Good Eats I

Chipper goofball cook Rachael Ray is rightfully lauded as a "an exceptional entertainer" in a recent Slate article. Chefs and food snobs tend to hate her corner-cutting quick meals, but Slate writer Jill Hunter Pellittierri gets it exactly right when she writes of Ray: "She knows how real people shop and eat."

Ray is friendly and without pretense, and in every episode of her Food Network shows (30-Minute Meals and $40 A Day) this thirty-something Red Sox fan and FHM pinup girl teaches the masses how to save time and money when buying, cooking and eating. True, she's not for everyone, but even a cursory look reveals Ray is no doubt doing for the average lost-in-the-kitchen American what Julia Child did so well for the monied, idle class for decades.