10 THINGS YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT
CELEBRITY chef Ina Garten has been a staple of the Food Network since 2002. During the pandemic, she charmed fans by sipping a colossal cosmopolitan on social media. Now, the longtime Barefoot Contessa host has whipped up a new limited series for the cable channel. Be My Guest, in her East Hampton, N.Y., home, pairs the kitchen wiz cooking with pals. Here are ten things you don’t know about the 74-yearold cookbook author and TV foodie.
1 At 15, she met future husband Jeffrey during a trip to visit her brother at Dartmouth College. They wed five years later.
2 She earned a pilot’s license while Jeffrey served a four-year military tour during the Vietnam War.
3 Her dietitian mother discouraged her from helping in the kitchen and urged her to instead focus on schoolwork.
4 She was an analyst in the White House Office of Management and Budget under Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and wrote nuclear energy budgets and policy papers.
5 She ditched her federal gig in 1978 to purchase and run the Barefoot Contessa, a food store on Long Island.
6 While at work, she dons her “uniform” — a denim or corduroy shirt — because “I don’t like wearing an apron” and “they can all just go into the washing machine.”
7 She collects cookbooks and has called herself a “cake stand hoarder.”
8 She’s never seen herself on TV and explains, “I couldn’t possibly. If I watched a show, I don’t think I’d ever do it again. Filming is still the most frightening thing I’ve done.”
9 Her go-to dinner party menu is a rack of lamb and orzo with roasted vegetables — served with whiskey sours.
10 She won’t cook if she’s eating by herself and instead opts for a salad.