Rachael Ray was born into cooking. "My first vivid memory is watching 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 Ray. "Everyone on both sides of my family cooks."
Ray's career started at Macy's Marketplace in New York, first at the candy counter and then as the manager of the fresh foods department. After Macy's, Ray helped to open Agata & Valentina, the prestigious New York gourmet marketplace, where she was the store manager and buyer. Though this New York City food fast track was exciting, Ray decided she wanted to return to the lifestyle of the Adirondacks.
Once upstate, Ray managed pubs and restaurants at the famed Sagamore resort on Lake George and was then recruited by Cowan & Lobel, a large gourmet market in Albany, to be its food buyer. Ray turned the job into dual positions as food buyer and chef. As a way to increase grocery sales during the holidays, Ray also began a series of cooking classes called "30 Minute Meals."
The "30 Minute Meals" classes became so popular that the local media sent a feature reporter to cover the phenomenon, and the following week, an Albany TV station asked Ray to do a weekly "30 Minute Meals" segment for the evening news. Nominated for two regional Emmys, the show was a major success: A companion cookbook sold 10,000 copies locally. Ray's TV work grew to include a series of travel segments following the same theme of living a rich life without having to be wealthy. Today Ray's work continues on Food Network's 30 Minute Meals and $40 a Day programs.
Her successful series of cookbooks, all based on the 30 Minute Meals concept, include "Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals," "The Open House Cookbook," "Comfort Foods," and "Veggie Meals."
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