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Ina Garten, star of Food Network’s The Barefoot Contessa, has been cooking and entertaining professionally for over 20 years. During that period, she wrote 13 cookbooks and filmed over 300 episodes and 27 seasons of her cooking series. Ina is a consummate multitasker, having picked up some skills in both cooking and life that have helped her deal with professional and personal burnout. She spilled some of her greatest tips to interviewer Chris Wallace.

Ina Garten poses on the set of her Food Network series, 'The Barefoot Contessa.'
Ina Garten, Food Network’s ‘The Barefoot Contessa’ | Mike Smith/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images

Ina Garten refused Food Network courting her for her series

In an interview with Who’s Talking With Chris Wallace, Ina said she declined an initial offer from Food Network to helm her series. She shared she put them off for an unbelievable amount of time.

Ina revealed it was a year and a half before she agreed to film her first episode of Barefoot Contessa in 2002. She told Chris, “I say lose my number. I didn’t think anybody would want to watch me on TV. I didn’t know what they saw. And I don’t know. I just couldn’t. I’ve never done TV. And I just didn’t, couldn’t imagine that.”

Before jumping into food television, Ina authored her first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. She also ran the successful Hamptons food store Barefoot Contessa. This leap of faith has been a hallmark of Ina’s life for many years and a tip she loves to share about shaking life up once in a while.

Ina Garten’s tips for avoiding burnout and keeping excitement alive

In her interview with the veteran newsman, Ina revealed that it might be time to shake things up again. After hitting the 20-year mark on Food Network, is the time right to make a change?

She admitted, “I would say every 20 years, I get incredibly bored. And I just go, okay, I have to change all of this. If I wake up in the morning, and I’m not a little scared about how this is going to work out, I’m not happy.”

Ina continued, “In that sense, I don’t have a grand plan. But every 20 years, I rethink what I’m doing. So that I feel like I’m totally invested and committed to something a little scary.”

She’s never had a ‘grand plan’

Ina Garten in a 2014 episode of 'The Chew."
Ina Garten cooks in an episode of ABC’s ‘The Chew’ | Jeff Neira/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

As many of Ina’s loyal fans know, she didn’t begin her career as a professional cook or even an author. For years, Ina worked as a nuclear budget analyst at the White House.

However, in 1981, she was looking through The New York Times business section when she came across an ad for a Hamptons specialty food shop named Barefoot Contessa. Despite not having any experience in the food business, Ina traveled to Long Island, looked at the property, and fell in love. With her husband Jeffrey’s support, she took the leap of faith and purchased the property.

She once told Katie Couric, “My philosophy of life is that you have to jump in the pond. You can stand on the side of the pond forever talking about what the pond is going to feel like, but you have to get in.” 

Therefore, Ina sees challenges as a necessary part of living life to the fullest. She told Chris that she doesn’t have “a grand plan.” But, I really just do what I love to do.” 

Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace airs on CNN on Sundays at 7 p.m. EST. The series also airs on HBO Max.

A new season of Be My Guest with Ina Garten debuts on the Food Network beginning Sunday, March 5.

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