Why Is Ina Garten Called The Barefoot Contessa Anyway?

Ina Garten has written 13 enormously successful cookbooks and one memoir (in which she revealed the advice Martha Stewart gave her). She wrote her first cookbook in 1999 and named it "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook." Since then, each cookbook cover has featured her friendly, smiling face and text identifying itself as a "Barefoot Contessa cookbook." Garten's cooking show was also called — you guessed it — "Barefoot Contessa." But, believe it or not, Garten is not an Italian countess, and I've never actually seen her barefoot. Her attachment with the title began in 1978 when she bought a gourmet food store in East Hampton.

Despite having no business or professional cooking experience, Garten was attracted to an advertisement describing a food store for sale in the ritzy New York hamlet. She bought it even though she was living in Washington D.C. at the time. The existing name of the shop was "The Barefoot Contessa." It turned out that the former owners of the store had named it after the 1954 film of the same name. Garten decided not to change the name, and, when she sold the shop in 1996, Garten had become inexorably linked with the Barefoot Contessa name.

In truth, Ina Garten has built such a name and image for herself that the title, "Barefoot Contessa" has arguably become optional in identifying her. (If you doubt this, consider the fact that Garten is famous enough to have once played beer pong at Taylor Swift's party.) Those with an eagle eye might have noticed that the text, "a Barefoot Contessa cookbook" has become smaller and smaller on her recent books. But, despite this, Barefoot Contessa is still very much a brand under Garten. On her website, you can purchase aprons, hats, canvas bags, and coffee mugs bearing the Barefoot Contessa name.

There have been several instances over the years when the Barefoot Contessa brand has been more expansive. For a brief period of time in the early 2000s, Garten teamed up with gourmet food brand Stonewall Kitchen to create a line of about 40 Barefoot Contessa food products, including things like baking mixes, sauces, and marinades. These were discontinued when the ingredients became too expensive. In 2013, she also introduced several frozen meals under the Barefoot Contessa brand, including penne pasta with five cheeses and tequila lime chicken. (If you like cooking with tequila, you'll love making these chipotle and tequila steak fajitas). However, these were eventually discontinued too.