Rachael Ray's impact.

Rachael Ray is empowering some shoppers to cook with more freedom and have more fun than they have had in some time. Watching her facilitates a certain amount of abandon in mixing flavors and using hunches and appetites to direct kitchen behavior.

What she is doing is changing cooking from tedious work to play! With apologies to the memory of Julia Child, there are similarities in their empowerment of women in the kitchen. Julia empowered women to understand how difficult recipes worked and gave them the freedom to try them, understand them, and depart from them and still turn out wonderful foods. Rachael Ray communicates the pleasure of cooking from your head and your stores, your fridge, and your pantry. Some retailers are playing into this, helping their shoppers be better cooks by providing "ingredients for your next inspiration"--I'm quoting myself there, but that is what I see happening, with sauces and mixes that are almost magical in their ability to help consumers create wonderful smells and tastes with a dollop of X and a few spoons of Y.

Wegmans does an especially good job of this with products like "Mirepoix" which it offers in several package and chunk sizes. Mirepoix is nothing more, or less, than diced onions, carrots, and celery--a combination which forms the basis of much French cooking. Add a package to a can of soup or sauce and create wonderful flavor and an aroma that equals fresh bread in the oven.

* "I think Rachael Ray is bringing fun back into cooking."

* "I don't think she is making people more casual about cooking, but getting more folks into cooking because she makes it casual."

* "I am a huge fan of hers, and simply put ......... she is easy to relate to, because she is NOT a chef, and has a spirit about cooking, and a reality about cooking that brings the 'ease' of creating a 30-minute meal (I am not that quick) to the table that is delicious and eye appealing. Her meals are made with a common household kitchen flare, and ingredients accessible at any and all local markets. No gourmet here."

* "I think her show is proving that you can have a decent meal on the table in 30 minutes or less. With so many women working these days, this show has a great impact on those of us that put in a full day working."

* "She IS fun and casual. My feeling is that she is not too uptight about it and should be helping people, especially a person newly on his or her own."