If you have a mother who loves the Food Network, then you have walked in on her watching Barefoot Contessa, one of the most popular shows on that channel. Cookbook author Ina Garten has famously hosted this show for almost 20 years.
Ina, a former White House nuclear policy analyst for the Nixon administration, published her first cookbook in 1999 and launched her show Barefoot Contessa in 2002.
Ina was invited onto The Drew Barrymore Show, and we learn a little less about cooking and more about her life. Drew went right into her questions and asked Ina about her husband, Jeffrey.
Drew pointed out that Ina and Jeffrey have been married for almost 54 years and asked about their first date. Drew was surprised to hear Ina say it was such a disaster that she was surprised Jeffrey wanted to see her again!
Ina was in high school when they met, and her husband was at Dartmouth. Jeffrey saw her walking around campus with a mutual friend, and he asked their friend if he could call Ina.
Ina assumed that since her husband was a college guy, he probably wanted to take her to a bar, so when he called her, she suggested they go to a bar called Hilltop. She acted as if she always went to bars, even though she had never been to a bar before.
After Jeffrey picked her up and they arrived at the bar, two big guys standing at the entrance asked her for her ID. Instead of pulling out her ID, Ina asked Jeffrey, “What’s that?” She didn’t realize that she would need a fake ID to get into the bar since she was in high school and only 16 years old.
With their options of getting in not very high, they turned around and left. Ina then said that many years later she asked her husband why he wanted to take her out again after their mishap. He replied, “I thought you needed taking care of.”
To hear more about Ina Garten and her husband's love story, watch the video!
