Rachael Ray article in NYT

[pikawicca]

There was an interesting article about her in the Business section of the Times yesterday (Oct. 23),kind of touting her as the next Oprah/Martha Stewart self-promoting whiz. Judging from her quoted statements, she manages to shrug off criticisms that she's ditzy and not a "real chef." She seems to be giggling all the way to the bank.

[livetotravel]

What is really troubling is that the Food Network is rapidly moving away from showing how to cook meals with fresh ingredients (ala Lidia) to throwing together pre-packaged ingredients and calling it dinner. RR is just the most prominent advocate of pre-packaged foods. It is a potentially dangerous and unhealthy direction. While most serious food devotees advocate for the support of local production, green markets and farmers the Food Netrwork and RR are advocating for the support of mega agribusiness and a couple of corporations that control food production in this country.

RR reminds me of those mindless ads in the 1950's that showed how modern technology can improve the lives of Americas "housewives" - wow, we've come a long way baby!

[jenniebnyc]

notice....Lidia sticks to PBS as do most of the other reputable cooking shows.

we are friends of Lidias and her love for food truly shines through when she cooks and speaks about food.

[KTinNYC]

If Lidia did do a show for FTV there would be posters saying she was boring. It's too bad but there is a segment of the population that wants to be 'entertained' by Rachel Ray and Paula Deen and are 'bored' when there is a host that can actually teach them something.

[Chocolatechipkt]

Unfortunately you're right about that.

[tleaf]

JennieB - I completely agree about the cooks/chefs on PBS - Class all the way!

[cranrob]

Bill Buford wrote an article on this: "TV Dinners: The rise of food television"
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content...
He has some interesting things to say about RR.

[JNUNZMAN]

My sister and I had a conversation about the "new" direction that the Food Network is going in. They are moving away from the chefs to people like my sister and myself....people that are really good home cooks.
We both agreed that we love watching the likes of Mario Batali and Bobby Flay for ideas and inspiration and we don't really want to watch the likes of Rachel Ray, the Semi-Homemade lady, and the Dopey Dean brothers. They are really dumbing down the network and I don't find that I watch anywhere near as much of it as I used to. Drop Rachel in a large cuisinart and pulse!!

[rainey]

"Drop Rachel in a large cuisinart and pulse!!"

Funny, pithy, effective and worth trying!

[jenniebnyc]

I always wondered what would happen if someone tied her hands behind her back....do you think she would still be able to talk?

[ChefGirl412]

Unfortunately, YES.

[jenniebnyc]

My sis and I happened to have her on today and in less than a minute she threw out more acronyms than a normal person should use...there was the infamous EVOO and then she threw us for a loop and put a dash on S&P in the dish as well. As soon as we heard that I grabbed the remote and that was then end of her. It is quite funny as we do hysterically laugh when she does this, but how can one sit through an entire episode???

[macca]

Too funny. My mother called me a few weeks ago, right after the debut of her talk show. She said she had to turn it off. She said that Rachael did not talk- all she did was yell. And I bet my mother was correct!

[jenniebnyc]

I was home sick one day and watched, I think, the second episode after hearing how her ratings were through the roof. She made a lunchbox lunch for school children that would have taken any mom an hour or so to make..not including shopping for all of the ingredients. It was so unrealistic. I thought, what mom would actually make sushi rolls out of homemade rice krispy treats and fruit roll ups and then she made some wasabi thing??? Now I have been eating sushi since I was a child, but I don't think that middle america (no offense folks) is filling their kids lunchboxes with cilantro, curry and wasabi based meals. Maybe I'm wrong. In any case she WAS SCREAMING the entire time and flailing those muppets hands all around.

I am so disappionted on Oprah for promoting her.

[macca]

Yeah- my mom said whatever she cooked that day was weird. I am going to have to catch a bit of the show to hear the screaming. My mother asked if there was something wrong with her!!!!!

[Rick]

When she first started 30 minute meals my wife tried to make one of her meals. Well literally $35 in ingredients and 1 hour later we had a mediocre meal. My wife is a pretty good cook so attribute that to the recipe not the cook.

[FlavoursGal]

How we lament the dumbing down of America.

The real problem? Mass marketing for dummies, for the multitudes of people who want to be "entertained" by like-minded individuals with similar senses of humour.

It's her laugh that gets to me the most!

[Davwud]

Oh god. When will she go away???

She's coming up on Iron Chef too?? I wonder how they'll like her chicken cacciatore lasagne sammies??

DT

[Atomica]

She'll be slaughtered on Iron Chef. I can't wait.

[JudiAU]

Nah-- they give her a real chef to help her out.

[gloriousfood]

Well, be it for me to pour more gasoline on the always popular/infamous topic of Ms. RR herself, but she is slated to open her own burger joint in NYC!

[HillJ]

I've caught her new show a few times...I'm not sure I enjoy RR on thee topic of fashion, housecleaning, girlie stuff...stick to food...and hire a few sidekicks to talk about the other stuff...save your voice...

[livetotravel]

I'm still confused about what Rachael Ray and good food have in common.

[ML8000]

The same thing Oprah and literary critique have in common. Both however are easily consumable by the general public.

[NovoCuisine]

Thank you.