Ina Garten on Michelle Obama, Trust, and the Book That Sealed a Friendship

Ina Garten was once fired from an early job at a bookstore, but she’s had better luck as an author (among other prodigious talents) with her 14th book, a memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens (Crown). Her other books are NYT-bestselling cookbooks, and she’s hosted the Emmy- and James Beard-Award-winning “Barefoot Contessa” (Food Network) and “Be My Guest” (Max), which has featured guests including Misty Copeland, Jennifer Garner, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She’s also hosted Lin-Manuel Miranda, who thought haricots verts were a font, like Comic Sans.

The Brooklyn-born, Stamford, CT-raised, Easthampton, NY-based Garten went on a first date with her now-husband of 56 years, Jeffrey (dean emeritus of the Yale School of Management and frequent presence on Barefoot that ran for 19 years), as a 17-year-old after visiting her brother at Dartmouth; kept in touch via letters when he was in the military in Bangkok or working in investment banking in Tokyo, which she has kept to this day. She studied fashion design briefly and then economics at Syracuse University and earned an MBA at George Washington University; started working at the White House Office of Management and Budget, then quit her job drafting nuclear policy to buy specialty food shop Barefoot Contessa (named after the Humphey Bogart and Ava Gardner movie, and which she ran from 1978-1996) in Westhampton Beach, where she would eventually make 1,000 baguettes a day (her dietician mother did not allow her to cook or eat butter or carbs growing up).

She taught herself the way around a kitchen by making recipes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking; was described as one of the few on Food Network who could cook by Anthony Bourdain; made a viral Cosmopolitan when the pandemic struck; took a four-month camping trip to France then covered food at the Paris Olympics for the Today show 50 years later. She has been a NYT crossword puzzle clue; was a Girl Scout when they only had four types of cookies; played chess at breakfast as a kid; won the citywide science fair two years in a row; dreamed of becoming an architect; wore the first dress Calvin Klein designed as her wedding going-away outfit; sold marked-up Dunkin’ Donuts to pay for a fur blanket; worked at the Federal Power Commission, NASDAQ, and a business called the Body Shop, which she thought was about car repair but was a strip club. She once ran after Gloria Steinem to introduce her to her staff; prepared a roast beef sandwich for Lauren Bacall even though the shop didn’t make sandwiches to order; and would have Richard Avedon over for dinner.

Fan of: Paris, where the couple visits every anniversary and owns an apartment; La Grande Épicerie grocery store, fromagerie Barthélémy, Poilâne bakery, and Adriane M. Fleuriste flowers; the white pizza at Fini and E E Home store in Amagansett; Monc XIII design store in Sag Harbor; floral designer Christian Tortu; and Taylor Swift.

Likes: Local markets and farmstands; Wüsthof classic knives; high-low food (eg. potato chips with caviar dip); profiteroles; a slice of cake at Loaves and Fishes in Sagaponack; crabapple trees in bloom; soup or Italian charcuterie for lunch; “The Lost Kitchen” show, Le Creuset pots in the color “flame”; whiskey sours.

Not so much: Cilantro, golf, being told what to do, beer.

Among her favorites: Vanilla (as an ingredient); tomato crostini (as an appetizer); tuna fish sandwiches (as comfort food); French apple tart (of her desserts); Buvette and La Mercerie (NYC restaurants); Le Cherche Midi and Rue de L’Universite (Parisian streets); l’heure bleu (time of day: the blue hour); autumn; peonies, dahlias, farmer’s market sunflowers, and orange tulips; Elmo (of the Muppets).

Good at: Making playlists; engagement roast chicken (cited by both Emily Blunt and Meghan Markle).

Getting better at: Planting a perennial border.

Lost interest in: Flying after getting her pilot’s license.

Pandemic project: Renovating her kitchen, where she built her dream pantry and bought a Lancanche stove and Tessa Traeger food photos. Snap up her book picks below.

The book that:

…I recommend over and over again:

Any book by Ann Patchett.

…shaped my worldview:

Why We Buy by Paco Underhill.

…I read in one sitting, it was that good:

The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe.

…currently sits on my nightstand:

32 Yolks by Eric Ripert.

…I’d give to a new graduate:

Nantucket Open House Cookbook by Sarah Leah Chase.

…I last bought:

Trust by Hernan Diaz.

…has the greatest ending:

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles.

…I would have blurbed if asked:

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

…sealed a friendship:

Party of the Century by Deborah Davis.

…everyone should read:

Quiet by Susan Cain.

…fills me with hope:

Becoming by Michelle Obama.

Bonus question: If I could live in any library or bookstore in the world, it would be:

Books for Cooks in London.

Why We Buy by Paco Underhill