From working on budgets in the White House to buying a specialty food store in the Hamptons,
Ina Garten's backstory makes her an unlikely celebrity chef.
Looking back at her childhood, Garten's recollections of her home life are different
from the warm atmosphere she tries to create as a part of her "Barefoot Contessa" lifestyle brand.
“Hi, neighbor. I’m Ina Garten.”
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1948, Ina Garten was raised in Stamford, Connecticut,
where her dad was stationed as a doctor, and her mom worked as a dietitian. Growing up, Garten was
never encouraged to cook. As CBS News reports it, her mom told her to focus on her school work, and
Garten obliged. When asked about her relationship with her mother by Eater, she revealed:
"She wasn't the warmest, funniest person around."
As a result, Ina had a distant relationship with her mother
and said marriage was when her life really began.
The Barefoot Contessa's love of cooking started in the most fitting setting,
Paris. In 1971, Garten visited France for four months with her husband, Jeffrey Garten,
where they lived on five dollars a day. Reminiscing on an Instagram post, Garten wrote:
"We stayed in a small orange tent on the outskirts of Paris (we couldn't afford a hotel room!)"
Today, Garten's life is vastly different from her initial trip to Paris in the 70s. She now
owns an apartment in Paris and visits the European city often, writing on Instagram:
"If someone had told me then how things would turn out,
I simply wouldn't have believed it. Frankly, there are still moments when I don't believe it!"
Nevertheless, Garten's adoration for Paris lives on, and her work is influenced by her love of
French cuisine and culture. In 2004, Garten published a book titled "Barefoot in Paris:
Easy French food you can make at home." The cookbook offers
Garten's musings and celebrates the culinary delights that come from Paris.
Besides creating a cooking empire, Ina is famous for having a loving and enduring
marriage with Jeffrey Garten. Their connection has captivated her fans
for years. Jeffrey is regularly on her cooking show "Barefoot Contessa" on the Food Network,
and she even devoted her tenth cookbook, "Cooking for Jeffrey," to him.
The pair met when Ina was 15 and visiting her brother at Dartmouth College. After dating for
a few years, Ina and Jeffrey married when she was 20 and studying at Syracuse University.
After they got hitched, Jeffrey enlisted in the Army, and the couple moved to North Carolina.
Ina became a military wife and dropped out of college to focus on cooking for him.
However, after coming home to find his wife watching a sitcom at 11 am,
Jeffrey knew something was wrong and that she would not
reach her full potential that way. So Jeffrey confronted Ina and said:
"You have to do something. You won't be happy if you don't."
That moment changed everything and shifted Ina's
perspective. She started focusing on her interests, business, and cooking,
and after a while, she returned to college and earned an MBA, according to CBS News.
Before becoming a store owner and chef, Garten lived in Washington,
D.C., where she completed her MBA in the 1970s. Garten then took on
a job working as a nuclear energy budget analyst for the White House.
During her time in the White House, Garten was very unhappy according to her husband,
Jeffrey, in a conversation with CBS News. Luckily,
Garten knew it was time to change direction. When she saw an advertisement for a specialty
food store in the Hamptons while at work, she went home that night and said to her husband:
"I have to do something different. Nuclear energy policy's not me."
The next day the couple drove out to see the store, and Garten decided she had to
make an offer. Even though her husband Jeffrey never thought she would purchase the store,
he supported her career change and wanted her to move forward with her dreams.
“You know Ina Garten’s definitely at my dream dinner table.”
After deciding that she was passionate about food,
Ina Garten wanted to learn how to genuinely cook, and who better to learn from than the
world-famous Julia Child? Garten started her journey in the kitchen by working through two
volumes of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, telling Today:
"I would have to say that Julia Child's my biggest culinary inspiration because
she really taught me how to cook through her cookbooks.”
Garten never attended culinary school or worked in a bustling restaurant, but she has never let
that stop her. She credits Julia Child for her personal cooking curriculum. Garten would come
home after work at the White House and experiment with different recipes from Child's cookbook.
She would then spend days perfecting recipes and preparing a menu when hosting friends over
for parties; her husband Jeffrey called his wife's events "Legendary," per Food
Network. During this time, Ina realized her passion for cooking was too strong to ignore,
which was the catalyst for her career change.
