Posted by Deseret News, UT on November 16, 2009 at 13:32:46:
For Original Story go to http://www.deseretnews.com/blogs/1,5322,5000025,00.html?bD=20091109
Blog: Flavors
Rachel Ray Raises ire of cooking contestants
Reader comments | 17 Comments
M | 3:12 p.m. Nov. 14, 2009
I got hooked on recipe contests after first entering and winning at our county then our state fair. I've entered other cooking and recipe contests but have never won a big one. And I'd certainly hate to try surviving on everything I've ever won in cooking competitions. We ARE "home cooks".
I believe those of us who do this as a hobby are providing these sponsors with the least expensive test kitchens possible. We do the recipe testing with their products - which by the way we have purchased with our own money - supplying our own equipment, utilities and time. Generally the testing requires numerous trial runs before we achieve the ultimate result and submit our recipe to their contest. Shame on RR for punishing us for our concerted and determined efforts. May they have the weakest response in the history of their contest.
Shame-O | 11:05 a.m. Nov. 12, 2009
RR is turning her back on people who are likely to watch her show, subscribe to her magazine and buy her cookware, but maybe not anymore. Talk about ungracious and ungrateful.
They should thank us!!!! | 9:32 a.m. Nov. 11, 2009
If the sponsor’s of all the cooking contests decided today to prohibit those of us who have fueled them with genuinely genius recipes over the years, where will they acquire all of their recipes from? This is no different than tuning into a televised poker game and noticing familiar faces whom are superior at the game and choose to employ their skills in a competition. Some home cooks just happen to be brilliant at our chosen hobby and are the ones inclined to enter recipe contests. Sponsor’s should show gratitude toward us rather than exclude us! anonymous | 4:25 p.m. Nov. 10, 2009
How long is a newbie a newbie? When does a contester become a serial contester? Who decides The rules are too vague.
RSF | 1:03 p.m. Nov. 10, 2009
I enter cooking contests on a regular basis as a hobby. I see many others who are better at it than I am, but I enjoy it and I've won a nice prize in each of the past 4 years, including $2500 last month in a contest that required votes. I am a home cook who has always loved experimenting in the kitchen. Am I a serial contester? I guess so! Rachel Ray, I love you and your shows, but I think I'll be skipping entering your Burger Bash contest. There are plenty of contests out there for people like me to enter. I'll be saving my burger ideas for something else!
Serialously Quoting | 12:56 p.m. Nov. 10, 2009
A few quotes form RR's 365: No Repeats Cookbook Introduction.
"I wanted to write a book that inspired people to become more creative and instinctual when they cook."
"Once you learn the trick, you'l find yourself making new versions of your own "old standby" recipes, too."
"I love it when I can share a recipe that will become five or six other recipes just by swapping out a few ingredients. It just intensifies the payoff for everyone."
And I think the most significant -
"I still feel the same excitement when people use my recipes today that I did 10 years ago teaching that first 30-Minute Meal class. Cooking is empowering. To watch someone discover their own talent by creating a meal, something that appeals to all five senses, for themselves or to share with the ones they love is magic!"
"(But, can I ask you a favor? If you happen to pass me in the street, could you stop and give me a few of your recipes? I just can't come up with any new ideas for dinner!)"
Annony | 9:43 a.m. Nov. 10, 2009
I too am a "serial" recipe contest addict. RR has made a BIG mistake here. She will lose more fans than she gains. I have already cancelled my subscription to her magazine.
Seriously.... | 7:55 a.m. Nov. 10, 2009
I'm just wondering how in the world the RR people are going to figure out who is a "newbie" or a "beginner"? Googling? Ridiculous. If someone is determined to cheat (a professional) there are many ways to get a entry in anyway.
