Ina Garten

Cookbook Author, Specialty Food Retailer, Entrepreneur

Early Years

Ina Garten is an entrepreneur, caterer, entertaining expert, specialty food retailer, cookbook author, magazine columnist, and most significantly, a dedicated party giver whose own desire to "have more fun" led her on a celebrated culinary career. It all started back in the 70's when Ina and her husband had very serious and demanding jobs in Washington, D.C. Free time was spent cooking, baking, and hosting parties for friends, and finding the process so enjoyable she decided to turn her passion into a living.

Fulfilling her dream in 1978 with the purchase of the Barefoot Contessa specialty food store, Garten spent a great a deal of time in the beginning learning about how to run a gourmet shop, and was forced to dive into the catering end of her business with a party for 40 just six weeks after opening. Today, with 20 years of catering experience under her apron strings, Ina Garten has some very definite ideas about successful recipes, menus, and parties.

Current Projects

For both the Barefoot Contessa's popular prepared foods and catering departments, as well as for home preparation, Garten's philosophy is to focus on developing easy, delicious, gourmet recipes using familiar ingredients. Her theory about parties is that the easiest parties are usually the best, with advance preparation whenever possible and food that's fun to eat. Some cooking, with tried and true recipes that work, plus some assembling of the very best prepared foods you can buy, and more importantly the right guests, equals virtually stress-free entertaining. Garten truly believes that parties should be fun for the guests and the host - "be a guest at your own party".

Recognition

In 1999, Ina Garten's years of perfecting a simple style and sense of fun were recognized and preserved for posterity when lifestyle guru Martha Stewart co-authored Garten's first book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook: Secrets from the East Hampton Speciality food Store for Simple Food and party Platters You Can Make At Home. With her first book a runaway bestseller, and more great ideas to share, Garten's second book, Barefoot Contessa Parties!: Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties that are Really Fun was published in 2001, successfully following in the footsteps of the first book. And Garten continues her fruitful association with Martha Stewart to write a monthly column in Martha Stewart Living magazine called "Entertaining is Fun".

Long Islanders flock to the Barefoot Contessa for the best food, and home chefs flock to Ina Garten's books for the best recipes and ideas to create great meals and parties with limited time and effort. Garten believes that food and entertaining are about making people feel comfortable, not about impressing them, but knows that if you're having fun at your own party, your friends' admiration is sure to follow.