According to Rachael Ray, she grew up in food. “My first vivid memory is watching my mom in a restaurant kitchen. She was flipping something with a spatula. I tried to copy her and ended up grilling my right thumb! I was 3 or 4,” says Rachael, who insists that cooking is a way of life she was simply born into. “Everyone on both sides of my family cooks.” Rachael has parlayed that birthright into a wildly successful career as an iconic Food Network television personality, bestselling cookbook author and editor–in-chief of her own lifestyle magazine. In the fall of 2007, she launched a hugely successful syndicated daytime program, Rachael Ray. Showcasing Rachaels warmth, energy and boundless curiosity, the show — produced by CBS Television Distribution and Oprah Winfreys Harpo Productions—invites viewers to experience life the Rachael Ray way. Credited with getting America back in the kitchen with her easy approach to cooking, Rachael takes the same philosophy — finding simple solutions to everyday problems — beyond the kitchen and into all aspects of the show. Growing up in a family steeped in culinary tradition, Rachael was exposed to a wide range of cooking techniques, from her maternal grandfather who grew and cooked everything his family of 12 ate, to her dads family, which embraced the food-rich traditions of Louisiana. The Ray family owned several restaurants on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, before relocating to upstate New York, where her mother worked as the food supervisor for a restaurant chain. “I was surrounded by all different styles of cooking and worked in the food service industry in just about every capacity you can imagine,” Rachael says. By her early twenties, Rachael developed a hankering for city life and moved to New York where she landed at Macys, working first at the candy counter and then as manager of the Fresh Foods Department. She credits her two years there for giving her an education in gourmet foods. After Macys, Rachael helped open Agata & Valentina, the prestigious New York gourmet marketplace, where she was the store manager and buyer. Despite the exciting lifestyle in the foodie circles of New York City, Rachael decided to move back to upstate New York to manage pubs and restaurants at the famed Sagamore Resort on Lake George. From there, she was recruited by Cowan & Lobel, a large gourmet market in Albany, to be their food buyer and eventually their “chef.” As a way to increase grocery sales during the holidays, Rachael created a series of cooking classes, including a course promising to teach “30-Minute Mediterranean Meals,” which exploded in popularity. The CBS station in Albany-Schenectady, WRGB-TV, discovered Rachael and signed her on to do a weekly “30-Minute Meals” segment for the evening news. Nominated for two regional Emmys in its first year, the segment was a major success; a companion cookbook sold 10,000 copies locally during the holidays. With that, a franchise was born! Rachaels television work grew to include a series of lifestyle and travel segments as well as a long-term relationship with Food Network, hosting shows such as Rachaels Vacation, Tasty Travels, $40 A Day, Inside Dish and 30-Minute Meals, the latter of which earned Rachael a 2006 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Service Show and a nomination for Outstanding Service Show Host. In addition to her television endeavors, Rachael has turned her “30-Minute Meals” concept into a bestselling series of cookbooks, including 30-Minute Meals, 30-Minute Meals 2, 30-Minute Meals: Get Togethers, Comfort Foods, Veggie Meals, The Open House Cookbook, Cooking Round The Clock, Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids, Rachael Ray Best Eats In Town On $40 A Day, Rachael Ray 30-Minute Get Real Meals, Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners, Express Lane Meals, 2-4-6-8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds, Just in Time: All-New 30-Minute Meal, Super-Fast 15-Minute Meals, Slow It Down 60-Minute Meals, Yum-o! The Family Cookbook, Rachael Rays Big Orange Book, The Book of Burger, My Year in Meals and Week in a Day, among others. Taking the can-do spirit of her television shows and books, Rachael launched a new lifestyle magazine in 2005 bearing her vision called Every Day with Rachael Ray. With great food at its heart, the new full-size glossy magazine, for which Rachael serves as editor-in-chief, covers much more than food. The magazine offers smart and easy recipes for an array of delicious foods, as well as practical advice on food destinations and entertaining. Through the magazine, Rachael takes readers around the country to meet people who love food — from top celebrities and authentic artisans to great home cooks. In 2007, Every Day with Rachael Ray was named Launch of the Year by Advertising Age and