Barefoot Contessa
Barefoot Contessa is a program on Food Network hosted by Ina Garten. The show's name comes from the upscale specialty food store which has since closed.
The show is set in Ina Garten's mansion home in the East Hamptons. The show follows a similar format to other "lifestyle" cooking shows found on the Food Network, catering to people looking to easily entertain while enriching their palates with little expertise.
The host's cooking technique follows in the French tradition with her own variations. The show is highly entertaining but somewhat "exhausting". Ina's recipes tend to incorporate an entire host of high-fat, high-calorie ingredients such as mayonaise or 2 sticks of butter.
A typical episode would have Ina preparing a multi-course meal for friends, colleagues, small parties and, often, just for her husband Jeffery, who works in the city during the week, but makes it home every Friday night. Her recipes often include fresh herbs, which she hand-harvests from her perfectly manicured estate garden.
Often, her recipes will require an excursion, where one can witness her driving in her BMW or Mercedes to various East Hampton specialty shops, like her own store. Sometimes she might ask Jeffery or her guest to pickup a plum pie at the bakery.
The show is highly entertaining with much educational value. Ina focuses on deconstructing complex french recipes like "Banana Crunch Muffins" while disseminating the joys of luxury, and simply "treating yourself".
The show is mostly filmed in her own kitchen with fast moving camera shots and many close ups of splattering batter on the counter.
A cookbook of the same name was also published in 1999 and is currently available along with a host of other books and merchandise.
External links
Barefoot Contessa is also the name of a band, a store, and a movie that came out in 1954 starring Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner. File:Http://onlineathens.com/images/012905/14293 512.jpg
