Garten always makes a point to stop by In-N-Out Burger when she's on the road. Claiming it's the only burger chain she would ever eat at, she once shared during an interview with Today, "I have to say, I don't eat fast food at all, with one exception.
Among her most hated foods are anything with eyeballs -- the Barefoot Contessa decidedly does not want anything on her plate to be looking back at her. Fish head stew is a no. As for herbs, she absolutely despises cilantro, and you won't find much of it used in her recipes.
Ina Garten's upbringing was not anything she wanted to recreate with her own family. In her new memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens, the Barefoot Contessa star reveals that her "horrible childhood" in Stamford, Conn., was filled with emotional and physical abuse from her late parents, Charles and Florence Rosenberg.
5. There's only one fast-food restaurant she'll go to. ``I have to say, I don't eat fast food at all, with one exception,'' she divulged. ``When we're in California doing book tours, we always have to go to In-N-Out burger. It's so good and I know it was Julia Child's favorite too, so it's okay.''
"I've had the same thing for breakfast every single day for ten years: coffee and McCann's quick-cooking Irish oatmeal," Garten told Bon Appétit in a 2017 article. And her love of the stuff is well-documented.
Per her website, she likes her hot cereal with a little butter and maple syrup, which are definitely tasty toppings for a better breakfast. While those toppings are pretty conventional, the appliance she uses to cook her oatmeal is anything but, for a chef. The cookbook author revealed she uses her microwave.
The Breakfast Oprah Loves
And blueberries. And raspberries, strawberries, some sliced banana and maybe a sprig or two of fresh mint. (And don't forget the bread—you know I love my bread! For breakfast, my preference is multigrain, double toasted.)"
While Ina Garten has never had her own restaurant, she did own and operate a specialty food store called Barefoot Contessa from the late 1970s to 1996.
Child passed away in 2004 at 91 years old, but she went out with a last meal perfectly fit for her French cooking legacy. The last thing she ate before she passed away in her sleep was French onion soup — simple yet elegant, and above all, tasty, matching the legacy she would leave behind.
Vichyssoise. Well-known as one of Julia Child's favorite dishes, this chilled leek and potato soup is startling in its simplicity. Aside from the leek, potato, and water, Child's version of the soup calls for barely any additional ingredients.
As a working woman in the '70s, Ina's choice to not have kids “wasn't a struggle at all,” she said. “I had no interest in having children. None. I just had a terrible childhood, and it was nothing I wanted to recreate,” she added.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Ina Garten's net worth in 2025 is estimated at $60 million. When combined with that of her husband Jeffrey, that amount is estimated at a whopping $120 million. Aside from the riches from her TV show, Garten has been a longtime bestselling author thanks to her 13 books (and counting).
You can be miserable before you have a cookie and you can be miserable after you eat a cookie but you can't be miserable while you are eating a cookie. Food is about nurturing: not only physical but also emotional nurturing.
They divide their time living in Manhattan, East Hampton, and Paris. Registered in New York as a Democrat, Garten has contributed to the presidential campaign funds of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and Barack Obama. In 2004, she hosted a benefit for Planned Parenthood.
I just hate it. To me it's so strong—and it actually tastes like soap to me—but it's so strong it overpowers every other flavor." Cilantro is a must-have for some home cooks, especially in dishes like tacos, guacamole, soups and sauces—but Garten puts forward recipes that often call for the herb, well, without it.
“My friend Bobby Flay is here spending the entire day with me, which is so great,” Garten starts, smiling at Flay across the table. “I don't really need to introduce him because everybody knows who he is.”
Removed from the main cooking realm, this area was cool and dark. Various pastry molds, dough cutters, and flour sifters were readily at hand, along with numerous rolling pins, a scale, a second food processor, and another microwave oven, which Julia used primarily for warming butter or quickly thawing pastry.
In his New York Times best-selling book, Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, author Bob Spitz stated that Child was diagnosed with breast cancer in the mid-60s. She had a mastectomy on February 28, 1968.
She was a heavy smoker, even between courses, not quitting until a medical scare in 1968.
Of course, we were curious about exactly which white plates Ina uses, and according to her website, her dishes are by Pillivuyt, a high-end French porcelain brand.
Several years ago, Garten built a second kitchen in a barn on her property so she could have somewhere to film episodes of Barefoot Contessa (she told Oprah Daily all about it in 2021). But Garten's home kitchen, where she still cooks meals for friends and family, has remained untouched for 25 years—at least until now.
Don't miss the chance to drive past Ina Garten's East Hampton home, at 23 Buell Ln, East Hampton.
Now: 176 lbs.
“When I wake up, I have warm lemon water and then I have a shake or avocado and eggs, which is one of my favorites,” Aniston says. “I sprinkle a little coconut oil on that. Sometimes I'll have a puffed millet cereal with a banana, or I'll do oatmeal with an egg white whipped in at the end.”
Lopez enjoys a protein-packed smoothie for breakfast. Her typical smoothie is made with whey protein powder, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, Greek yogurt, cinnamon, honey, fresh lemon juice, and ice.