by Advertising Week in 2007. In the fall of 2007, Rachael launched the daily one-hour, nationally syndicated show Rachael Ray, which scored the highest rated premiere for a syndicated talk show since the 2002 launch of Dr. Phil. It immediately secured its position among the top ranked daytime shows and was the #1 syndicated strip launched in the 2006-07 season. The daytime talker was immediately embraced by critics across the country. Time magazine wrote, “You cant attract her kind of following by just being accessible. Ray, like Regis Philbin, is gifted at being on television.” Newsweek praised Rachael as being “the most down-to-earth TV star on the planet…” People magazine named Rachael Ray one of the top 10 shows of 2006 and Forbes voted her #2 Most Trusted Celebrity. In its freshman year, Rachael Ray won a 2007 Daytime Emmy Award and was nominated for six others including Outstanding Talk Show and Outstanding Talk Show Host. Adding to the list of achievements, Television Week named her Syndication Personality of the Year in 2007 and Businessweek honored her as one of the Best Leaders of 2006. The positive praise from the press and the remarkable season one ratings confirmed Rachael Ray as a syndication success. “My life has been a total accident — a very happy, wonderful accident that I didnt and couldnt have planned,” says Rachael. Despite her growing celebrity she is determined to stay grounded and hold on to her down-to-earth values. She still spends as much time as she can at her cabin in the Adirondacks with her husband, John, her family — the “research team” — and her beloved pit bull Isaboo. In the spring of 2007, Rachael Ray launched a nonprofit organization, Yum-o! that empowers kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. By providing the tools to create easy, affordable and delicious meals, Yum-o! is changing the way America eats. Yum-o!s three work areas include educating kids and their families about cooking, feeding hungry American kids and funding cooking education and scholarships. For more information about the Yum-o! organization, please visit www.yum-o.org.
Rachael Ray (born August 25, 1968, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S.) American chef and television personality, who promoted quick, easy-to-prepare meals through her television programs, lifestyle magazine, and extensive line of cookbooks.
Ray continued to expand her empire by creating a line of kitchen items as well as home furnishings. She ventured into the talk-show circuit with the 2006 launch of a syndicated program, Rachael Ray. Two years later she debuted the dog food brand Nutrish. In 2019 Ray returned to her breakthrough show, 30 Minute Meals, which began airing again on the Food Network after a seven-year absence.
It was at Albany’s gourmet market Cowan & Lobel, where she served as buyer, however, that Ray launched her television career. Combining her business acumen with her culinary skills, she offered cooking classes during the holidays in order to promote the market’s sales. Her most popular offering, “30-Minute Mediterranean Meals,” gained the attention of the local media, and Albany’s CBS affiliate station soon gave Ray a contract to produce a weekly cooking segment called “30-Minute Meals” for the nightly newscast. Ray’s homespun demeanour—along with her quick and simple recipes, which used readily available prepackaged ingredients—proved to be an enormous success, and in its first year the segment was nominated for two local Emmy Awards, in addition to spawning a companion cookbook, which sold more than 10,000 copies.
Her work in local television led Ray to be hired by the Food Network, a popular cable television station. There she hosted a number of well-received programs, including 30 Minute Meals, $40 a Day, Tasty Travels, and Inside Dish. Ray’s success on the Food Network allowed her to develop an extensive media brand around her preparation of 30-minute meals. In 2005 Every Day with Rachael Ray, a lifestyle magazine with Ray serving as editor in chief, began publication. She was the best-selling author of more than a dozen books, including Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals (1998), Rachael Ray 365 No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners (2005), Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals: What to Keep on Hand, What to Buy Fresh for the Easiest-Ever 30-Minute Meals (2006), and Just in Time! (2007). My Year in Meals (2012), which documented Ray’s own gustatory habits, was augmented with her husband’s cocktail recipes. The memoir-inspired cookbook Rachael Ray: Memories and Meals from a Sweet and Savory Life appeared in 2019. This Must Be the Place: Dispatches & Food from the Home Front (2021), which Ray wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic, features recipes as well as personal stories.
