Rachael Ray knows a good burger.

While hosting Blue Moon Burger Bash 2.0 at the New York City Wine & Food Festival on Friday, Oct. 17, the celebrity cook and TV personality told PEOPLE she’s emceed the annual event and its Miami counterpart for what “feels like a million” years.

“It’s just fun,” she says of the culinary celebration. “I mean, what’s not to love? The money always goes to a good place. People are just having fun and eating food that you can carry in your hand. The entire concept from the get-go was just ‘Let’s ask some of the greatest chefs in the world to put their food on something you can just carry around and make it accessible for everyone.’ And it seems to still be working.”

While the participating chefs offered a variety of toppings and condiments on their meaty creations, Ray says she doesn’t have a personal must-have on a burger.

“The must-have for a burger is your passion for wanting to have a burger,” she explains. “I make burgers out of fish, meat, plant proteins, everything. But the point is to just make the person you’re feeding happy, that’s it, and to have equal amounts, bread, toppings. Every bite of every sandwich that you ever eat in all of your life should all be exactly the same.”

“And so I’m a real pain in the a– about that,” she adds. “I cut up all the bacon into thirds. I slice all of my pickles the same size. I make sure that every bite of every sandwich I make of any kind is exactly the same.”

However, there’s one item she’d skip adding to her burgers: jarred mayonnaise.

“If I make the aioli, I love it, it’s fine and great, but I don’t like shelf-stable mayonnaise that can sit around for an indeterminate amount of time. I don’t care for that,” she says.

“That freaks me out,” she adds. “I don’t like the idea of a shelf-stable egg, which is weird because I keep my fresh eggs on the counter. I don’t even keep them in the fridge. I keep them on the counter because, if you use them quickly, that’s fine.”

Ray says she spends a lot of time in Italy, where that’s customary.

“They stamp the actual egg shelf with the date of when it goes bad, so I know,” she says. “Most people in small towns especially, they buy fresh eggs, and their eggs are all stamped like, literally, on the shelf, so we all keep them in an egg basket on the counter. That’s the way I grew up. That’s the way my grandpa did it, so I feel like I have to make aioli with fresh egg or don’t have it.”

This year, Ray had a special co-host for Burger Bash: Brooklyn Peltz Beckhamwho joined her while representing his hot sauce brand, Cloud23.

The event also featured a panel of celebrity judges — including And Rule, Ana Navarro and Sunny Anderson — to weigh in on the beefy innovations, which used Pat LaFrieda’s custom burger blend as a base.

Over the past 17 years, NYCWFF has raised more than $14.8 million for charitable organizations.

This year, the festival’s host and beneficiary was Event Zero Foundation, which promotes sustainable event practices. NYCWFF also partnered with the James Beard Foundation, which is devoted to building ”a vibrant, equitable and sustainably independent restaurant industry.”

Ray also hosts the South Beach Wine & Food Festival’s Burger Bash each year.

While chatting with PEOPLE at the event in February, the Meals in Minutes host reflected on why she enjoys these events.

“I love the concept of asking the world’s greatest chefs to come and put their work on a bun,” she said.

Proceeds from SOBEWFF’s festival ticket sales benefit Florida International University (FIU) and its students preparing to work in the hospitality industry. Past years have already raised more than $40 million total for FIU.

Ray added of the Florida-based festival, “I come here because I love the kids and pushing all of their lives forward. For over 20 years, I come here out of loyalty. I think that’s a big part of life.”