In 1978, Ina Garten found herself working in the White House on nuclear energy policy and thinking, "There's got to be more to life than this!" Ina Garten saw an ad for a small food store for sale in a place she'd never been: the Hamptons at the end of Long Island. Ina Garten and her husband drove up to investigate and made the owner an offer on the spot. Two months later she found herself the owner of Barefoot Contessa, a 400-sq. ft. specialty food store.
Twenty years later, Barefoot Contessa grew to a 3,000-square-foot food emporium where twenty cooks and bakers prepared the food. Twenty-five more employees worked in the store helping thousands of customers to choose breads, salads, dinners and baked goods to take home. In 1996, Ina Garten sold the store to her employees. In 2003, the new owners of Barefoot Contessa decided to close their doors and go on to new adventures.
In 1999, Ina Garten wrote her first book, "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," which was one of the best-selling cookbooks of the year. The book invites readers into her specialty food store and shares the recipes that made it such a success. In 2001, Ina Garten followed with best-selling "Barefoot Contessa Parties!" in which she invites readers into her home and shares her ideas and recipes for having parties that are fun for all—including the host. Ina Garten's follow-up cookbooks, "Barefoot Contessa Family Style" (2002), "Barefoot in Paris" (2004), and "Barefoot Contessa at Home" (2006) all continue her style of cooking with easy, delicious, and foolproof recipes that you can make at home. Ina Gartner's newest book, "Barefoot Contessa - Back to Basics" was published in October 2008.
In 2006, Ina Garten and her business partner Frank Newbold started a successful line of Barefoot Contessa Pantry products, comprised of baking mixes and sauces developed from recipes in her cookbooks.
Ina Garten has been a columnist for Martha Stewart Living magazine and O, the Oprah magazine. Since March, 2006 Ina Garten has been a columnist for House Beautiful.
Ina Garten lives in East Hampton, New York, and Southport, Connecticut, with her husband Jeffrey, who is a professor at the Yale School of Management.
