in the French Language.