I have – perhaps unfairly – criticized FOOD Network maven Ina Garten in the past. I’ve always thought her personality was a bit prissy, and definitely too Martha Stewart-ish to appeal to the average viewer. Me. But my eyes have been opened…
“I know people don’t believe this, but I’m really a nervous cook,” Garten told 60 Minutes in a recent interview. “I’m there with a cookbook going, ‘Is it a half a teaspoon or a whole teaspoon?'”
And that goes even for recipes she’s created, herself.
According to Amanda Berkey at Chowhound, Garten says she’s ‘incredibly precise’ to ensure she gets the result she’s looking for. ‘I’m there with a cookbook going, ‘Is it a half a teaspoon or a whole tea-spoon?’ She went on to explain that, even when she’s cooking one of her own creations, she makes sure she follows the directions precisely. And that’s one of Garten’s top tips to make you a better cook.
‘Secret weapons’ revealed…
Garten has actually made a point of revealing her culinary ‘secret weapons’, in one of her more recent cookbooks: Go-To Dinners. First and foremost, she says she tries to simplify recipes. Which is a major weapon itself against getting stressed out preparing for a dinner party.
“The truth is, I’m really like the people at home. I know how hard it is to cook a [fancy] recipe,” Garten told the NY Times. The theory being, if you aren’t worried about how the meal will turn out, that’s one less major source of pressure.
An icon…
Ina Garten is nothing short of a FOOD Network icon. But her love affair with food and cooking goes back much farther than that. Her official FOOD Network Bio reveals…
“In 1978, she found herself working in the White House on nuclear energy policy thinking, ‘There’s got to be more to life than this!’ She saw an ad for a small food store for sale in a place she’d never been: East Hampton on Long Island. She and her husband drove up to in-vestigate and made the owner an offer on the spot. Two months later, Ina became the owner of Barefoot Contessa, a 400-sq ft specialty food store.”
The rest, as they say, is history. But the details bear closer examination…
Barefoot Contessa grew under her stewardship into a 3,000-square-foot food ’emporium’ where 20 cooks and bakers prepared the food. In 1996, Garten sold the store to her employees. And in 1999, she wrote her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, one of the best-selling cookbooks of the year.
It seems hard to believe… But Garten first appeared on the FOOD Network 37 years ago, in 2002! And she’s starred in a whole series of series since then. With no signs that she’s slowing down.
She’s also contributed articles to Martha Stewart Living Magazine, O, Oprah Magazine and House Beautiful.
Settled… on the ‘country’ life
She divides her time between homes in East Hampton, New York, and Southport, Connecticut, with her husband of 57 years, Jeffrey, who is a professor at the Yale School of Management.
My take
I will admit… In spite of my previous impressions and the experience of her on-screen persona via her FOOD Network shows, Ina Garten had left a slightly sour taste in my mental mouth.
But after reading the Chowhoud post and the linked interviews, I’ve changed my mind. A 180 degree pivot. I might even start watching the FOOD Network regularly, again…
~ Maggie J.