Rachel Ray: America’s Kitchen Sweetheart

Not only has Rachel Ray became one of the most watched talk shows and real-time cooking shows she has also taught millions of Americans how to cook good food and how to make it easy.

Rachel got her meager start on a 30-minute cooking show for a small Albany New York TV station. She was working at a gourmet food store in Albany at the time and came up with the idea of her cooking show to help local chefs teach 30-minute cooking classes.

She thought this may help boost sales at the gourmet grocery store she worked at. Ray had noticed sales for prepared foods were much higher than sales for foods that were in raw form that you would have to prepare and spend time with. Eventually Ray began teaching the classes herself and this is when the TV stations put her on air.

Shortly thereafter she was discovered by The Today Show and the Food Network in 2001. She appeared as a guest on The Today Show and the Food Network approached her. The Food Network produced a show for Rachel called 30 Minute Meals which was an easily accessible approach to cooking good and tasty meals.

Quickly Rachel Ray became a sweetheart and adored by millions of Americans who loved watching her approachable on screen personality and girl-next-door cooking tips and advice.

Gradually Rachel became a multi-million dollar brand for the Food Network. She also sold more than 12 million of her 13 bestselling cookbooks.

After all the hoopla with the Food Network, the billions of books sold Rachel began to publish her own self-titled monthly magazine which has millions of subscribers. The magazine is called Every Day with Rachel Ray and offers helpful hints, recipes, features on entertainment and travel, and even a special ‘dog food’ section. Rachel also began her own talk show and eventually won an Emmy for her talk show.

America’s kitchen sweetheart had such an impact on mainstream America that the Oxford American Dictionary added a few of her signature phrases to their editions. One of Rachel’s most well-known phrases is ‘EVOO’ which means extra virgin olive oil was added in 2007. Rachel also refers to sandwiches as Sammies and refers to a stew-soup mixture as Stoup.

Another cute fact about Rachel is that she won’t ever cook with mayonnaise. Ray says it ‘creeps her out.