Ray had experience in the kitchen from a young age, helping out in her family’s restaurants in Cape Cod. In her early 20s she pursued her culinary aspirations in New York City, where she started out behind Macy’s candy counter before managing its fresh foods department. In two years she became store manager and buyer for New York gourmet marketplace Agata & Valentina before relocating to upstate New York. There she managed the pubs and restaurants of Sagamore Resort on Lake George.
According to Rachael Ray, she grew up in food. “My first vivid memory is watching my mom in a restaurant kitchen. She was flipping something with a spatula. I tried to copy her and ended up grilling my right thumb! I was 3 or 4,” says Rachael, who insists that cooking is a way of life she was simply born into. “Everyone on both sides of my family cooks.” Rachael has parlayed that birthright into a wildly successful career as an iconic Food Network television personality, bestselling cookbook author and editor–in-chief of her own lifestyle magazine. In the fall of 2007, she launched a hugely successful syndicated daytime program, Rachael Ray. Showcasing Rachaels warmth, energy and boundless curiosity, the show — produced by CBS Television Distribution and Oprah Winfreys Harpo Productions—invites viewers to experience life the Rachael Ray way. Credited with getting America back in the kitchen with her easy approach to cooking, Rachael takes the same philosophy — finding simple solutions to everyday problems — beyond the kitchen and into all aspects of the show. Growing up in a family steeped in culinary tradition, Rachael was exposed to a wide range of cooking techniques, from her maternal grandfather who grew and cooked everything his family of 12 ate, to her dads family, which embraced the food-rich traditions of Louisiana. The Ray family owned several restaurants on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, before relocating to upstate New York, where her mother worked as the food supervisor for a restaurant chain. “I was surrounded by all different styles of cooking and worked in the food service industry in just about every capacity you can imagine,” Rachael says. By her early twenties, Rachael developed a hankering for city life and moved to New York where she landed at Macys, working first at the candy counter and then as manager of the Fresh Foods Department. She credits her two years there for giving her an education in gourmet foods. After Macys, Rachael helped open Agata & Valentina, the prestigious New York gourmet marketplace, where she was the store manager and buyer. Despite the exciting lifestyle in the foodie circles of New York City, Rachael decided to move back to upstate New York to manage pubs and restaurants at the famed Sagamore Resort on Lake George. From there, she was recruited by Cowan & Lobel, a large gourmet market in Albany, to be their food buyer and eventually their “chef.” As a way to increase grocery sales during the holidays, Rachael created a series of cooking classes, including a course promising to teach “30-Minute Mediterranean Meals,” which exploded in popularity. The CBS station in Albany-Schenectady, WRGB-TV, discovered Rachael and signed her on to do a weekly “30-Minute Meals” segment for the evening news. Nominated for two regional Emmys in its first year, the segment was a major success; a companion cookbook sold 10,000 copies locally during the holidays. With that, a franchise was born! Rachaels television work grew to include a series of lifestyle and travel segments as well as a long-term relationship with Food Network, hosting shows such as Rachaels Vacation, Tasty Travels, $40 A Day, Inside Dish and 30-Minute Meals, the latter of which earned Rachael a 2006 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Service Show and a nomination for Outstanding Service Show Host. In addition to her television endeavors, Rachael has turned her “30-Minute Meals” concept into a bestselling series of cookbooks, including 30-Minute Meals, 30-Minute Meals 2, 30-Minute Meals: Get Togethers, Comfort Foods, Veggie Meals, The Open House Cookbook, Cooking Round The Clock, Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids, Rachael Ray Best Eats In Town On $40 A Day, Rachael Ray 30-Minute Get Real Meals, Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners, Express Lane Meals, 2-4-6-8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds, Just in Time: All-New 30-Minute Meal, Super-Fast 15-Minute Meals, Slow It Down 