How Rachael Ray Really Feels About Herself As A Cook
Rachael Ray has become a household name in the U.S., with home chefs across the country whipping up the Food Network star's delicious recipes in their own kitchens. Since she first started with her "30 Minute Meals" segment back in 2001, Ray has written numerous best-selling cookbooks, launched her own TV show (for which she won an Emmy in 2007, says her Food Network website bio) and even started two lifestyle magazines, Every Day with Rachael Ray and the new Rachael Ray In Season. To put it simply, Ray is no stranger to the spotlight.
You'd think that by this point, given all of her success in the culinary world, Ray would consider herself one of the top chefs (or at least a decent one). Her confidence in the kitchen might not be all it's cracked up to be, however — at least, that's what Ray has admitted in the past about her own cooking skills, as The Things reports.
There's one person she says is a much better chef
When talking to People, Ray confessed that she isn't the best cook in the Ray household: her husband, John Cusimano is. "My husband cooks fancier food for himself than I've ever cooked on-air," reports The Things. Ray added, "I call him from the road, and he's making champagne-vanilla salmon or black-cherry pork chop. Half of me is feeling unworthy. Not only am I not a chef, I'm not a better cook than my own husband!"
What did she mean by "I'm not a chef"? Despite Ray's success as a Food Network star, she never had any formal culinary training or schooling. She did grow up in a family that was well-versed in the food industry, however. Her parents owned and ran restaurants and she revealed in her bio that her first childhood memory was watching her mom cooking in the restaurant kitchen. "Everyone on both sides of my family cooks," she explained. Which can't hurt.