Rachael Ray

[DeVeaux]

I assume that the cooks on the Food Channel wash their hands. I watch for their cooking and recipes.

If I wanted to watch some one washing their hands, I could probably find The Handwashing Channel somewhere on cable.

[Toliver]

I assume that the cooks on the Food Channel wash their hands. I watch for their cooking and recipes.

If I wanted to watch some one washing their hands, I could probably find The Handwashing Channel somewhere on cable.

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I guess I'm too empathetic then. When watching the cooking shows, I always assume after the food is cooked and the show ends that someone working on the crew, most likely, will be eating the food as opposed to it going into the trash. So for me it has an importance on a purely emotional level.

And since I only have basic cable at home and don't get the Handwashing Channel, I have to get my thrills from the hand washing on the cooking shows.

[Mayhaw Man]

i wash my hands about as well as RR does.  never got or made anyone sick. 

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Great hands wash alike.

I like to think of my hand washing technique as a key to building up my resistance to all manner of evil health problems. When the plague comes, they'll be no one left but me, Tommy, and Rachel Ray. (the end of the world will not be pretty, but we'll be there to see it)

[tommy]

I guess I'm too empathetic then. When watching the cooking shows, I always assume after the food is cooked and the show ends that someone working on the crew, most likely, will be eating the food as opposed to it going into the trash. So for me it has an importance on a purely emotional level.

And since I only have basic cable at home and don't get the Handwashing Channel, I have to get my thrills from the hand washing on the cooking shows.

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it's quite an assumption, i think, to assume that a crew of people who are most likely getting paid by the hour and are on tight schedules are going to nosh on some food when Rachel signs off, rather than go about their jobs of doing whatever it is that goes into shooting a TV show. i wouldn't assume anyone is eating that food other than Rachel, who just about always has a bite. and the shocking news: she hasn't keeled over yet from that cross-contamination that is so prevalent on her show (but, apparently, non-existent in the kitchens of her detractors. LOL!!!)

I like to think of my hand washing technique as a key to building up my resistance to all manner of evil health problems

i bite my nails too. so you can only imagine what is being introduced into my system every day. the only thing i haven't built up a resistance against, as far as i can tell, is the almost compulsive desire to post on inane threads like this. i think i need more raw chicken.

Edited May 24, 2006 by tommy (log)

[cajungirl]

My God! As I sit here at work (not in the food industry) reading this thread I have an uncontrolable urge to go and wash my hands...LOL I cook with my dog in the kitchen, and I pet her too, after which I engage in a RR type hand wash. If some of you people could see some of the commercial kitchens that prepare your food, you might never eat out again.

[BeefCheeks]

Okay, I officially give up.

Years back, when FoodTV was in its infancy, I made the decision to hate Rachael Ray. Her laugh annoyed me to death; her little witticisms drove me insane; her recipes appeared to be utterly lackluster and downright vile at times. She had a cutesypoo refrigerator. And then, suddenly, she was everywhere.

So why is it now, years later, that it irks me -- nay, drives me crazy -- when self-proclaimed food experts treat the woman with vicious discontent, putting in print in major American newspapers their clear level of hatred for this woman who, like it or not, has gotten her audience (which changes, demographically, day-to-day) to cook again. I'm not talking about pro foodies, but real Ma and Pa Kettles of the world, who would rather eat at Denny's then boil water for themselves. Sure, she is annoying as a deep splinter, but she has a certain appeal to a certain group, and I, for one, applaud her for that. While I'm busy hating her, of course.

On 9/14, a Connecticut-based features writer put pen to paper and wrote one of the most vicious, scathing, foul pieces about Ms. Ray and the general state of FoodTV ever produced; in 12 paragraphs, we are meant to understand why this fellow hates her guts, only he can't quite explain it clearly. He goes on to pan (naturally) Emeril, calls Chris Kimball a "fussy, uptight know-it-all who appears to be in serious need of sexual healing;" (what exactly does that mean?); and informs us that Ina Garten's recipes are wonderful but he wants to "very badly slap [her] across the face hard." Okay, so the guy clearly hates the medium. But why the viciousness...? At least when Bourdain referred to these folks as "bobbleheads" he had the class not to name names.

I'm honestly curious about what ya'all have to say.....

[FistFullaRoux]

I must admit to ranting against her from time to time. I find her mildly amusing at best, and nails-on-a-chalkboard at worst.

But you do have a point. She has gotten people interested in food, and home preparations at that. Sure she's been filmed in a lot of restaurants, but she is usually espousing the least expensive way to eat well in an unfamiliar city.

