There isn't a detail I don't totally do myself

September 30, 2015 4:19 PM

There is something that Ina Garten knows about what we want, or who we want to be, or how we want to feel.
posted by Lycaste (29 comments total)

I am completly convinced they're both secret agents now.

IT WOULD BE THE PERFECT COVER
posted by The Whelk at 4:27 PM on September 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

I mean, Julia Child definitely worked for the CIA, and Ina studied under her...
posted by Rock Steady at 4:36 PM on September 30, 2015 [5 favorites]

I should have known during the mini-essay on Jeffrey's Boards that the byline would be Choire Sciara, but I didn't pick up on it until the end. He has a weird thing where he comes right up to the edge of making a judgement and then fades into silence. But a delightful article, for all that.

He does get at something, I think....if you think about it, Ina's resume is a near mirror of Julia Child's. But Child's milieu had a sort of leather-elbow patch, shabby-academic earthiness --- $300 copper pots from France, hung on a pegboard in a kitchen in Cambridge with banged up countertops. Her circles were rarefied, but you never got the feeling she was dripping in it. Garten somehow makes unimaginable wealth and privilege cozy. She is the Basic Gooddess.
posted by Diablevert at 4:49 PM on September 30, 2015 [8 favorites]

Am I the only one that hears this every time I see her?
posted by GuyZero at 5:02 PM on September 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

What a fantastic article. I adore Ina Garten. She never exudes smug or stupid like so many similar show hosts.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 5:08 PM on September 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

Store bought is fine.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 5:31 PM on September 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

She never exudes smug or stupid like so many similar show hosts.

She sucks at website programming, though:

Request URL: http://www.eater.com/2015/9/30/9394261/ina-garten
Request Method: GET
Status Code: 301 Moved Permanently
Location: http://www.eater.com/2015/9/30/9394261/ina-garten
posted by effbot at 5:38 PM on September 30, 2015

One of the things I really like about Garten's shows is how much she stresses pre-planning and doing ahead along with cooking bing an everyday thing not a special event. Even her fussier stuff isn't more then four or five steps and it's almost scaled directly for the middle-skill level cook.

Also she's obviously a retired CIA assassin I mean come on who else could be that calm all the time
posted by The Whelk at 5:52 PM on September 30, 2015 [16 favorites]

She is the Basic Gooddess.

what does "basic" mean in this context? I've googled it and now I'm feeling like there is some cultural context I'm missing here.
posted by Dr. Twist at 6:06 PM on September 30, 2015

"There isn't a letter, there isn't a recipe, there's no photograph, there isn't a font, there isn't a color, there isn't a detail that I don't totally do myself"

umm, phrasing?

The Barefoot Contessa font, used on all product packaging, is Modern No. 216.

Ed Benguiat developed ITC Modern No. 216 in 1982 for the International Typeface Corporation (ITC).
posted by juv3nal at 6:07 PM on September 30, 2015

ugghghghghg she chooses the font you weird design nerd
posted by boo_radley at 6:17 PM on September 30, 2015 [37 favorites]

"i don't think she macerated the silica for her paints, get her!"
posted by boo_radley at 6:18 PM on September 30, 2015 [8 favorites]

Well her schtick is no schtick, no food fads, focus on ease and comfort and entertaining as a daily thing in a world where your friends are seemingly always around to pop in and have a long luncheon.
posted by The Whelk at 6:18 PM on September 30, 2015

boo_radley, I read "pants" and I thought she had some weird artisanal kitchen trousers
posted by a halcyon day at 6:22 PM on September 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

Also my takeaway from this article is that I really should be paying more attention to companies Jeffrey Garten works with.
posted by a halcyon day at 6:37 PM on September 30, 2015 [7 favorites]

Man, I did not realize how big a fan of hers I am until I realized I could picture each episode that was described in the article. I watch the show when I'm feeling stressed and overwhelmed and just need the world to be calm and pretty and warm.
posted by Tentacle of Trust at 6:55 PM on September 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

what does "basic" mean in this context? I've googled it and now I'm feeling like there is some cultural context I'm missing here.

In modern slang it means, more or less, someone who is just average when it comes to fashion sense, hobbies, etc, but who acts like they're a special snowflake. It is not usually meant as a compliment. Ref: "basic bitch"
posted by muddgirl at 7:15 PM on September 30, 2015

I don't understand why we're so shocked a cook has ties to the Culinary Institute of America?
posted by Grandysaur at 7:20 PM on September 30, 2015 [8 favorites]

I love Ina. Love. Want to be. Love. I learned so much about cooking from watching her show, and reading her cookbooks. I also discovered that I secretly want to be a wealthy Hamptonite.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 7:39 PM on September 30, 2015

Ina Garten is the new Bob Ross. Calm, peaceful, relaxing - and skilled at teaching difficult things, yet making them look easy.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:51 PM on September 30, 2015 [8 favorites]

Seriously I used to plan my cardio days to when she'd be on at least one of the gym TVs for an hour. Just calmly and comfortingly showing you how to make things. Like the article says no "it's a good thing" it's all " look how easy" or "look how fun" . It's all very Julia Chilld in that non-intimating , oh this is fun, manner.
posted by The Whelk at 9:25 PM on September 30, 2015

Also, class signaling wise. Martha Stewart is totally new money. Ina is so old money. All in the approach, what they assume.
posted by The Whelk at 9:27 PM on September 30, 2015 [4 favorites]

That article is a masterpiece of trying to make you figure out just how nasty it is being at any given time. (See the part about Jeffrey and how he was probably doing horrible things with the CIA -- the one that's NOT in Hyde Park.)
posted by St. Hubbins at 10:43 PM on September 30, 2015

I loved this article and thought it was brilliantly written. I've actually never paid much attention to Ina Garten (yes, even despite her show being "in like 40 countries"!) but now I'm going to rectify that. Thank you for the post Lycaste.
posted by ladybird at 11:37 PM on September 30, 2015

I don't know how Jeffery could have the time to be CIA.

But I did wonder how a kid from Dartmouth just doing his military service ended up a Captain in the Special Forces and aide de camp to a general. That is fast track.
Not something you'd associate with a cherubic looking academic.

I ran across an interesting article about his father Mel Garten:
A highly decorated career soldier who served in 3 wars WW2, Korea. Vietnam.
DSC, 4 silver stars, 5 bronze stars, 5 purple hearts, 2 combat jumps.
posted by yyz at 6:11 AM on October 1, 2015

I used to appreciate her show but not after this happened.
posted by popaopee at 7:24 AM on October 1, 2015

No mefi's own, yet?
posted by gingerbeer at 10:39 AM on October 1, 2015

"How bad could it be?" I use that quote way too often.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 3:20 PM on October 1, 2015

Re the Make A Wish foundation thing, I looked into that for something different, and basically what MAW did, and they do this for all celebrity chefs, is call the Food Network. Ina, and Bobby Flay, and a couple other star chefs never saw those requests, they were refused by network lackeys. So, don't blame Ina, blame some poor intern who has to sort through the thousands of requests that come in every day.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 6:08 PM on October 1, 2015