Parade Magazine Article With Ina Garten 10/15/2026
Parade Magazine
Ina Garten Admits She Doesn’t Fully Understand Her Own Fame: ‘Not a Clue’
The Barefoot Contessa opened up about her success during a candid conversation with Mel Robbins, revealing why she doesn’t see herself the way fans do.
Oct 15, 2026 9:29 AM EDT
By Terri Peters
Trending News Writer
Ina Garten opens up about her career, success and surprising perspective on fame during an appearance on ‘The Mel Robbins Podcast.’
The Mel Robbins Podcast
Ina Garten may be one of the most recognizable names in the food world, but the Barefoot Contessa says she doesn’t quite understand what all the fuss is about.
During a recent appearance on The Mel Robbins Podcast, the bestselling cookbook author and television personality opened up about her career, her marriage to husband Jeffrey, and the surprising way she views her own fame.
While discussing Garten’s journey from specialty food store owner to Food Network icon, Robbins pointed out, “I don’t think you have a clue how admired and impactful you are in people’s lives.”
Ina Garten and Mel Robbins share a laugh during Garten’s appearance on The Mel Robbins Podcast, where the Barefoot Contessa reflected on her career and unexpected fame.
The Mel Robbins Podcast
“Not a clue,” Garten admitted. “A friend of mine says, ‘You’re the only person who has absolutely no idea who Ina Garten is.’ And I think she’s right.”
In the candid interview, Garten shared her story of leaving her government job in her 30s and purchasing a specialty food store in Westhampton, New York. “I did one thing that was smart,” Garten said of the purchase. “I bought it, but I made a deal with the seller that she would stay for a month and teach me what I need to know, ’cause I didn’t know anything.”
“I didn’t know how to cash out a register. I didn’t know how to slice smoked salmon. I could bake 12 brownies for my friends, but I didn’t know how to bake 1,000 brownies,” she added.
During her time owning Barefoot Contessa, Garten learned a lesson that would eventually shape every cookbook she’s written. After discovering that customers weren’t interested in the fancy dishes she was preparing, she moved her roast chickens from an elegant platter with fresh herbs into simple red-and-white checkered paper baskets.
“I just lined them up on the counter, and they sold in 10 minutes,” Garten recalled. “And I thought, ‘Oh, people have elegant taste, but they don’t want fancy food at home.'”
After selling Barefoot Contessa in 1996, Garten wasn’t sure what to do next. She spent nearly a year wondering whether she’d given up the most interesting career she’d ever have before Jeffrey encouraged her to find another way to work in the food industry. She eventually submitted a cookbook proposal, which was accepted.
“One of the things that I do if I decide to do something like run a specialty food store, write a cookbook, or do a television show, I don’t wanna do it the way other people do it,” she told Robbins. “I always think to myself, ‘I’m not gonna do this until I figure out how I can do it better.’ And I think that’s one of the things that has served me very well, that if I’m gonna write a cookbook, I’m gonna write the cookbook that I wanna write.”
“In that case, it was really simple recipes that I know will work every time,” she explained, “gorgeous photographs, and ingredients you can get in the grocery store. That was my mantra, and it worked. I think I really connected with an audience in that way.”
That commitment to doing things her own way has remained a constant throughout Garten’s career, even as she’s become one of the most recognizable personalities in the food world. But while her recipes, cookbooks and television shows have earned her legions of fans, Garten says she still doesn’t quite understand her own celebrity.
“I don’t really get it, but I’m just delighted,” she admitted. “I’m delighted that people connect with what I do, which is wonderful.”
Garten’s newest cookbook, Simply Ina, releases this month, on Oct. 20. New episodes of The Mel Robbins Podcast come out each week on Monday and Thursday.
About The Author
Terri Peters
Trending News Writer
Terri Peters has nearly two decades of experience as a journalist and editor, writing for some of the country’s most popular lifestyle brands.
