Ina Garten
AUTHOR/TELEVISION
HOST
Barefoot Contessa cookbooks
and the Food Network’s
Barefoot Contessa
HOMETOWN
East Hampton, NY
Q & A
with Ina Garten
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.
See the full interview
on our blog >
Meet Ina Garten
Ina Garten is one of the country’s most beloved culinary icons and
the author of several bestselling cookbooks. She is the host of the
popular cooking show Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. Ina has
received three Emmys for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host.
She lives in East Hampton, New York with her husband, Jeffrey.
Visit her at www.BarefootContessa.com