Has the premise been done to death? Sure. We get it. Ask the locals. Check for coupons. Research before you go. Onandonandon.... You don't have to do it in every city on Earth. But, the ideas have stuck. There are a lot of people who have not been exposed to "dining", and don't have a lot of money, who confronted with a strange city may just opt for Burger King because it is familiar. Even with the tourism shows, she is promoting trying something new. That can't be all bad. Hell, she's good enough for Oprah. Just like Emeril was good enough for Julia. She's gotta be doing something right.

See a similar thread I did about Emeril a while back.

[JasonZ]

As has been said in another thread, "enough is enough".

If we have some insight to add that hasn't been expressed before, great. Otherwise, we know that some people love thier TVFN hosts (irrationally) and some people hate these same people (irrationally).

To the extent that these hosts get people to cook or to enjoy food who otherwise would not have done either, great. To the extent that these hosts (or newspaper reviewers) don't enlighten their audiences at all ... they should stop wasting their and our time ...

I don't have the specific newspaper reviewers article, but it sounds like he pretty much diss'ed everone -- was there anyone he said anything positive about?

Edited October 3, 2006 by JasonZ (log)

[bavila]

Why hate her so much?

The word "jealousy" comes to mind...

[BeefCheeks]

Jealousy did indeed come to mind.....

This guy (who appears to be very well-known in CT) hit everyone: "Mary Ann Esposito (chiding manner & overly-enunciated speech); Alton Brown (creepy, AV-nerd type who I'm convinced is on an extended acid trip; Paula Deen (verging on the unwatchable)." Last paragraph indicates that he will "watch Ray's show, if for no other reason than to boost his hate-on for her."

[H. du Bois]

I don't mind the premise of what she does at all. I don't mind her success at it, or her wild popularity, either. I don't even mind what she cooks.

What drives me absolutely bonkers is her cutsie baby talk. I want to scream to the heavens to make her stop when she does that.

I'm not sure if it's an adults should not talk like that thing, or whether it's a respect for the English language thing, but it's got nothing to do with cooking.

[johnsmith45678]

What makes me hate RR the most is that she strikes me as a phony who's only writing books and doing TV shows for the money. She doesn't have the culture or the character of a serious food professional. I don't think she's really "paid her dues" (IIRC, she taught herself to cook in her parents' kitchen. Bourdain's definitely paid his dues. Gordon Ramsay has paid his dues, in spades. Just about any food celebrity I can think of has paid their dues more than RR, and therefore warrants more respect.) or gone to culinary school. She's like the prom queen pretending to be a food authority. RR just seems like a McFoodie targetted at stay-at-home soccer moms. And, yes, I'm kind of jealous she's made so much money doing it.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

Anyone see the Thumann's commercial, when the family whines, "not another 30-minute meal"? I guess one has arrived when one is dissed by a deli meat company.

I can't hate RR. I accidentally watched a few minutes of her show a couple of weeks ago and it made me cringe because it was soooo badly done, from the intro with clips of her laughing to her high-fiving the audience.

However, I remember when everyone -- EVERYONE -- hated Miss Perfect Martha Stewart. (I didn't 'hate' her; I went nuts over the people who would bring her books to me and tell me they wanted their party/wedding to look just like that -- for $10.95/pp.) Martha's done well for herself and kind of toned things down a little from her early years. Who knows, maybe time will mellow RR?

To say people are jealous of her is kind of a stretch, I think. Jealous means you want what they have -- though I wouldn't mind having her bank account!

[Gifted Gourmet]

She doesn't have the culture or the character of a serious food professional.

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and she has never, ever claimed to be anything but an amateur ... she never holds herself out to be a pro ... that said, I honestly feel that the length of her new daily show is a touch excessive ... about a half-hour would have done just as well ...

[JeanneCake]

What was this author's point? Did his article mention a problem or what his issue was? Any chance there's a link to this madness?

I'm fascinated by how people are applying the standards and norms we learned at PBS (how to cook by pros like Jacques Pepin, Lydia Bastianiach, Julia, etc) to the Entertainment Food Network. I was talking last week to a past contestant of a Food Network challenge and she said, it's all about TV, not the cakes. Just like there are tons of TV channels now, people aren't just watching PBS anymore to learn to cook. They're watching the Food Network as well, and some of the shows do take the viewer by the hand and make cooking seem less intimidating to young adults who didn't learn at their grandmother's house how to cook.

What PBS cooking shows did (and do) was teach - not entertain; and some Food Network shows do some teaching, but virtually all of them are about entertainment. There are hundreds of TV channels and TV stars - all the stars ride out their popularity as long as they can. This network just happens to feature food in all their programming. Would that article's author have taken to task the writing team that produces all those copycat crime shows (is it Law and Order? Or CSI? One of them is on almost every night featuring a different city.) Maybe he's just trying to make some publicity for himself by picking on an easy target?

