Ever wondered why Ina Garten chose to build her brand on the name Barefoot Contessa?
Sure, it rolls easily off the tongue and is the perfect title for her TV show and cookbooks, but Garten actually inherited the moniker by chance.
In a blog post, the domestic doyenne wrote that the food store she opened in 1978 was already named Barefoot Contessa when she purchased it: “It was the original name of my specialty food store after a movie with Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart. But for me, it means being both elegant and earthy,” Garten wrote.
The Barefoot Contessa: Cook Like a Pro host continued, “The former owner is Italian and her family called her the Barefoot Contessa when she was young.”