Every Day with Rachael Ray

[DeVeaux]

I can just hear Bourdain: "Yeah Rachael - I got your YUMMO right here".

[fou de Bassan]

I feel like I should start with a disclaimer. I have never seen Rachel Ray and can't comment specifically. BUT... she seems to be a very savvy marketer who has embraced MIddle America, and Middle America seems to have embraced her right back with a big MWAH right on the cheek.

If she gets one person to start cooking from scratch(which is an intimidating thing for noncooks) and thinking about food in a positive way then I can't see the harm. Maybe that soccer mom( or dad) will eventually make their way from Rachel Ray to Richard Olney. Then on to the hallowed halls of eGullet. Knowlege of food has to start somewhere. Granted there are better places but maybe more intimidating.

It reminds me of Oprah's book club, in a way. Most people probably read the books and carried on, but maybe a few became critical readers and branched out. I hope this happens in this instance.

You may now commence throwing tomatoes at the idealist

[achevres]

I hated her, then she grew on me, and now I'm fed up. I counted she's on 30 times a week -- including the Inside Dish show. It could be Julia Child and even us egulleteers would think that's too many times a week. But of course, at this point, Julia that often would be so welcome.

[rancho_gordo]

It reminds me of Oprah's book club, in a way.  Most people probably read the books and carried on, but maybe a few became critical readers and branched out.  I hope this happens in this instance.

But the Oprah book club read real books, for the most part. And sometimes difficult ones.

If she gets one person to start cooking from scratch(which is an intimidating thing for noncooks) and thinking about food in a positive way then I can't see the harm.

This argument used to work for me but now it seems like all these people do is lower our standards even more.

[Mabelline]

I am sorry, I grew up with the quintessential cheerleader, my little sister. This chick creeps me because there's no layer underneath. If you covered her mouth with some good ol' Duct tape, she could not teach a thing. She's 99.94% fake. Sorry. If you can't find out how to cook without that bullshit, and without going to a library, for, cryin' out loud, starve motherf4756839s!!!

[lala]

Eh. Her 15 minutes will be over soon...

[chefzadi]

I was just cruising the cable channels. At this very moment she is commiting a sin against couscous. She is boiling it in chicken stock with commercial curry powder.

[Aileen]

I, personally, can't stand to watch her. Her personality drives me crazy. I also don't understand how so many guys think she's cute, but of course I'm a hetero female. My sister likes her ok and bought her two "Thirty Minute Meals" cookbooks, and we've made a few recipes. Truthfully, in general I was pleasantly surprised, and they're handy for a single mom on a busy weeknight. (I was impressed with the quick version of Italian wedding soup, although I would put it in its own category and not compare it against truly homemade.) I doubt I would ever try a good number of the recipes, but I would say the same for most of my cookbooks.

[FrostFree]

I know I'm dating myself, but my first exposure to cooking on TV was when Julia Child first appeared on PBS as "The French Chef". My interest in cooking, in fact, long preceded Julia's success in popularizing the art. Years before, when my husband was attending business school, I had already learned that confessing my interest to my new friends wasn't a particularly good idea. "Oh, you like to cook? How nice! Why?"

Cooking to me was rarely just the chore of getting food on the table. It's not the drudgery of preparing one of the same old dinners that anyone could delight in, but rather of creating some artistry in the kitchen.

So none of Rachael Ray's cookbooks will be found in my bookcase nor do I use any of her recipes. I find most of her dishes rather rough and ready. Not slipshod perhaps, but neither do they display much panache. And then, “What's for dessert?” Ice cream, usually. And why is this? It’s not just the time constraints, but Rachael's way of cooking via "handfuls" which isn't the quick road to success in the baking realm, with it's typical demand for precise measurement.

Still, I like to watch her shows. And not just “$40 a Day” and “Inside Dish,” focusing on travel and interviews as they do, but "30 Minute Meals" too. She has a skill and presence in the kitchen that only someone with a genuine delight in cooking brings. CIA graduates may have been taught by the masters, but I think that those who love food and love providing it to others can bring a dimension to the craft that can dwarf skill alone.

Lidia Bastianich, now so highly respected, is another example of someone with the same background. True delight, even passion, can generate real achievement. Rachael's preparations hardly rival those of Lidia, but then who knows what Rachael will become twenty or more years from now.

In the meantime, as others have pointed out, Rachael provides valuable guidance for today's overworked (and quickly vanishing) middle-class. Emphasizing fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables, and other wholesome ingredients, I think she does well working within the parameters she‘s set for herself.

Besides, being so vivacious and charming, she's just fun to be with - even vicariously via the TV.

I just wonder how Rachael's greatest asset, her personality, is going to translate from TV to the printed page. I suspect that the success of this project is going to turn on her writers and editors, the savvy selection of which I suspect is not among her talents. Perhaps her lawyer fiancée will be the one choreographing this project. Who knows? Maybe together they can pull if off.