is ina garten a real chef

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For over 20 years, Ina Garten has shared her comforting and foolproof recipes with the world through her beloved cookbooks and “Barefoot Contessa” show.

But before becoming a Food Network star, Garten wrote budgets at the White House and ran a Hamptons grocery store.

Her fame may be relatively quiet — she doesn’t have a line of cookware, there isn’t a namesake restaurant — but make no mistake: Ina Garten is a powerhouse celeb chef. Fans know her story well: From a White House budget analyst to specialty food-store owner, her path to stardom has been slow and steady.
is ina garten a real chef

It was a huge learning curve for Garten, who had little experience in the world of food.

is ina garten a real chef

“Honestly, the first month I was there I thought, This is the stupidest thing Ive ever done in my life,” Garten told Sifton. “Id never been in the food business, I didnt know how to do anything. But Jeffrey said, If you could do it in the first week, youd be bored in the second week.”

Garten began working 18 hours a day to turn Barefoot Contessa into a success, bringing on a chef named Anna Pump to help.

“Mom was hired to cook, but the beginning of a beautiful friendship began,” Sybille van Kempen, Pumps daughter, told Insider. “Mom and Ina motivated each other. They shared ideas and supported each others growth.”

Garten credits Pump — who went on to run the popular Loaves & Fishes Foodstore in Sagaponack, New York, and died in 2015 — with teaching her “so much about cooking.” Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement

Garten has since found a whole new legion of fans after she became a quarantine hero with the help of a massive cosmopolitan.

is ina garten a real chef

The “Barefoot Contessa” star became an internet sensation in April 2020 when she filmed herself making a huge drink at 9 a.m., telling her fans that its “always cocktail hour in a crisis!”

Garten told Sifton that she was “adding like 100,000 people a week on Instagram” after the clip took off.

“It was insane!” she said. “It was completely insane!”

Garten pivoted her Instagram content to share easy pantry-friendly recipes that her fans could make while they were stuck in various lockdowns. Now, she has over three million followers. Advertisement

The Untold Truth Of Ina Garten

FAQ

Is Ina Garten a professional chef?

Today, at age 63, Ina is a celebrity chef who never attended cooking school nor worked in a restaurant! Like Dario Sattui, she used her MBA as a stepping stone to a magnificent dream. It gave her the job that gave her the funds to buy a brick-and-mortar store, but Ina taught herself to cook and to manage the business.

Does Ina Garten cook in her own kitchen?

But we’d guess that not many of us spend as much time in our kitchens as Ina Garten, the Food Network personality and cookbook author who goes to work in her kitchen all year long.

Did the Barefoot Contessa go to culinary school?

The rest is history: She didn’t attend cooking school or learn from a grandmother, but she picked up skills out of necessity while running her specialty food store, Barefoot Contessa.

What did Ina Garten do before she was a chef?

Before becoming a celebrity chef, Garten worked for the government. In the late 1970s, Garten lived in Washington, DC, and worked for the White House Office of Management and Budget. According to Insider, Garten worked under both Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, helping to write the nuclear energy budget.

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