The Ina Garten Dinner Party Rule Taylor Swift Breaks
It's no secret that Ina Garten and Taylor Swift have a true friendship. They're both fans of each other's work: Garten listens to Swift's music when she cooks, while Swift has said Garten made her see cooking as "self-care." Even so, Swift doesn't follow Garten's tips exactly. In fact, there's one dinner party rule Garten swears by that Swift doesn't follow.
"I tend to try out new recipes for dinner parties — but not ones that intimidate me too much!" Swift told Bon Appétit in a 2012 interview. Garten suggests against this hosting strategy. "You're better off making something that you know you can nail without too much stress than finding some recipe in a cookbook that you've never used before," she told Food Network.
Even though Swift is taking a risk, we're guessing she can pull it off. She grew up assisting her mom in the kitchen, so she has cooking experience. Plus, Garten's spaghetti and meatballs is one of the celebrity chef recipes Swift said she'll "make for life", as she told Elle in 2019. Garten would likely support Swift's diversion from her advice. Although she painstakingly tests her recipes before plating them for others, it's not Garten's cooking philosophy to tell her fans to do the same. "This is what I do. You can do whatever the f**k you want to do. And I'm just having fun here," she playfully told CBS in 2022.
Garten thinks Swift is a good cook nonetheless
Ina Garten and Taylor Swift cooked together for a special music issue of Food Network Magazine, released in 2014. They prepared mustard-roasted fish and mixed berry pavlova, washing it down with Garten's favorite cocktail, whiskey sours. Garten was psyched to meet the singer, sharing a selfie with her Instagram followers while they worked on the photoshoot. "Just another day at the office — OMG cooking with Taylor Swift! Love her!!!" she raved in the caption.
After this initial meeting, their admiration for each other only grew. "I was so flattered that she chose to work with me," Garten told People. "She's a very good cook, and she loves to cook," she added. Swift never fails to return the love, sweetly crediting Garten with turning cooking from a "chore" to a beloved pastime for her. "Cooking has been my escape from stress and one of the only ways I can truly calm myself on a rough day," she told Food Network Magazine. "I'll always be grateful to her for giving me that."