A Little Money, a Lot of Charm

The Food Network, tonight at 7 and 10, blends one part cooking show, one part restaurant review and one part travelogue, whips it all to a froth and, voila, a new series, “$40 a Day,” is served.

Hosted by the bubbly Rachael Ray of the network’s popular “30 Minute Meals” program, the new show offers tips on how to eat well on a modest budget while traipsing through some of the most glamorous locales in the world.

Although tonight’s debut episode puts Ray’s $40 daily spending limit to the test in Northern California’s wine country, the Food Network opted to send a review copy of a scheduled May1 show based in the Florida Keys. Future shows include fast-paced stopovers in Paris, Rome and San Francisco.

The key to success, according to Ray, is getting chummy with the locals to find out where the real people eat. Then, dispensing with the menu, she simply asks restaurant proprietors to whip up one of their more reasonably priced specialties.

The host seems to be having the time of her life as she tours points of interest, learns the history of the various dining spots and then invades the kitchen for recipes. Along the way, she asks a local for a push on a tire swing, thanks a man for taking a photo for her with a hearty “Yeah! You rock!” and high-fives a chef while shouting, “Right on!”

A Key lime pie breakfast sets her back $2.95. Lunch consists of a jerk chicken salad on a tortilla ($9.25), and dinner is curried conch with fried plantains, shrimp hash cake and peas and rice ($15.50).

As the sun sets on a seaside tavern, she orders a $7.50 rum runner, bringing the day’s total to $35.20. Even though no tips or taxes are mentioned in this episode, watching Ray at work within the “$40 a Day” system is a real treat.