COOKIN' AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE, SWEETIE:

Nation has big appetite for food television (Corie Brown, 7/21/04, Los Angeles Times)

Rachael Ray is a food television phenomenon.

A perky, 35-year-old home cook with no professional credentials, she has such good chemistry with the camera that her "30 Minute Meals" is the Food Network's top-rated show. It's particularly appealing to Madison Avenue's favored demographic, impressionable younger adults, ages 18 to 49.

Ray personifies everything people love about food TV: She's charismatic, accessible and upbeat, and she never stops moving. She also represents what rankles members of the food world's intelligentsia: There's no attempt at culinary excellence.

"Food Network has made a decision to go after the lowest common denominator audience," says Darra Goldstein, editor of the scholarly quarterly Gastronomica and a professor at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass. "Even with this audience, there is so much more that could be done."

Rachel Ray is almost unbearable--even when nearly drowned out by the sound of the the pumice stone scraping--but could Ms Goldstein possibly sound like more of a...well, you know....

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 28, 2004 10:33 PM