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Ina Garten is one of the country's most beloved culinary icons and the author of eight bestselling cookbooks. She is the host of the popular cooking show Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. Ina has received two Emmys for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host. She lives in East Hampton, New York with her husband, Jeffrey.
Q: How did you begin cooking?
A: When my husband Jeffrey and I were first married, we took a four-month camping trip to Europe. The markets in France knocked me out (I was cooking dinner for us on a camping gas stove!). After the trip, I decided to really teach myself how to cook.
Q: What sets your cookbooks apart?
A: When I started to write cookbooks, the popular books had 500 recipes in them. I thought, “Who needs 500 recipes?” I wanted to do a book that had 75 really good recipes that I could make over and over again. My cooking experience was from running a specialty food store, as opposed to restaurant food, so I knew what people wanted to eat at home, like roast chicken, roast carrots and spinach gratin.
