Ina Garten has been inspiring chefs across the world for decades, whether it’s with her famous roast chicken recipe or her wholesome Hamptons lifestyle.
The Barefoot Contessa’s memoir, titled Be Ready When the Luck Happens, hit shelves on Tuesday, October 1. In her book, she opens up about her life growing up, and how she evolved from a student studying economics to the cooking legend she is today.
Here are five things people may not know about Garten.
She previously worked at the White House
Garten was originally an economics major at Syracuse University, before attending George Washington University School of Business. She worked under two presidential administrations in the White House – Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter – in the Office of Management and Budget, where she focused on writing policies for the nuclear energy budget from 1974 to 1978. The cookbook author left the job to eventually buy a speciality food store in the Hamptons, called The Barefoot Contessa.
As for why she left politics, she revealed in a 2022 interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that she worked better when receiving quick feedback, and she wasn’t able to “make anything happen.”
“I mean, you sent something to the hill, they put it back,” Garten told the talk show host. “We put it back in, they take it out. It was just a nightmare.”
She had a difficult childhood
In her book, Garten details experiencing both physical and mental abuse from her late parents, Charles and Florence Rosenberg. Speaking to People, she explained feeling scared that her father would pull her hair if he didn’t approve of what she did.
“I was terrified,” Garten told the outlet. “I was physically afraid of my dad. I literally remember thinking he would kill me if I did something. I was physically afraid of him. And my mother just was unsupportive.”
Ultimately, Garten revealed to BBC News that her family environment contributed to her not wanting children of her own after she married her husband, Jeffrey. “It was nothing I wanted to re-create,” she told the publication. “And I’m always looking forward to look back and realized a lot of my decisions were based on my childhood. And so, I think that was the motivating factor. And Jeffrey and I were just so happy together.”
Her mother never taught her how to cook and she wasn’t allowed in the kitchen
Despite Garten’s current career as a chef and cookbook author, she is completely self-taught because her mother wouldn’t allow her in the kitchen. “I don’t know, I think my mother just wanted me in my room and she wanted the kitchen to herself,” she revealed during an episode of Al Roker’s podcast, Cooking Up a Storm. “She said, ‘It’s your job to study, it’s my job to cook. Get out of the kitchen.’ So I kind of always wanted to do it.”
The Barefoot Contessa also admitted during an episode of Katie Couric’s podcast, Next Question, that because her mother was a dietician she was restrictive with what food she ate growing up. “My mother was obsessive about food,” Garten said at the time. “So we weren’t allowed any carbs, we weren’t allowed any butter. We had margarine. And her idea of a great dessert was an apple.”
She and Jeffrey almost got divorced
After initially quitting her White House job to manage her new fine foods store, Garten struggled to figure out what she wanted out of her life. “Jeffrey was fully formed and living the life he wanted to live,” she said in an interview with People. “I wasn’t, and I wouldn’t be able to figure out who I was or what I wanted unless I was on my own. I needed that freedom.”
Although she initially thought about asking for a divorce, the Barefoot Contessa ended up separating from Jeffrey. “I told him that I needed to be on my own. I didn’t say whether it was for now… or forever. In true Jeffrey form, he said, ‘If you feel like you need to be on your own, you need to do it.’ He packed his bag and went home to Washington with no plan to come back. I buried my emotions and threw myself into my work,” Garten said.
Jeffrey later reached out to Garten to make their marriage work. She reportedly asked him to see a therapist, to help him understand that she was his equal in the relationship. The chef explained that by Jeffrey agreeing to seek professional counseling, it meant more to her than attending the sessions.
She isn’t the only person to be named the Barefoot Contessa
Garten may be known for her Food Network cooking show, Barefoot Contessa, but she didn’t come up with the name herself. In fact, the reason her Hamptons fine foods store was named Barefoot Contessa was because she had bought that way.
While she planned on changing the name, Garten later realized how much she liked it. “I actually liked the name because it’s about being elegant and earthy,” she said, while speaking to MSNBC host Willie Geist during a virtual author luncheon in 2021. “It would’ve been a terrible thing to change it.”
The chef also explained that the store’s old owner, Diana Stratta, had been nicknamed “Barefoot Contessa” as a child after actor Ava Gardner in the 1954 film, The Barefoot Contessa.
“The family used to call her the Barefoot Contessa, it was her nickname,” Garten said.