Anon | 6:36 a.m. Nov. 10, 2009
Some of the big contests have rules to keep the same people from winning over again. For example, the Pillsbury Bake off allows you to attend three times before you can no longer enter. This seems like a fair way to keep any one individual from taking too much of the prizes. Rachael Ray could have a rule prohibiting any past winners from her own personal contests from entering again, but why should she care if a person won a contest from a completely different sponsor? Each cooking contest is separate and distinct; winning one won't help you in the next. That being said, it's nice to see a newcomer win, but they should do so because they have the best recipe. And newcomers win every day...and then become serial contest entrants because it's a ton of fun. Everyone, the old and tne new, has the same chance with each new contest.
D | 6:03 a.m. Nov. 10, 2009
A recipe is just a guideline until I read it and make it my own. For me cooking is a creative outlet. I love making something fun from a basic guide. Most of us who enter food/recipe contests do it for fun. Yes winning is great and seeing our recipes in print is incredible but I've never considered myself to be a serial contester. That sounds like work. I enjoy watching RR because she thinks like most of us- "here's a basic recipe- let's change it up"! I would think RR would respect us rather than dis us- and I suspect she does and it's the company managing the contest that came up with the vague ruling. To my friends in cooking - esp at CCC! Carry on. There are more fish in the sea-hmmm ... let me think- lemon, panko, to bake, broil or fry...
Contest circuit? | 10:52 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009
There's really no "recipe contest circuit." It's a matter of whomever wishes to send in their recipe to a contest, and if the sponsors think the recipe sounds good. There's no exclusive little clique or a deranged group of "serial entrants" who are doing something underhanded. .
Anonymous | 10:17 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009
Not offensive--If they wanted to have only beginners, then that is what they should have stated in their rules. Perhaps someone has entered many contests, but never won. Does that make them a serial enterer? Every contest can make their own rules, but they just have to follow them and communicate them clearly. If they didn't want the same recipe entered in several contests, then that is what their rules should state, not that "serial contesters" couldn't enter. By the way, if these recipes weren't so good, would they be chosen? I would think they would be after the very best recipe that they could get the rights to for the least amount of money. That is what most contest are about. Shame on the RR people for coming up with this ridiculous rule.
anonymous | 9:36 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009
Really lame-oh, Rachel Ray people! Anybody who knows anything about recipe contests knows that you never enter the same recipe "over and over again in other contests." If you don't want professionals in your contest, then say so and follow through so no professionals sneak by. There is a big difference in a professional chef or caterer or cookbook author or anyone schooled in a food program over somebody who does this for a hobby and is good enough to win some contests. Just because you have won some contests doesn't give you any advantage over a newcomer when it comes to thinking up ideas.
From a "Serial" Contester | 8:30 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009
Just because a person enters cooking contests frequently doesn't mean that they are any better a cook than anyone else, and they probably hold the same chances of winning as the average cook. BUT, what the frequent contests does have is preserverence. They create recipes, test them, and enter them in contests on a regular basis. So, if you see the same names over and voer on contest winner's list, it may be that it's these contestants that care enough to enter, whereas the general populace does not. It is these contestants that are most likely to purchase cooking magazines, cookbooks, kitchenware, and all the other merchandise that the contest sponsors are trying to sell, so why all the fuss about these contesters winning frequently? We're making the sponsors profitable by doing so!
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!!!
Amateur or pro? | 6:59 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009
I've wondered at what point a person is considerd a pro in the food business. You see that some people have written a cookbook, or that are teaching classes. But what if they're only making $100 a month, if that? Someone wins $1,000 in a Dutch oven cook-off, does that make them a pro? The prize sounds like a lot of money, but not if you consider the time they've spent practicing and all their food and equipment. I would think it's a hobby until the person is making enough money to support themselves.
Anonymous | 6:23 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009
Isn't Jamie Miller the author of MAKE IT YOUR OWN (2007) and thus a non-amateur anyway? I would think that folks who held back (assuming that RR wanted to invite the beginners would be irked by that....
Not offensive | 4:23 p.m. Nov. 9, 2009
There are tons of cooking contests. Why is it so bad to host one that, by its rules, is just for beginners? I can see encouraging better odds for newbies by having a newbie cooking contest. Everyone else still has plenty of opportunities. And if it ticks you off badly, you wouldn't want to appear on her show anyway, right?
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