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Louise Thomas
Editor
Ina Garten has unpacked an unexpected moment from her past that involved Oprah Winfrey.
In 2010, the renowned chef was honored as one of the New York Women In Communications’ Matrix Award recipients, spotlighting her multi-media work with her brand, Barefoot Contessa. At the event, Garten – along with the other honorees – was given 90 seconds for an acceptance speech, before she was instructed to return to her seat onstage next to Oprah Winfrey.
Speaking on a recent episode of Kerry Diamond’s Radio Cherry Bombe, the 76-year-old cooking connoisseur remembered her short moment at the event podium, and revealed what happened after.
“I basically said I’d been really lucky in my life and I sat down,” Garten recalled during the podcast.
When Garten went back to her seat, she was greeted by Winfrey. “And [Winfrey] smacked me on the arm in front of like 2,000 people and said, ‘You make your own luck,’” the Food Network alum said. “I said, ‘Well, I actually had been incredibly lucky.’ And then she smacked me again. And I was like, ‘Okay.’”
While the former TV talk show host’s response may have seemed rash at the time, Garten later felt that Winfrey was “right” in her reaction. In fact, as she was reminiscing about the exchange in her new memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens, Garten realized Winfrey’s actions had more of an impact on her than she initially thought.
Though Garten didn’t credit Winfrey for inspiring her book title, the food mogul’s perception of her own “luck” did.
“I had always felt like I was really lucky, and in looking back and connecting the dots by writing a memoir, I realized I’d actually done a lot of work to be ready,” she admitted to People while promoting her memoir.
In her new book, which was released on October 1, Garten details significant moments from her past and how they’ve shaped her into the influential figure she is today. One of the most interesting – and possibly unknown – moments in Garten’s career was her time working in the White House. From 1974 to 1978, Garten wrote policies for the nuclear energy budget during both Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter’s presidential administrations.
After four years, Garten left the White House to buy Barefoot Contessa, a 400-square-foot food store in Westhampton Beach, New York. In 2020, the cook spoke to The New York Times about her jump from the prestigious White House job to running a specialty food market.
“Honestly, the first month I was there I thought, ‘This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life,’” she recalled. “I’d never been in the food business, I didn’t know how to do anything. But Jeffrey said, ‘If you could do it in the first week, you’d be bored in the second week.’”
She met Jeffrey Garten, her husband of 55 years, while visiting her brother at Dartmouth College in 1963. They tied the knot five years later.
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