Celebs Who Have Beefed With Rachael Ray

Rachael Ray has faced tragic circumstances in her life and career, but she rose above them to create a food and lifestyle empire. Ray's estimated $100 million fortune leaves no room for doubt about her success. But with fame comes criticism, and the former Food Network star has certainly received her fair share. Most of her detractors are fellow cooks and TV personalities, many of whom seem to have taken an issue with Ray's lack of formal training.

For the most part, Ray has taken the high road and avoided engaging with the criticism. Perhaps that's because she expected her rise to fame in the highly competitive industry to ruffle some feathers. After all, she also believed she didn't have what it takes to make it on the Food Network. Ray got her start by teaching cooking classes at a grocery store in Albany, New York. Her 30-minute meal classes became popular in the area, leading to a local TV segment that eventually caught Food Network's attention.

Ray herself couldn't believe the network's interest in her show. "I bluntly told them that I didn't belong there. I thought they'd been duped into believing I was a proper chef with a pedigree," she writes in her 2019 cookbook, "Rachael Ray 50: Memories and Meals from a Sweet and Savory Life." Viewers may not have cared less about her training or lack thereof, but her fellow chefs and hosts often disagreed. Over the years, Ray's culinary skills have been questioned over and over.

Anthony Bourdain had an issue with how Rachael Ray used her platform. In his view, someone with her influence could do a lot of good, but he didn't believe she did. When she struck a deal with Dunkin' Donuts in 2007, he didn't hold back. "She's got a magazine, a TV empire, all these best-selling books — I'm guessing she's not hurting for money. She's hugely influential, particularly with children. And she's endorsing Dunkin' Donuts. It's like endorsing crack for kids," he told Outside.

Ray didn't take Bourdain's criticism too harshly. "I absolutely love Tony Bourdain," she told ABC News in 2009. "I have an enormous amount of respect for him. It's a free country." Bourdain wasn't one to shy away from celebrity feuds, but he really minced no words when it came to Ray. In a 2007 entry on Michael Ruhlman's blog, the "Parts Unknown" host argued that the celebrity chef made a name for herself by hyping up mediocrity.

According to him, Ray appealed to the average American's desire to believe they, too, could concoct whatever recipe she was making. "Wallowing in your own crapulence on your Cheeto-littered couch you watch her and think, 'Hell...I could do that. I ain't gonna...but I could — if I wanted!'" he wrote. Ray proved again that his criticisms didn't get to her, paying tribute following Bourdain's death in 2018. "I'm so grateful for a day in honor of a man I respected very deeply," she wrote on Instagram.

The late Anthony Bourdain wasn't the only celebrity chef who believed Rachael Ray embraced mediocrity a little too hard. In 2009, Martha Stewart started a shady feud with Ray when she criticized the latter's lack of culinary skill. "Well, to me, she professed that she could — cannot bake," she told ABC News. "She ... just did a new cookbook which is just a re-edit of a lot of her old recipes."

Stewart continued: "That's not good enough for me. I mean, I really want to write a book that is a unique and lasting thing. Something that will really fulfill a need in someone's library." She didn't stop there, going so far as to question Ray's status in the celebrity chef world. "She's more of an entertainer than she is, with her bubbly personality, than she is a teacher, like me. That's not what she's professing to be," she said.

A few days later, Stewart clarified that her comments about her fellow TV host didn't mean the two were on bad terms. She even highlighted that Ray had filled an important gap in the industry. "I truly believe that Rachael has done a terrific job bringing people, many people who would [have] never have even stepped into the kitchen or made a dish to cook," she said on a cooking segment (via ABC News). Like she did after Bourdain's criticism, Ray opted not to engage. "I am a lousy baker," she laughed in a 2013 "Titans at the Table" episode.

When Rachael Ray joined the Food Network in 2001 with "30 Minute Meals," Emeril Lagasse was already a network veteran. "I was one of the first ten employees hired at the Food Network, so we kind of started the network," he told GQ in 2016. When the network pulled "Emeril Live" off the air after a 10-year run in 2007, he played it cool. "I look forward to continuing my association with the Food Network with 'The Essence of Emeril,' and I have lots of new ideas cooking," he said in a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter).

However, Lagasse was apparently a lot more bitter about the network's decision than he let on. That became clear when he openly criticized Ray, whose show continued to feature on the channel. "[She] doesn't know anything about food ... I would not put her on," he said (via The Daily Beast). It's unclear if his career downturn prompted the comments, but Lagasse was reportedly deeply hurt by the cancellation of "Emeril Live."

In the 2013 book "From Scratch: Inside the Food Network," author Allen Salkin recalls Lagasse's reaction to the news. "Why are they doing this? Budget? ... How can this be real?" an astonished Lagasse said (via NPR). In true Ray fashion, she didn't seem to take it to heart. In the years that followed his comment, Lagasse and Ray appeared on each other's shows numerous times, suggesting that they at least have an amicable professional relationship.

The fact that Rachael Ray isn't a formally trained chef hurt many egos along her journey navigating the culinary world. When Giada De Laurentiis and Bobby Flay lost to Ray and Mario Batali in a 2006 head-to-head on "Iron Chef America," De Laurentiis was incredulous. She openly announced that she would never get over that loss. "It's been eight years and people still ask, 'How did it feel to lose to Rachael Ray?'" she told Hamptons magazine in 2014 (via Delaware Online). "It will bother me until the day I die."

De Laurentiis took the defeat so hard that she regretted doing the show altogether. She even seemingly implied that the competition was rigged. "Everybody, including my husband and my agent, said, 'Do not do that show. The odds are against you.' I knew whom I was going up against," she said. Ultimately, she agreed to do it because Flay felt confident in their abilities. "Bobby convinced me that we would win," she added.

De Laurentiis wasn't the only one in disbelief that she and Flay lost to Ray and Batali. Anthony Bourdain was similarly appalled. "She was robbed in her bout versus Rachael Ray on ICA. ROBBED!" he wrote in his Michael Ruhlman blog post. Despite her saltiness, De Laurentiis has nothing personal against Ray, though she makes it clear they aren't close. "Do we hang out all the time? No. Are we best friends? No," she told Redbook in 2018 (via Boston Herald).

In 2010, David Letterman invited Rachael Ray to do a segment on "The Late Show" when he seemingly remembered he absolutely loathed the culinary world. It must have been too late to change plans, and Letterman went on a deranged rant about what's wrong with the world and the role the likes of Ray play in it. "What kind of things are you cooking on your show? Because I'm so upset about this because I know I'm ri— And then all these other — like the 'Cupcake Wars,'" he told her (via Eater).

He had a whole lot more to say on the matter to a confused Ray, who had just sat down when the host started grilling her. "These people who do that should take a percentage, no, all of it, all of that money, should go to the World Food Program or some American food distributor that's taking care of people who can't feed themselves," he continued. Ray tried to maintain the peace, agreeing that more effort should be put into educational programs.

But that wasn't enough for Letterman, who went on and on about world hunger. Ray left the set feeling rightfully upset. Her publicist emailed the host to ask whether Ray had done something to offend him. Letterman took the cue to apologize. "The guy asks a reasonable enough question, 'Was Dave mad at Rachael?' No, I'm not mad at Rachael, I'm just nuts. There's something wrong with me," he said (via Eater).