Barefoot Contessa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the cooking show. For the film, see The Barefoot Contessa.
| Barefoot Contessa | |
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| Genre | Cooking |
| Running time | 20–23 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Ina Garten |
| Starring | Ina Garten |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original channel | Food Network |
| Original run | November 30, 2002–present |
| No. of episodes | 70, as of February 09, 2006 |
Barefoot Contessa is a cooking show on Food Network hosted by Ina Garten, which premiered on November 30, 2002. Each episode features Garten assembling dishes of varying complexity, and she often will give the viewer tips on decorating and entertaining.
The "Barefoot Contessa" name comes from Garten's best-selling cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, which in turn was titled to reflect the specialty foods store she bought in 1978. The store, no longer operating, was opened in 1975 and was named in tribute to the 1954 film of the same name.
The show is set in Ina Garten's mansion home in East Hampton. 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.
A typical episode would have Garten preparing a multi-course meal for friends, colleagues, small parties and, often, just for her husband Jeffrey, who formerly worked as a professor at Yale School of Management during the week. Her recipes often include fresh herbs, which she hand-harvests from her backyard garden. The tables are set with simple or elegant dishes, always with her own flowers or those brought in by Michael Grim, a local florist.
Often, her recipes will require an excursion, where one can witness her visiting various East Hampton specialty stores. Sometimes she might ask Jeffrey or her guest to pick up various ingredients or prepared desserts from one of the local shops.
Garten deconstructs complex French recipes like boeuf bourguignon while disseminating the joys of luxury, and simply "treating yourself". Her main goal is to prepare foods efficiently, allowing the cook to spend more time with guests as opposed to in the kitchen.
The show is mostly filmed in her own kitchen with fast moving camera shots and many close ups of perfectly-ripened fruits, eggs falling from the shells, or caramel sauce melting and sizzling in a shining steel pan. Barefoot Contessa is a good example of the genre known as food porn, along with shows such as Nigella Bites and Everyday Italian. The show is also shot at 24 frames per second as opposed to 30 frames per second which allows for a more movie-like, cinematic appearance. These shows focus highly on rich, palate and eye-pleasing foods.
A cookbook of the same name was also published in 1999 and is currently available along with a host of other books and merchandise.
The show was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award in 2005.
