Quote Of The Day By Martha Stewart: 'To Entertain At Home Is Both A Relief And A Rediscovery — Of Rooms And...'

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Arguably the O.G. influencer, Martha Stewart has been teaching foodies how to romanticize their lives since the 1980s. The chatelaine has built an empire cuing homemakers into achieving a domestic style that's laid back yet polished, and low-key glamorous. 

Stewart's nearly 45-year-long career has exploded into a globally known omni-media company with a cookware line, television shows, magazines, and a Las Vegas restaurant modeled after her farmhouse-style home in upstate New York. Her library of published works includes more than 100 books, ranging from now-vintage cookbooks to decorating guides, wedding planners, gardening manuals, home renovation handbooks, and themed holiday tips. However, despite her talent for innovation and seemingly preternatural entrepreneurial ability, Stewart had something of a storied career on her path to becoming the lifestyle brand mogul that fans know today — and her paean for the home space has never waned along the way.

Stewart grew up as the second of six children in a working-class neighborhood in New Jersey. She began working as a model at the age of 13, earned a degree in European and architectural history in 1962, and worked on Wall Street as a stockbroker until 1972. A Netflix documentary following this legendary rise was made in 2024, simply titled with the mononym "Martha." Obviously, a lot has changed since Stewart started out. But even though "home" for Stewart nowadays is a $15.6 million, 156-acre farm in Bedford, NY, she still prioritizes setting a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere when she's entertaining — which is the defining dogma behind the authoritative volume that put her name on the map. 

"To entertain at home is both a relief and a rediscovery — of rooms and settings, of your favorite things, and particularly of your own taste and ideas." 

This quote comes from Stewart's iconic first book "Entertaining," which was published in 1982. The comprehensive compendium for all things entertaining is packed with 300 recipes and 450 full-color photos compiled from Stewart's personal experience as a professional caterer. In the late 1970s, Stewart started a catering business from her home kitchen inspired by Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" — the seminal volume from which she trained herself to cook. Befitting her famed business prowess, she used what she learned to write a bestseller of her own.

Over the years, Stewart's manual gained a cult following for its conceptual ideas, from "Omelettes Served on the Lawn" to "Champagne and Desserts at Midnight." Once a rare find, copies of her first book were fetching upwards of $1,000 on resale sites like eBay. Demand was so ferocious, in fact, that a facsimile of the book returned to store shelves last fall, its first reprint in 43 years. To longtime fans' delight, it's an assiduously faithful reproduction of the original (down to the dedication to her long-divorced ex-husband). But, most notably enduring is the book's permeating devotion to elevated home entertaining, which has characterized Stewart's lifelong career.

In the book's introduction, Stewart notes that the early 1980s was seeing a shift in cultural preference toward hosting at home versus shelling out at an expensive restaurant — and that that shift directly benefitted her catering business. Beyond financial-friendliness, however, Stewart lauds the home as both the "most natural" and "most evocative" place to host guests, a unique and undersung advantage. 

As budget-conscious gourmands know well, the decision to host at home rather than securing an exclusive, expensive restaurant reservation can be (as Stewart notes), wildly relieving. Against the current economic backdrop of sky-high inflation and the breakneck cost of living, Stewart's reissued 1982 guidebook finds a particularly well-timed audience. By hosting a lovingly prepared, sit-down meal at home, folks don't necessarily need to look down the barrel of the $50 pay-to-play that often comes with going out for casual drinks on a Friday night. With a few hassle-free hosting tips, entertaining at home eliminates the financial stress factor of spending time with loved ones.

More fashionably, entertaining at home also offers the artistic opportunity for, as Stewart puts it, "rediscovery" of your own taste. Haven't had Indian food in a while? Inviting a few friends over for dinner makes a fabulous excuse to try out a new recipe. Want to capture the metropolitan charm depicted in your favorite champagne-comedy films? Host cocktail hour and send guests an all-black dress code.

Aesthetically, getting the house or apartment ready to have folks over might even inspire new decorating ideas, or spur the creation of an exciting new playlist. Stewart herself personally oversaw the CBS "Masterworks Dinner Classics" series, which arranged musical compilations tailored to various dining occasions. Entertaining at home can also offer the opportunity to show off a curated pottery collection, or to strengthen new friendships by whipping out your grandma's beloved apple tart recipe. Showcased personal style meets a renewed zeal for your own hobbies, ideas, and taste — the things that make you "you." Plus, there's a delicious meal involved (win-win).

"It's a big job taking care of one's home, and one's family, and one's kids — and then do everything else. And that's what I was trying to do with writing the first book — and then I kept writing books. Finding my voice in terms of the home just made me very happy." — from MarthaStewart.com

"I hope to show that there are many ways of entertaining and that each ultimately depends not on pomp or show or elaborate technique, but on thought, effort, and caring — much like friendship itself." — from the introduction to "Entertaining," 1982.

"This [her home on the farm] is the best place to live. You wake up with fresh air, you wake up with roosters crowing. You have vegetables from the garden to make your green juice from. You have eggs from the henhouse to scramble or boil for breakfast. It's a pleasure to live like this." — from a 2026 interview with People magazine