28 Facts About Ina Garten

Ina Rosenberg Garten is an American author, host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and a former staff member of the Office of Management and Budget.

Garten's mother discouraged Ina from helping in the kitchen, instead directing her towards schoolwork.

On December 22,1968, Jeffrey and Ina Garten were married in Stamford and soon relocated to Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Ina Garten began to dabble in cooking and entertaining in an effort to occupy her time; Jeffrey served a four-year military tour during the Vietnam War.

In Washington, Ina Garten worked in the White House; Jeffrey worked in the State Department, completing his PhD at Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies.

Ina Garten used the profits from these sales to make her next purchase, the Barefoot Contessa specialty food store.

Ina Garten left her government job in 1978 after spotting an ad for a 400-square-foot specialty food store called Barefoot Contessa in Westhampton Beach, New York.

Ina Garten kept the name when she took over; it meshed well with her idea of an "elegant but earthy" lifestyle.

In East Hampton, Garten expanded the store over seven times its original size, from its original 400 square feet to more than 3,000 square feet.

Ina Garten employed local chefs and bakers as the business grew, including Anna Pump.

In 1996, after two decades of operating Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten again found herself seeking a change; she sold the store to two employees, Amy Forst and Parker Hodges, but retained ownership of the building itself.

Ina Garten did not reopen the shop but retained the property for potential new tenants.

In 1999, Ina Garten reemerged with her attention turned to publishing.

Ina Garten carried on the Barefoot Contessa name in her 1999 sleeper bestseller, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.

Ina Garten eventually sold over 100,000 copies in the first year, immediately requiring second and third print runs after the initial printing of 25,000 cookbooks were sold.

Ina Garten established herself with her cookbooks and appearances on Martha Stewart's show, and then moved into the forefront in 2002 with the debut of her Food Network program.

Ina Garten rejected this proposal several times, until the London-based production company responsible for Nigella Bites was assigned to the deal.

Ina Garten acquiesced to a 13-show season, and Barefoot Contessa premiered in 2002 to a positive reception.

Ina Garten's show features her husband and their friends and generally only hosts celebrities who are her friends.

In 2009, the show and Garten were nominated for Daytime Emmy Awards in the categories of Best Culinary Program and Best Culinary Host, and Garten won her first Emmy in the latter category.

That same year, Ina Garten announced that she had signed a three-year contract with Food Network to continue her cooking show, and will release two more cookbooks following Barefoot Contessa at Home.

Ina Garten has been approached several times to develop her own magazine, line of furniture, set of cookware, and chain of boutiques, but has declined these offers, stating she has no interest in further complicating her life.

In 2006, Garten launched her own line of packaged cake mixes, marinades, sauces, and preserves, branded as Barefoot Contessa Pantry, with her business partner Frank Newbold and in conjunction with Stonewall Kitchen.

Ina Garten serves as the entertaining, cooking, and party planning consultant for the magazine.

Ina Garten launched a small line of note cards and journals to complement her books, and wrote the forewords for Kathleen King's Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook and Rori Trovato's Dishing With Style.

Ina Garten was the dean of the Yale School of Management from 1995 to 2005.

Ina Garten served as hostess of the 16th Annual Hudson Peconic benefit for Planned Parenthood.

Ina Garten sat on the Design Review Board for East Hampton, a panel that grants building permissions and approves architectural and design elements of the village.