Rachael Ray Rachael Ray is among today’s most popular celebrity cooks Her fans appreciate her warm down-to-earth style Ray understands what normal people like to eat and how they like to cook She believes food does not have to be complicated to be tasty Ray says she is not a chef She has never taken a cooking class Her success has come in part because she cooks the way many average people cook This makes it easy for many people to relate to her Ray’s friends often comment on her almost endless supply of energy She is involved in many things from television shows to magazines to cookbooks She has written more than 12 best-selling books She has created her own line of cookware She also runs a nonprofit foundation focused on the issue of hunger in America 4 Simple Solutions with Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray with one of her many cookbooks 5
Food Family Rachael Domenica Ray was born on August 25 1968 in Glens Falls New York She is the second of James Ray and Elsa Scuderi’s three children She has an older sister Maria and a younger brother Manny When Rachael was young her family moved to Cape Cod Massachusetts Her parents owned a chain of restaurants there called The Carvery When Rachael was still a young child her family moved again to Lake George New York A few years later her parents divorced Rachael’s mother took a job managing a chain of restaurants Rachael Maria and Manny often went to the restaurants with their mother Rachael and her siblings always had after-school and summer jobs They washed dishes cleared tables and sometimes helped cook Rachael was exposed to many cooking techniques while she was growing up Her earliest memory is of watching her mother cook Her Italian grandfather influenced her early experiences with food He passed a love of Mediterranean style cooking on to his granddaughter 6 Simple Solutions with Rachael Ray
Rachael’s family says her first word was vino That’s the Italian word for wine 7
