Ina Garten

Ina Garten’s first book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, was published in 1999 and was one of the bestselling cookbooks of the year. She has since gone on to write thirteen successful cookbooks, including her latest, Go-To Dinners (Clarkson Potter, Oct 25, 2022). She is currently working on her next cookbook, as well as a memoir to be released in October 2024.

In 2002 Food Network approached Garten to do a cooking show based on her cookbooks and her love of entertaining. She was reluctant but decided to challenge herself to do 13 shows. Today her Emmy-winning cooking show, “Barefoot Contessa,” is one of the highest-rated shows on Food Network. Ina Garten received the 2014 James Beard Foundation Broadcast and New Media Award in the category of Outstanding Personality/Host for her show Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics (Food Network). The newest Barefoot Contessa show, “Barefoot Contessa: Modern Comfort Food,” received the 2022 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Culinary Series. In 2021 she starred in Cocktails and Tall Tales With Ina Garten and Melissa McCarthy on Discovery+.

Garten is a monthly columnist for Food Network Magazine and in prior years has also been a monthly columnist at House Beautiful, Martha Stewart Living Magazine, and O, the Oprah magazine. In 2015, Garten was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People.

Before becoming the Barefoot Contessa, Garten had a robust career in the federal government, helping with energy policy budgeting. She was initially employed by the Federal Power Commission and, later, worked at the White House in the Office of Management and Budget. As a budget analyst, she was responsible for writing the nuclear energy budget and policy papers on nuclear centrifuge plants for Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.