Ina and Jeffrey Garten are one of television's most beloved couples. Featuring regularly on
her cooking show, "Barefoot Contessa," and mentoring her from the outset of her career,
Jeffrey was instrumental in helping Ina achieve great success and create a culinary empire.
Ina took to Instagram to celebrate her 50th anniversary with Jefferey,
who she often refers to as her biggest supporter. In December 2018,
Garten took to her Instagram page to post a throwback photo with her husband before
they left for their honeymoon; posting a little tribute to their marriage.
When Garten is asked about her success, she always
mentions Jeffrey's unwavering belief in her potential, telling People magazine:
"When I told him I wanted to move to New York and open a food store,
he said, 'Let's move to New York!'”
Garten is proud to have a husband that would move states to support
her dream at a time when she feels many men would not do the same for their wives.
Just like her inspiration Julia Child,
Ina Garten never had children. Famous for their strong marriage,
Garten and her husband, Jeffrey, have been open about their decision to remain child-free.
Garten discussed the personal topic in an interview on the Katie Couric
podcast (via YouTube), telling Couric about her and her husband's supportive
relationship and their decision not to have children early in their marriage.
Couric asked if Garten had ever felt societal pressure or judgment about
the decision not to have children, and Garten responded that she never
felt judged for her choice, but she also never noticed it either.
If she has ever regretted this decision, it does not show, as Garten looks pretty
content with her incredible achievements and is always joyful when cooking for Jeffrey.
"I really felt, I feel, that I would have never been able to have the
life I've had. So it's a choice, and that was the choice I made.”
Published in 1999, Garten's first book, "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," was a
best-seller and turned out to be what she describes as "the
most exciting thing" she had ever done professionally, per Barefoot Contessa.
She decided to write the book after selling her specialty store in the Hamptons to the
store manager and chef in 1996. After working at the store for almost two decades, Garten felt
ready for a new adventure. She explained more about her new venture on her website, writing:
"At that point, with nothing to do,
I built myself an office over the store and tried my hand at writing a cookbook.”
Without any writing or publishing experience, Garten was not sure the book would be
well-received. So, she worked hard to make it a success and invested $200,000 of her money into
a team of professionals, including a food stylist, photographer, recipe tester, and
a publicity campaign, per The New York Times. The investment paid off and launched Garten's career.
After the successful launch of her first cookbook in 1999, she has authored 12 cookbooks,
nine of which became New York Times bestsellers, according to CBS News.
Garten's talents caught the eye of the Food Network, and television opportunities came
knocking. Initially, Garten was not interested, but after rejecting the offer a few times,
she eventually gave in and began hosting her own show called "Barefoot Contessa.”
Garten's relatively easy recipes won fans over,
and "Barefoot Contessa" has been a big hit for the Food Network. The show has
been running for two decades and earned seven Emmys and three James Beard awards.
“Ina Garten would never cook a turkey in a bag.”
But, according to Eater, despite Garten's television success,
she still sees herself as a cookbook and recipe writer. Garten has also written monthly columns
for Martha Stewart Living, Oprah magazine, and House Beautiful, per Barefoot Contessa.
She is not Italian or a countess, but Ina Garten is known as the "Barefoot
Contessa," a name she has used for her entire lifestyle brand. The name comes
from the specialty food store she bought in the Hamptons in the 70s.
Initially, she planned to change the store's name, but she liked it so much
and thought it perfectly described her elegant and earthy vision, so she decided to keep it.
According to The Washington Post, the original store owner, Diana Stratta,
named the store as a tribute to the 1954 film, "The Barefoot Contessa," starring
Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. Garten speaks fondly of Stratta and credits her
for the knowledge she gained in those early days running the store, telling The Washington Post:
"I think she [Stratta] feels that I took her child
and raised it and gave it an international reputation.”
Garten's success may seem like it happened overnight,
but that could not be further from the truth. Each of her decisions is followed through with
careful consideration, hard work, and patience, but what's most intriguing about Ina Garten
is her resilience and ability to take on new projects and turn them into triumphs.
However, it seems a lot of Garten's success comes not only from the projects she has taken on but
also from her ability to say "no" to projects that are not aligned with her life vision.
When a Japanese businessman offered to spread Barefoot Contessa stores across
the country and turn them into a national brand,
Garten declined his offer. Garten was set on her dream to build a house and garden
and write cookbooks, and saying yes to that offer would put her on a complete detour.