The relationship that Ina Garten has with her husband, Jeffrey, is undeniable evidence that real love does exist. Even though it’s been more than three decades since it first started, the connection is as strong as ever.
While she went there to see her elder brother, Ken Rosenberg, who attends Dartmouth College, they happened to run into each other. Jeffrey had also been studying there, and he and a buddy were in the library when they first saw her. Jeffrey had also been studying there.
The same man inspired her passion for making food, and she thinks of him as her muse, which is why she has several books referencing her relationship with him.
Keep reading to learn more about their truly epic romance starting from that first live letter he sent her, to the morning coffee he always has for her.
Ina and Jeffrey’s relationship began in the early 1960s. As earlier stated, she caught his eye during her visit to the college. According to Ina:
“He saw me on the street and then sent me a letter with a photograph of himself in it, I just remember running through the house and going, ‘Mom, Mom, you’ve got to see this picture of this guy. He’s so cute!'”
As soon as Jeffrey laid eyes on her, he knew he was going to like her, but since his roommate was going out on a date with her, he had to wait and see how things turned out between them.
Fortunately for him, nothing significant came out of it, and he was free to write the letters that stated his wish to see her. He said in the letters that he was looking forward to spending time with her. Once upon a time, he said, “She looked really smart, and she looked nurturing.” “From her appearance, I could tell that she would look after me.”
After a few more months had passed, the two eventually went out on a date. Jeffrey drove to her parents’ house in Stamford, Connecticut, to pick her up, and then at her urging, they headed north to Port Chester, New York.
She was aware that in New York you could acquire a drink at the age of 18, and she wanted to make a good impression on the college student who had taken an interest in her. It came to a bad finish when she was denied entry, but Ina said that the date went well and that they had “a perfectly good time.”
Following that, Jeffrey continued to pursue her by writing her love letters and inviting her to pay him a visit at college. The celebrity from the Food Network said that there were a lot of letters. “It seems like he wrote to me on a daily basis. She exclaimed, “I just couldn’t keep up with it.”
Ina started paying her son Jeffrey visits at Dartmouth at some point in time, and as time went on, she became a common sight around campus. Even when she started attending Syracuse University, she never skipped her weekend ritual of taking a bus for six hours to see her family.
Their relationship lasted throughout his time at college, and she would often bring him packages of brownies or sweaters. Because of this, she became renowned among the males at his school, who were always curious to see what she would give him next.
They then learned that the lady had shown the text to the guy who was her husband later on.
Ina and Jeffrey had their wedding in December of 1968 at the home of Ina’s parents. Not just any bride, but a military bride, she was 20 years old when she tied the knot. During that time period, Jeffrey was serving as an officer in the Army and had been stationed in Fayetteville, North Carolina, along with the rest of his fellow soldiers.
She had the ideal life: she was married to the man she had loved her whole life, and she had plenty of time to prepare delicious meals for him. When he got back home, he found Ina sitting on the couch watching TV, so he told her she needed to get something from the kitchen. Jeffrey said:
“I just told her, ‘You have to do something,'” the narrator says. If you don’t, you won’t find fulfillment in life.”
She completed college at his insistence, and then she concentrated on pursuing her interests in business and food. In 1972, the two of them went on a vacation to Paris, and while they were there, they found out exactly how broad her gift for cooking was.
He referred to this time in her career as “the first formative period in her cooking.” Although they were always on the road and always aware of their finances, she was able to prepare meals that completely blew both of their minds at this time.
In the 1970s, the couple became well known in their social circle in Washington for the extravagant parties that they often hosted. Ina’s current position at the White House Office of Management and Budget would prevent her from devoting more than a full week to the task of menu planning while she was still employed there.
In 1978, at the insistence of her husband once again, Ina acquired the little Barefoot Contessa gourmet food business that was located in Westhampton Beach, New York.
It was the beginning of the enterprise that would eventually lead to the publication of her outstanding cookbooks. Her spouse stayed at her side through it all, and his unshakable faith in her served as a springboard for her to go where she needed to go in life.
The more famous she became, and the more people began to take note of their ideal love life, the more inquiries about their magic formula were asked, and every so often, they answered those queries.
Despite the fact that the couple has been married for more than half a century, anybody who observes the manner in which they interact with one another would get the impression that they are newlyweds.
This is due to the fact that Ina and Jeffrey are able to maintain the spark of romance alive in their relationship, and the basis for this is their connection to one another.
In fact, Ina has acknowledged that she feels linked to Jeffrey in such a manner that she is certain that he would rush to her side even if he were on the other side of the planet in the event that anything went wrong with her.
The fact that the couple has made the conscious choice not to have a family together has undoubtedly contributed to the fact that they are able to devote all of their attention to one another. They are both in their 70s now, and neither of them has any regrets about it.
In addition to that, he always prepares her coffee in the morning and keeps in constant contact with her via text messages while they are apart. One time, he allegedly forwarded one of the messages that were intended for her to a friend in California, and according to Ina, the communication came so close to being a sext that it was almost embarrassing.
When Jeffrey realized he had made a mistake, he naturally apologized to his business friend who was able to comprehend, but that was not the end of the story. They then learned that the lady had later given the text to her husband, most likely out of a tiny jealousy of the tenderness that they had as a married couple. Garten said:
“Therefore, I believe she was feeling a little envious, because she showed it to her husband and said, ‘Look at the text that Jeffrey sends to his wife.'” And then he says something like, “Oh, nobody ever texts that to their wives.” That was for his girlfriend, but he didn’t want to tell you that because he felt ashamed.'”
Lovely? However, it is not even half of the story. Additionally, Jeffrey has a habit of collecting newspaper clippings featuring her face and displaying them on his wall. However, he does this without her consent since she dislikes having proof of her public life displayed. Jeffrey said:
“As a result, I am constantly collecting stories from newspapers and magazines. The room is crammed with images of Ina on every available surface.
Jeffrey only views it as a memorial to his lover, despite Ina’s jokes that it looks like a murder scene. Ina, however, sees it as a joke. He is now enjoying his retirement, and as a result, the two of them spend a lot of time together.