[srhcb]

I'll watch Rachael Ray, Sara Moulton, old Julia reruns, Emeril, Bourdain, Alton, Jaques Pepin etc.

Sometimes I watch baseball, American Chopper or various shows on History and Discovery Channels. I like Mystery, Antiques Roadshow, Austin City Limits and documentaries on PBS.

The great thing is, my TV has a little remote control that not only lets me turn it on and off, but lets me select from around 70 different channels!

I'd no sooner watch shows I didn't care for than eat food I don't like, or wear shoes that don't fit.

SB (Life's too short, and presents so many pitfalls and problems in any case, to torture yourself over tv shows)

[K_A_S]

I don't know who the CT-based writer is, but it does sound like someone who has a pretty big axe to grind, given that he seems to take a swipe or two at just about everyone.

My take on Rachel Ray: if I were her PR person, I'd be worried about over-exposure, since she has so many shows on. The fact of the matter is, as some have already observed, she offers up something very useful to lots of folks who have kitchen-phobia: she presents fairly straight-forward and quick-to-prepare food for people who may not have highly developed kitchen skills. Not everyone who watches FN is a chef or chef wannabe -- there are simply too few shows that assume that level of knowledge or interest on FN -- and many watch it precisely because they think of cooking as a spectator sport (as opposed to a common, if enjoyable, routine activity). The 30-minute meal show is, to my mind, brilliant in terms of its accessibility to those not used to cooking without offering up the sort of lame recipes and half-baked (pardon the pun) meals one finds on the semi-prepared meals show (where I saw the hostess go through what must have been 6 or 7 tubs of Cool Whip, with slight additions like a bit of vanilla extract serving as the "home-made touch"). She teaches people who don't know much about cooking to make real food and without too much fuss.

That said, she's a bit too perky for me, but that's just my personal taste. For me, the only non-stop chatter I'm interested in when watching a cooking show is non-stop food-related information, not blathering about the host or hostesses' trip to Canada before his or her wedding.

I don't love her, but I sure don't hate her. Now the semi-homemade show is another thing...

[johnsmith45678]

Yep, I'll grudgingly admit that her 30-minute meals books are a good idea. I too would rather just open a can of beans rather than soak raw ones overnight and simmer for hours.

And her $40 a day show seems pretty good for discovering the different places out there, and I could probably stomach watching them if 75% of what she said/did was edited out.

[Grub]

First off, we need a link to this Connecticut-based features writer's article. Can't really comment on the level of viciousness without reading it... Secondly -- Bordain has slapped far worse labels on people than "bobbleheads" and he has named names. I'm not sure if integrity is the right word -- maybe it is -- but I sure as hell like the fact that someone can speak with such frankness in our day and age.

Rayray's overexposed. If you become a fan, then maybe you can't get enough of someone -- or something -- but meh, nuff said...

The baby/idiot talk gets on my nerves: "You're not gonna BELIEEEEEVE how EAAAASY this is!"(arms windmilling wildly) -- I'm sorry, I'm willing to watch this on the merit of your recipe and abilities alone, you don't need to sell it to me like I'm some 5-second attention span, lobotomized gerbil.

[cinghiale]

From the Hartford Courant.

[christine007]

From the get-go, I've gone nuts when she says EVOO to save time, then proceeds to WASTE time explaining what EVOO is. What the hell????

But I have to agree with those who bring up the fact that she never, ever presented herself as a pro or a chef. True.

[Andy Lynes]

and informs us that Ina Garten's recipes are wonderful but he wants to "very badly slap [her] across the face hard." 

I know the writer is venting his pent up anger for comic effect, but I think that is going too far. Maybe I've had a humour bypass but I find that to be unnecessarily unpleasant.

[JohnL]

Why hate her so much?

The word "jealousy" comes to mind...

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as do elitism and snobbery!

[Pat Churchill]

Okay, so the guy clearly hates the medium. But why the viciousness...? 

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Might be something he ate?

[Daniel]

I wouldnt say I hate her, I dont hate anyone. But I really dont care for her. I watch her show and am continually annoyed by her.. Her hand movements while talking, her cheesy sayings, that laugh, all would be fine if I liked her cooking. In terms of her other show where she is traveling aorund stiffing waiters across the country, I watch that sometimes.. However, I have been to many of the Cities where she has filmed and never felt compelled to visit any of her choices.. Nor would I order anything she does..