Funny you should say Only in America. I had that in the piece and deleted it, since I tend to say it frequently. But it’s so true. Consider this: everyone on that list owns at least one restaurant except RR and Bourdain, and he is classicly trained (CIA) and worked as chef for many years. RR isn’t even trained. Heck, even Paula “let’s fry us up some butter, y’all” Deen has a restaurant. Only in America indeed.

Perhaps he said it best about RR (from my piece Marry me, Bourdain) – “We KNOW she can’t cook. She shrewdly tells us so. So…what is she selling us? Really? She’s selling us satisfaction, the smug reassurance that mediocrity is quite enough.”

To think that between the two of them, RR and Deen pull down $23 million is both astonishing and disheartening.

Thanks so much for your comments!

Can’t say I’ve ever watched her for any length of time: I find her voice and demeanor one of the single the most irritating experiences that I can expose myself to, second only to nails scraping on a blackboard.

She is often back to back with Nigella on TFN, and the contrast is beyond absurd: Nigella with her sultry, dulcet tones, whipping up extravagant indulgence with sensual, elegant, sophisticated aplomp; then Rachel like she’s had one too many from Dunkin’ Donuts, sounding much similar to a clanging gong, an homage to the worst type of caricature of the Ugly American one could imagine, all perky and unsubtle and, well, like something from a discount warehouse.

I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry over her income: it doesn’t bode well for the state of things here at home.

Money can’t buy a lot of things: elegance, understatement, and sophistication is obviously one of them.

Only in America. Sigh.

Blue Smoke of Paradise’s last blog post..For My Father