Review #2

The Food Network’s

The Barefoot Contessa: Ina Garten

By Esther Kim

The one thing that I miss the most at college, aside from my mother’s Korean cooking, is the Food Network. As a self-professed addict, I spend several hours a day catching up with my favorite cooks/chefs when I am home. Out of all Food Network stars, I am obsessed with Ina Garten. With several contagious catchphrases like “How easy is that?” or “How bad can that be?”, Ina Garten, the star of the Food Network show, The Barefoot Contessa, epitomizes the idea of elegant yet casual entertaining. 

Recorded at her fabulous Hamptons mansion or cozy cottage, whatever she likes to call it, The Barefoot Contessa is not merely a show that teaches one how to cook pseudo French American cuisine. Rather, she is the modern day Julia Child. Ina Garten shows how easy it is to make an exquisite meal paired with an impeccable table setting. She reveals her secrets whether it be hosting a meal for famous movie producers or her neighborhood friends. 

Timeless is the perfect adjective to describe her approach to entertaining. Garten has a severe infatuation for clear wine stemware and canvas white dishes. Her tablecloths come in all colors, pigments, and shades. She is a mania for stunning silverware and always decorates her table with flowers, mainly hydrangeas, roses, or tulips, accented with the occasional herb of the day. Her backyard boasts of blush pink English Tea Roses and her herb garden which consists of basil, thyme, parsley, and rosemary, to name a few, go on for miles. Garten recently unveiled a newly built barn that houses a 18 feet kitchen marble top counter. 

Perhaps it is her facile yet sophisticated approach to cooking, dining, and entertaining that appealed to me early on. With her commitment to quality ingredients and copious amounts of high grade butter and olive oil, Garten can transform a farm chicken into a meal that is foreign but familiar at the same time. She is not only talented in cooking savory dishes but also shines when baking sweet treats. It amazes me how one woman can be knowledgeable in the kitchen and hospitable to the requests of her friends and family, especially her Yale Professor husband. 

My favorite episodes, of her many, are the ones that always leave about five minutes in the end where Garten and her friends are seen enjoying the meal. This segment of the show exhibits the true essence of food. Food is meant to be enjoyed with others. Through food, people share stories and build sacred relationships. Garten understands and fully embodies this venerated mantra. She revels in her ability to bring happiness and comfort to her loved ones.

The lifestyle of The Barefoot Contessa is something I aspire to have. Indubitably, it will take several years to achieve the socioeconomic status of that of Ina Garten and her husband Jeffrey. But, a girl can dream, right?