Ina Garten Once Thought “Barefoot Contessa” Was a “Terrible” Name

Ina Garten is the ultimate food queen in our book. She makes everything seem effortless with her signature “How easy is that?” slogan. But before Ina was a Food Network star and cookbook author of 12 different titles, she owned the Barefoot Contessa specialty food shop in the Hamptons.

Although the name has now become a true testament to her success, Ina recently revealed that she thought Barefoot Contessa wasn’t that good of a name for her shop. “I actually thought it was a terrible name. Who calls a food store Barefoot Contessa?” she revealed in a sit-down chat with MSNBC host Willie Geist.

According to the star, she was planning on changing the name of the store after her first month, but then she came to like it. She claims the name is all about being elegant and earthy. “It would’ve been a terrible thing to change it,” she said. 

So where exactly does the name Barefoot Contessa come from? The store’s name came from its previous owner (it was their nickname, as well as the title of a classic movie). Ina — who took over the store in the late 1970s with no experience in running a specialty food store — said that the original owner spent a month teaching her the ebbs and flows of how things should run.

So what did Ina do before becoming synonymous with the Barefoot Contessa? You may also be surprised to find out (if you’re not obsessed with Ina Garten and didn’t know this already) that she worked in the White House. Her specialty was writing nuclear energy budgets for both Gerald Ford’s and Jimmy Carter’s administrations. Talk about impressive!

Although I might not have the accolades that Ina has, I do have all of her cookbooks, and I couldn’t imagine my cookbook shelf without that iconic name and her smiling face on the front.