Rachael Ray Corrupts Jimmy Kimmel

Rachael Ray did a turn on Jimmy Kimmel last night appearing in a video on how to make a budget meal. I thought ugh and I hoped Jimmy would rescue the piece, but, actually, Rachael did!

Jimmy “played” the schlubby, bumbling, clueless guy. They go to a supermarket and Rachael asks what his favorite meal is. He says a pizza with ribs, fried chicken, corn dogs and ice cream, ALL as toppings. She basically ignores what he says and asks him, “How about I teach you to make spaghetti and meatballs on a budget?” She DID use the word “supper” which I hate. He says fine. (He would have agreed to a pop tart with mustard.)

They stop at the meat counter and she grabs a package of ground beef and SHOVES IT DOWN Jimmy’s pants. That continues for all the ingredients. She stuffs groceries down her shirt as well. They go to the checkout and she buys a pack of gum and tells us that’s how to make a meal on a budget. She says next week she’ll show them how to make a sandwich on a budget as she grabs a sandwich from the guy in line in back of her.

She looks great. Him? Not so much, but that’s Jimmy.

Oh, Rachael is showing the video on HER show this morning.

The best line:

Rachael: “So we’re making meatballs. What’s the number one ingredient?”

Jimmy: “Balls.”

I find Rachael much more effective at shoplifting than cooking.

Veatrice's Excellent Cooking Adventure...Ok, Maybe Not That Excellent

It happened again. Jimmy Kimmel featured the "winning" personality of Veatrice, his security guard, doing a cooking segment. Luckily, I have people that tell me things like this, because I didn't see it. I have seen Veatrice before, however, and she is a woman of RARE warmth - meaning none whatsoever.

Apparently, she took a can of beef stew, opened it and put it in a bowl. That was probably complicated enough for Jimmy. You have to know your audience when you do a cooking demonstration, and I bet that was pretty much what he was up to. Kudos to Veatrice. I'm just glad it didn't involve any instant rice. That would have been just plain wrong.

Here's the video of Veatrice's first appearance as a cooking show chef. Hopefully the beef stew extravaganza will be on soon. I think Jimmy should start giving the recipes on his website.

Jimmy Kimmel to Food Network: Get More Black Chefs!!

To be honest, I'm not sure it happened exactly that way. It was reported to me by a young friend. Apparently on Thursday's show, Jimmy Kimmel talked about an interesting article in the Chicago Sun-Times. It was about the lack of black chefs on the Food Network and in restaurant kitchens in general. We don't usually think of Jimmy Kimmel as being at the forefront of the issue of race in America. But we just might be wrong.

He mentioned this problem and then he said that he had to give the Food Network credit, because the very next day they gave his security guard Veatrice her own cooking show. And he showed her on the set of her cooking show, which was, I'm sure, hilarious. Veatrice has the warmth of a prison guard and the charm of a rattlesnake. Too bad that it was just a sketch on late night televison.

But think about it...the number of black chefs or hosts on the Food Network has been and continues to be really paltry. I guess that shouldn't be a surprise, but more of a reflection of the situation in the country as a whole.

There are precious few black celebrity chefs. Edna Lewis, chef, cookbook author and teacher was the doyenne of southern cooking before her death 2 months shy of her 90th birthday last year. It was appropriate that in 1999, she was named a Grande Dame by Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international organization of female culinary professionals.

Sylvia Woods has been cooking at her namesake restaurant in Harlem since 1962. She has expanded to a sister restaurant in Atlanta and also sells food products.

Patrick Clark, from Tavern On The Green was one of the country's best young chefs and garnered much acclaim. Unfortunately, he died in 1998 at the very young age of 42.

B. Smith was never known as a chef per se, more a "Lifestyle" guru. She's doing fine - She currently has 3 restaurants, does radio and television, sells products for the home, but I'm not sure she ever got the same shot at across-the-board acclaim as Martha or Rachael did, for example. Were we afraid to let a black woman, albeit a spectacularly beautiful one, into our homes and kitchens?

Today the name of the black chef that's at the top of every list is Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit. Ethiopian by birth, he was raised by his adoptive Swedish parents and approached his culinary career with a rigid academic formula. It paid off. But his color has nothing to do with his success. He could be purple with orange stripes and he would still be the stellar chef that he is. Interestingly, in an article last year, he writes about his culinary influences. Patrick Clark was one of them and he mentions that his son Preston Clark is working his way up the cooking ladder - what a wonderful tribute to his father.

Black families haven't traditionally viewed the cooking profession as desirable for their young people. They wanted them OUT of the kitchen. The New York Times touched on this in an article last March. The Culinary Institute of America has seen the numbers of black students rising very slowly. I suppose the real answer to this is education, which will lead to more opportunities for young people. The Careers Through Culinary Arts Program starts with high school students and provides counseling and scholarships for those interested in cooking careers.

There are many fine black cooks in this country. Whether through mentoring or frequenting their restaurants, buying their books or watching them on television, let's give every ethnicity more of a chance to be called "Chef ".