20 Most Influential Moms In Food (Slideshow)

For Lidia Bastianich, our modern day mother of Italian cuisine, it was always about two things: food and family. This Emmy award-winning TV personality, author, entrepreneur restaurateur, and mother has fostered a vibrant interest and awareness of the passion behind Italian cooking. She has even collaborated with her two children Tanya and Joseph on several food ventures, including her partnership with Joseph in Eataly. In addition to her cookbooks, Bastianich has authored two children's book, Nonna Tell Me a Story: Lidia's Christmas Kitchen and Lidia's Family Kitchen: Nonna's Birthday Surprise. Not only has she contributed massively to the food world, she's impacted families everywhere with her shows and interests that focus on bringing food and family together. 

Being a mother to four little boys definitely isn't easy. Add the pressure of being an author, the first female Iron Chef, and a successful TV personality and you'll have the makeup of the ever calm, cool, and collected Cat Cora. With roots firmly planted in her Greek-American heritage, Cora has brought an infinite amount of passion to the food industry. Cora's ability to teach people how to cook, something mom's all over always could use a little advice on, earned her Bon Appétit's Teacher of the Year Award, and she now serves as the magazine's executive chef.  

Playfully referred to as the First Lady of Food, Dana Cowin has been making moves in the food industry for decades now.  As the editor-in-chief of Food & Wine, Cowin has lead the magazine to curate not only quality content for the home chef and the advanced chef, she has helped bring several Best of the Best books to life and consistently brings exciting, new chefs into the spotlight. In additional to her professional conquests, she also serves as the director of City Harvest. This New York City organization is a hunger-relief organization and she spearheads the annual "Skip Lunch Fight Hunger" campaign, helping to feed New York families.

The story of the Pioneer Woman is one many mommy bloggers wish was their own. Ree Drummond's story of falling in love with a cowboy and living a rural life on the ranch with her four children took the world by storm when she began her blog. She won Weblog of the Year at the 2009, 2010, and 2011 Bloggie Awards, has written several cookbooks, nabbed a show on Food Network and has even authored a children's book, Charlie the Ranch Dog, about her beloved basset hound. Drummond consistently shares her life with moms across America and not only shows them how to make hearty meals for the family, but makes sure that she shares her tips and tricks for managing a chaotic household. After all, you may have four kids, a dog, and a husband to care for, but could you imagine adding cattle into the equation?

Though her life plan never really included food, Dori Greenspan dominates the baking space. With 10 cookbooks under her belt, six James Beard Awards, and three kitchens in Paris, New York City, and Connecticut to maintain, Greenspan has done all right. She and her son Joshua (affectionately known as "The Kid") have even embarked on a few business ventures together. Although their Beurre & Sel cookie service is no longer operating, there are plenty of things on the horizon for Greenspan and her food loving family. 

Mom's across the nation owed Missy Chase Lapine a huge favor after she began The Sneaky Chef series. Dedicated to create a healthy home environment for the family, Lapine created The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals, which taught parents how to get their kids to eat good food without them knowing it!  Lapine serves as a member of Parenting magazine's team of experts called "The Mom Squad," and frequently shares her tips on healthy living with kids. 

With a portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Quaker, Pepsi-Cola, Tropicana, Aquafina, and Gatorade, PepsiCo owns what is almost certainly the world's largest collection of food and beverage brands, including 22 different product lines. (Their salt and sugar bills must be enormous.) Since being named to her current position as head of PepsiCo in 2006, Nooyi was named Fortune's "Most Powerful Woman" five years in a row (she placed second in 2011, 2012, and 2013). While Nooyi has spearheaded new lines of nutrition-conscious products (like Stevia-sweetened orange juice and reduced-fat potato chips), shareholders are reportedly unhappy with her efforts in the soft drink field, where Pepsi has lost market share to its longtime rival Coca-Cola. Still, Nooyi remains adamantly against splitting up their beverage and snack divisions.

-Colman Andrews

As a former financial and food industry analyst, Robyn O'Brien asked a tough question that was on all mothers of children with food allergies minds: what is going on with our food?  Or more specifically: "Are we allergic to food or what's been done to it?" Stores like Kraft, Coca-Cola, Burger King, Chipotle, Nestlé, and Target have all heard O'Brien's concerns loud and clear as she works with them to help change the landscape of our food nation. She also founded AllergyKids, an organization aimed to help mothers of children with allergies navigate a potentially dangerous world for their children. 

Mom and media mogul Martha Stewart has been helping mothers across the country elevate their entertaining status since her days as a gourmet caterer in the 1970s. A self-taught cook and the definition of a self-starter in general, Stewart's empire has grown immensely since her days spent hunched over Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She's published countless books, hosted her own show, and created the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia brand that highlights everything from food to weddings with their various publications. 

Aside from being an accomplished chef, restaurateur and author, Alice Water's became a mother to the world in addition to her own children when she began The Edible Schoolyard Project. Not only was she named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People, her project has been educating the nation on sustainable healthy foods for more than 17 years.