30-Minute Spiels: Rachael Ray Pimps Child Nutrition Act in Congress

Rachael Ray, in a 2008 TV ad for Dunkin' Donuts. Right-wing critics said her scarf looked suspiciously like a Palestinian keffiyeh.

Yum-o!: Rachael Ray is scrappy, for sure. She's a woman you figure could more than hold her own in a bar fight, even grappling with a dude. Earlier this week, Ray grappled with a bunch of old dudes in suits on Capitol Hill ― rhetorically grappled, that is. The 30-Minute Meals maven lobbied Senators on behalf of the Child Nutrition Act, accompanied by New York' Kirsten Gillibrand. Civil Eats' Kerry Trueman passed along Ray's talking points: "How could you go to any state in the union and say you are not for an extra couple of cents to eradicate hunger, to make our kids healthier, stronger, better focused? It doesn't make any sense that you would even have to have a long conversation about that, to me." And this: "Find the money now and get it done or you are going to be part of sinking our ship down the line." Cool: Ray put what she's dubbed her "big Sicilian mouth" where it might do most good.