Quote Of The Day By Ina Garten: 'When You Get Right Down To It, I Cook Pretty Much The Same Way You Do; It's Just...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Ina Garten, aka the Barefoot Contessa, was born in 1948 and grew up in Connecticut, but unfortunately endured a stressful childhood with an abusive father that she couldn't wait to escape. Garten met her now-husband Jeffrey at just 16, and they married four years later in 1968. It was only after marrying that she discovered she wanted to cook (Garten's mother didn't want her in the kitchen), teaching herself through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". The couple later moved to Washington D.C. where Garten worked for the White House Office of Management and Budget. 

In 1978, spurred by a yearning for creativity in her career, Ina and Jeffrey made a seemingly spur-of-the-moment decision to purchase a specialty food store in the Hamptons, NY called Barefoot Contessa. The store became a huge success, eventually moving and expanding to East Hampton, NY. Almost 20 years later, Garten sold it to employees and began to write cookbooks. Her first, "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," sold more than 100,000 copies in 1999, the year it was published. 

After the success of her first few cookbooks, Garten's television show "Barefoot Contessa" premiered on the Food Network in 2002 and ran for a marathon 19 seasons until 2021. It was a glimpse into Ina's life (including adorable cameos from Jeffrey), with Garten providing approachable recipes, practical advice for entertaining, and decorating for gatherings. Garten now hosts the Food Network show "Be My Guest with Ina Garten" where she cooks for a famous guest in her East Hampton, NY home. Garten has many Emmy awards and nominations, and she has even won three James Beard Awards. 

"When you get right down to it, I cook pretty much the same way you do; it's just that after thirty years in the food business, I may have a little more experience."

This Ina Garten quote comes from the introduction of her seventh cookbook, "Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips". Another New York Times bestseller, this cookbook was published in 2010, long after her popular Food Network show had debuted. The overarching theme of the "Barefoot Contessa" television show revolved around making entertaining as easy and as stress-free as possible for the host while still cooking up something delicious. Fitting for her culinary ethos of low-stress, high-reward dishes and entertaining, "Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?" centers around the same theme. 

While Garten may be playing down her cooking experience, it's true that the cookbook author and television host never went to culinary school. So in theory, she does cook just like the rest of us regular people without a proper culinary education. However, one could argue that owning and operating a specialty food store, authoring 13 cookbooks, and hosting a long-running Food Network show may add up to a satisfactory equivalent to a professional culinary certificate, if not more so. 

To date, Ina Garten has written 13 cookbooks and one memoir, all of which have made bestseller lists, although some of those cookbooks are better than others, in our opinion. She has also won four Daytime Emmy awards for the "Barefoot Contessa" show, so it's safe to say that she has more cooking experience than most of the population that watches her shows and cooks from her books. In the introduction to "Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?," Garten writes that due to her lack of professional chef training she prefers recipes that are decently easy to make. She also admits to having a short attention span, citing that for her distaste of recipes that need fancy tools or use fussy techniques.

Forever in pursuit of a more leisurely, luxurious lifestyle without much labor attached to it, Garten recognizes that with all the other demands that life throws our way, be it school, work, friends, or family, why should cooking be another stressful addition to that already crowded list? Even for someone like Ina Garten who has always been wealthy, even if she doesn't say it directly, she recognizes that no matter what tax bracket you may fall in, time is one of our most precious resources. Therefore one can't afford to waste hours on end in the kitchen. For Garten, quality time with loved ones and guests is more valuable than a meal that's taken six hours to prepare, and time and stress are two sacrifices that Garten is unwilling to make in favor of an elaborate meal. 

"You know what I always say: You can be miserable before you eat a cookie, and you can be miserable afterwards, but never while you're eating a cookie." — From an episode of "Barefoot Contessa" via TikTok

"We will definitely not have an Ina Garten restaurant. I think that's the hardest work on the planet. It's just grueling. Everybody crammed into a small space." — From an episode of the Radio Cherry Bombe podcast

"You can teach people about cheese, but you can't teach them to be happy." — Speaking at Cherry Bombe's Jubilee in 2019

"I have a very short attention span, and if a recipe goes on for pages and pages, using lots of complicated techniques and special equipment — forget about it!" — From the introduction to "Barefoot Contessa, How Easy Is That?: Fabulous Recipes & Easy Tips".

"Cooking is one of the great gifts you can give to those you love. It says 'you're important enough to me to spend the time and effort to cook for you.'" ― From "Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" via Goodreads