Being Rachel Ray is a feminist act. 

The current average American can name maybe 10 famous women who are not performers or musicians:  Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Sacajawea, Sandra Day O'Conner, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters, Martha Stewart, Julia Child, and Rachel Ray.

Three of them are cooks.  And the SCOTUS Justice in the list would most frequently be mistaken for John Conner's mom in the Terminater Movies.  Being a commonly known woman in American history is not a trivial thing.

Being named in FHM's hottest women for two different years is no small feat either.  Especially when you are a chunky monkey with a funny smile and tiny tits.   And yet, #92 in 2004 and #71 in 2006.  That big easy grin is a lot of that mojo.  What you call too perky may be someone else's hot cheerleader.  

For that is what Rachel is, a food cheerleader.  She is not a cook of any great accomplishment.  She is a woman who can get a meal in front of you in 30 minutes or less and do it without breaking down or throwing things.  She is a role model for housewifes everywhere and a cute one at that. 

Being on TV is difficult and she does it well.  She creates the illusion that you can do those quickie meals too.  All tv is an illusion, so critics who talk about the swaps and the poor presentation of the food may not realize that all tv uses swaps because virtually no one films in straight rolls.  The poor presentation of the food is on purpose.  She can afford food stylists to turn her slop into food porn and swap that out too.  But she is giving you a fighting chance at meeting her challenge.  You should thank her for that, as most of the food presented on television in the beauty shot at the end is not something you could eat in its construction and composition.  So for that I am grateful rather than scornful.

So I will dismiss with her food accomplishments and move on to other things to admire her for.  She has a sense of humor that is common and easy.  You have to be a WASP to really get Martha Stewart and Julia Child was hilarious, but only once you got to know her.  I like funny approachable people.  They make me feel relaxed. 

Her frenetic behavior is frequently due to the rush of getting the food out.  As a former line cook, I can tell you that that part is not an act.  Her speed and walk and talk attitude is necessary in a fast service kitchen.  With no one riding you to do it faster faster, you would seem placid and relaxed too.  But in a kitchen with a lot of kids waiting for dinner or a restaurant pace or a camera crew needing to get it done, her pacing would be a good model for how to crank the shit out and be done with it.  It is how most dinners land on American tables at night.  They may not be pretty food porn, but they will fill your belly and not cost a fortune.  I like that.  I also like the food porn shows, like Gourmet and such, but I cook like Rachel most nights.  It's good to be able to do both.

She shows you how to use the ingredients in a normal supermarket.  Out in the hinterlands where I might be shopping at the Piggly Wiggly instead of the Whole Foods, I need knowledge of how to use common ingredients, not exotics. Yes, I will fault her for making up words like sammie, EVOO, stoup, GB, and Yum-O.  But on the other hand, I have always considered myself a qualified speaker of the language and if I want to play with my words, I do.  Culinaria is not a word recognized in Websters but it ought to be, so I use it.  I grant her the same priveledge.  I am generous that way, crazy wing-nut freedom of speech creature that I am.

 She is enormously wealthy and inherited none of it.  That means she is living the American Dream.  I admire that.  She gives back to charity and her chosen charity is teaching children about nutrition.  I like that too.  I just can't find the criticism for giving kids excitement and information about something that is a huge part of their and all of our lives.

She is a publishing Brand.  Magazine and cookbooks alone sell in millions of copies.  This is phenomenal for a woman who is not a chef.  But neither was Martha.  She catered but she sold us a lifestyle.  When the marketplace figured out that that lifestyle was not possible, that her husband and child and homes were props and that her life just didn't function like she portrayed, we all revolted.  And there was a void left in the American homekeepers psyche.  We wanted a role model that was more real.  And we got her, Rachel Ray.

She has authored all of these books:

0 Minute Meals (1999)
Rachael Ray's Open House Cookbook (2000)
Comfort Foods (2001)
Veggie Meals (2001)
30-Minute Meals 2 (2003)
Get Togethers: Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals (2003)
$40 a Day: Best Eats in Town (2004)
Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals: Cooking 'Round the Clock (2004)
Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals for Kids: Cooking Rocks! (2004)
Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals : Eat Healthy Without Going to Extremes (2005)
Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners (2005)
Rachael Ray 2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds (2006)
Rachael Ray's Express Lane Meals (2006)

And that list stops two years ago.

She is and has been the star of 5 Food Network shows that were popular and are now in syndication.  That means, that like Sally Field, people like her, they really like her.  She even has that same kind of girl next door appeal.  That may be the key to her success.  She is good clean all american fun without the pretension.  She is possible to be emulated. 

And that is why I am convinced that so many people hate her so.  She is famous without being extraordinary.  But the thing about that is, maybe we aren't acknowledging her biggest asset, her business accumen.  As a radical uppity woman in modern culture, you just got a love her for her success.  She has won the game.

And I will point out that she does it while being a woman who does not fit the corporate suit, who is a chunky monkey with adorable looks, and that did it all without a penis or a net.  And that counts.  That makes her a feminist even as she promotes being a homemaker.  And that is a hat trick if I have ever seen one.

Counterpoint at:  http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=5089