Ina Garten and Martha Stewart are both famous culinary and lifestyle moguls. Thanks to this, there has often been rumors of bad blood between the two. During a recent conversation, Garten addressed these stories, sharing where she stands with Stewart.
Ina Garten Became Known To Many Through The Series, Barefoot Contessa, & Her Shop Of The Same Name
Garten is known to many as the host of the Food Network cooking program Barefoot Contessa. Following this, viewers would see her on Be My Guest with Ina Garten.
Garten has had an extensive career, long before her Food Network series. She previously worked as a White House nuclear policy analyst. She also ran a specialty food shop, also named the “Barefoot Contessa,” after the 1954 film of the same name.
Garten recently spoke with The New York Times. Garten addressed rumors about her and fellow media personality Martha Stewart. Going against these rumors, Garten spoke well of Stewart, saying, “Can I just say I admire her enormously? I think what she created is stunning, and she did it with vision.” She later assured, “I mean, we’re friendly, there’s no antipathy.”
The two women reportedly go way back. In the early 1990s, Stewart allegedly met Garten at her Barefoot Contessa shop in East Hampton. A decade later, rumors started of a feud between the two after Stewart claimed that Garten was no longer talking to her after she went to prison, as she shared with The New Yorker back in 2024.
While Assuring She Respected Her, Garten Also Tried To Distance Herself From Comparisons To Stewart
Stewart was found guilty on felony charges of conspiracy to obstruct and of making false statements to federal investigators. Originally sentenced to five months in prison, she was released from jail in March 2005.
For her part, Garten shared a different chain of events. Speaking with The Times, she felt that they just grew apart when Stewart moved. As she explained, “She moved to Bedford. She used to live in East Hampton, so we saw each other then.”
While Garten maintained that the feud rumors were untrue, she admitted there was one thing she disliked: being compared to Stewart. As she put it, there have been a number of personalities who helped bring a face to the culinary arts in American media.
As Garten noted, she and Stewart don’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to food. She explained, “I [recently told Alison Roman] that she and I are kind of in a continuum that started with Julia Child, who wanted to teach people how to cook with real food. When everybody was making boxed macaroni and cheese, she wanted you to appreciate a really good beef bourguignon. And then, Martha came along and elevated home arts to something really worth doing well: Set a beautiful table, make it a wonderful dinner, carve out a pumpkin for the pumpkin soup. I came along and said, ‘OK, maybe don’t carve out the pumpkin. Set a nice table, but it doesn’t have to be over the top, and make a lovely dinner and serve it.’”
Garten continued, “I think everybody’s getting a little simpler and simpler, but at the end of the day, we all like the same thing, which is gathering people around a table. Certainly hers to decide. I didn’t know what to make of [her comments]. I’ve certainly made lots of hers.”
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John Witiw has been a writer since at least 2015. He’s covered a variety of topics, especially when it comes to film and television.
