Ina Garten

Things Ina Says on Podcasts

New York Times bestselling author, and James Beard and Emmy Award-winning host of Barefoot Contessa and Be My Guest.

Where to Find Them

Ina Garten writes Ina Garten | Barefoot Contessa , writes https://inagarten.substack.com , hosts and writes Radio Cherry Bombe , hosts The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters , writes What To Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking and hosts Food Network Obsessed . They have also been a guest on Pivot (Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway) (2 times) , The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway , On with Kara Swisher and The Daily (NYT) .

Recently: “I think I found my new favorite cocktail!” on Ina Garten | Barefoot Contessa (October 2026); “Making cookbooks with a wonderful group of people” on Ina Garten | Barefoot Contessa (October 2026); “A favorite lunch recipe from my new cookbook” on Ina Garten | Barefoot Contessa (September 2026); “The first episode of Happy Hour with Ina is here!” on Ina Garten | Barefoot Contessa (September 2026); “The $40 Trillion National Debt, and the Trade-Offs of Living With Your Parents” on The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway (September 2026); “A Happy Hour recipe sneak peek!” on Ina Garten | Barefoot Contessa (September 2026).

What They Said

“I don't like being the head of a company that's doing things. I like doing things.” — Ina Garten, Pivot (Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway)

Kara Swisher had just asked Garten about moving away from traditional TV and publishing to go independent. Garten answered by repeating a friend's observation that she keeps starting businesses and shutting them down instead of growing one, and this is her explanation of why. It reframes a pattern most people would read as restlessness as a plain preference about how she wants to spend her days.

Pivot (Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway) · 2026-09-08 Permalink → Listen →
Pivot (Kara Swisher & Scott Galloway) Around 18:07 into the episode
Speaker 3

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Kara Swisher

…and publishing going independent. I've talked a lot about how great the move has been for me. I've been doing it for a dozen years and how I think more people should do it. But it also seems like people close to you have been pushing you to do this for years. So talk a little bit about this shift.

Ina Garten

You know, somebody asked me recently, actually, I thought it was really interesting. They said most people start a business and they grow it and they grow it and they grow it and they grow it. And she said, what you do is you start a business, you shut it down, you start another business, you shut that one down and you start a third business. I don't like being the head of a company that's doing things. I like doing things. And so I think that was a really interesting view of what I do. I just, I find I have like a 20-year attention span and I like to do something until I know how to do it. I've done it and it's time to challenge myself. Again, and then I'll take it to the next level or in a different direction, but still in the same genre of food and connecting with people. And that's basically what I've done for…

Kara Swisher

there a moment? I always have these moments. That happens to me. When I stopped doing my conference after 20 years, which was really successful, when it was very successful, I was like, we're done. I don't know why. I just woke up one morning and thought, oh, that's it.

Ina Garten

Because you know how to do it.

Kara Swisher

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Speaker names come from our own diarization. The position is estimated from where the line sits in the episode.

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