60-Minute Meals, Yum-o! The Family Cookbook, Rachael Rays Big Orange Book, The Book of Burger, My Year in Meals and Week in a Day, among others. Taking the can-do spirit of her television shows and books, Rachael launched a new lifestyle magazine in 2005 bearing her vision called Every Day with Rachael Ray. With great food at its heart, the new full-size glossy magazine, for which Rachael serves as editor-in-chief, covers much more than food. The magazine offers smart and easy recipes for an array of delicious foods, as well as practical advice on food destinations and entertaining. Through the magazine, Rachael takes readers around the country to meet people who love food — from top celebrities and authentic artisans to great home cooks. In 2007, Every Day with Rachael Ray was named Launch of the Year by Advertising Age and by Advertising Week in 2007. In the fall of 2007, Rachael launched the daily one-hour, nationally syndicated show Rachael Ray, which scored the highest rated premiere for a syndicated talk show since the 2002 launch of Dr. Phil. It immediately secured its position among the top ranked daytime shows and was the #1 syndicated strip launched in the 2006-07 season. The daytime talker was immediately embraced by critics across the country. Time magazine wrote, “You cant attract her kind of following by just being accessible. Ray, like Regis Philbin, is gifted at being on television.” Newsweek praised Rachael as being “the most down-to-earth TV star on the planet…” People magazine named Rachael Ray one of the top 10 shows of 2006 and Forbes voted her #2 Most Trusted Celebrity. In its freshman year, Rachael Ray won a 2007 Daytime Emmy Award and was nominated for six others including Outstanding Talk Show and Outstanding Talk Show Host. Adding to the list of achievements, Television Week named her Syndication Personality of the Year in 2007 and Businessweek honored her as one of the Best Leaders of 2006. The positive praise from the press and the remarkable season one ratings confirmed Rachael Ray as a syndication success. “My life has been a total accident — a very happy, wonderful accident that I didnt and couldnt have planned,” says Rachael. Despite her growing celebrity she is determined to stay grounded and hold on to her down-to-earth values. She still spends as much time as she can at her cabin in the Adirondacks with her husband, John, her family — the “research team” — and her beloved pit bull Isaboo. In the spring of 2007, Rachael Ray launched a nonprofit organization, Yum-o! that empowers kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. By providing the tools to create easy, affordable and delicious meals, Yum-o! is changing the way America eats. Yum-o!s three work areas include educating kids and their families about cooking, feeding hungry American kids and funding cooking education and scholarships. For more information about the Yum-o! organization, please visit www.yum-o.org.
Biography: Rachael Ray
FAQ
Where did Rachael Ray grow up?
Where did Rachael Ray’s husband grow up?
When did Rachael Ray come out?
Where is Rachael Ray from?
Animals. Her hometown is Queensbury, New York, where the pizza place she goes to has a “Rachael Ray” pizza, named in her honor. I’m a lousy whistler. I can’t make coffee, I can’t bake and I can’t whistle. There. I’m outed, on all levels. How old is Rachael Ray? When was Rachael Ray born? Where was Rachael Ray born? Rachael Ray.
Was Rachael Ray born to cook?
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Rachael Ray was born to cook. Her mother, Elsa Scuderi, was the daughter of a Sicilian immigrant stonecutter who taught Ray’s mother not only the value of hard work, but also the joy of his native cuisine. Scuderi married James Ray, and they owned three restaurants on Cape Cod, MA.
When did Rachael Ray get married?
In 2007, ‘Every Day with Rachael Ray’ was named ‘Launch of the year’ by Advertising Age & by Advertising Week. In 2008, ‘Rachael Ray’ won Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Entertainment. She received ‘Favorite TV Chef’ People’s choice award in 2011. In 2005, Rachael got married to a lawyer, John Cusimano, in Italy.
What does Rachael Ray do?
They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Rachael Ray (born August 25, 1968, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S.) American chef and television personality, who promoted quick, easy-to-prepare meals through her television programs, lifestyle magazine, and extensive line of cookbooks.