A few weeks ago, Ina Garten left a cheeky comment on Reese Witherspoon’s Instagram. Reese was trying to shill some self-help book about how to manage your time and intent (or something) and Ina was basically like: during the pandemic, do what you need to do to survive. Ina’s suggestions were along the lines of “Drink more large cosmos” and “Stay up late watching addictive streaming series” and “Stay in bed in the morning playing Sudoko instead of reading a good book.” Well, guess who hated all of that? Martha Stewart. Martha is fully committed to beefing with Ina Garten. Martha was like: that basic bitch is always sloppy drunk and it’s not cute.
Earlier this month, Ina Garten commented on a post of Reese Witherspoon’s and revealed that her “formula” for coping with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic includes drinking “more large cosmos.” But Martha Stewart isn’t totally on board with that advice.
“I do not agree about taking to drink to cope with things like the pandemic,” the lifestyle expert and businesswoman tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “To me that’s not charming.”
Instead, Stewart prefers to keep busy with new projects, like launching her new chardonnay, Martha’s Chard, with Australian wine brand 19 Crimes. “To me it’s continuing to work really hard, to be as productive as I possibly can be, to enjoy my grandchildren,” she says.
Stewart, 80, is “not a big drinker,” she says. “I never have been.” She’ll have a glass of wine or two with dinner and will extend the glass with the addition of ice cubes (a tactic she promises is now totally acceptable, even to fine winemakers). She credits her productivity to her daily routine at home in Bedford, New York.
“I have a lot of energy and a lot of curiosity. I get up early every single day,” she says. “I live on a farm, so the farm life starts early. At 7 a.m. we’re all at work — snow, rain, sunshine, we’re here. Animals don’t wait.”
She tells PEOPLE she watches TV “only at night” rather than during the day. “I have two iPads, and I might use up all the power in both during a night watching something,” she says. “I just binged season 3 of Yellowstone. I loved it. Kevin Costner never looked better.”
The entrepreneur is also looking and feeling her best. Her secrets? “I just brought Frederic Fekkai home from California to cut my hair. I continue with my facials at Mario Badescu,” she says. “And the pandemic has been okay to me physically because I haven’t been eating out as much. I’ve lost some weight. I feel good.”
The rest of us are limping our way through two full years of a panny and Martha was like “how dare you need coping mechanisms, y’all should be WORKING.” I mean, I’m not a drinker anymore, so I actually have been working this whole time, but I still have my much-needed coping mechanisms (outdoor walks, watching tennis & Poirot DVDs). Martha needs to let Ina and everybody else have some drinks though. Not all of us live on a damn farm, putting ice cubes in our wine and judging the lesser mortals. (Incidentally, I never thought Martha would be pro-ice-cubes-in-wine, how gauche.)
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Avalon Red.
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- Martha Stewart arrives at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 9, 2020 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 563481968, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Xavier Collin / Avalon
Martha is just jealous that the Barefoot Contessa is beloved, while she is not. I own seven Ina Garten cookbooks, as do my daughters. Zero of Martha’s. Sorry, not sorry.
I own all of them. I have a few of Martha’s but Ina’s are easier to cook from. You more than likely will have the ingredients in your cabinets.
Team Ina. Her cookbooks are the gold standard. I remember looking through Martha’s old cookbooks with a friend, cackling how impossible to follow it was. Ingredients like 10 lbs of duckfat. Where does one even find a local store carrying that much duckfat? Paris?
Same here, Ina is way more likeable and her recipes are easier to comprehend. Let’s face it, both ladies are millionaires, and I’m sure we’d never travel in the same circles, but if you met both on the street who would be more approachable??? I can easily guess the answer…..
Ina: (greeting Liz Lemon over her fence in the Hamptons) Hi, neighbor. I’m Ina Garten.
You know, my husband Jeffrey is away, and I’ve got some bruschetta and white wine open.
Why don’t you come over?
Liz Lemon: I’M ALIVE!
That episode of 30 Rock is my all time fav. 🤣
My god. ONCE, I used a Stewart recipe to make a cake — the beehive shaped cake (someone gave me the cake mold because I was a beekeeper …) with marzipan bees all over it. I never *ever* followed a more complicated recipe for such a basic outcome. Swore I’d never use a Stewart recipe for anything ever again. She’s way too impressed with herself, but I will admire the cosmetic work she’s had done over the years.
Ugh. Stewart’s recipes suck. I tried one of her simple lemon cookie ones—fooey. A lot of work for tasteless reward.
hear hear! she’s just jealous and honestly, a bit of a hypocrite given how hard she tried to rebrand herself by smoking up with snoop – why split hairs over which substances are the *right* kind of crutch in a global pandemic?
Martha doesnt care, she’s 80, she’ll say what she wants. But also, it is said that martha steals napkins and utensils or something like that when she is out to dinner at her friends’ house. To me, that is not charming, but she does what she will. I want everybody to do what feels right to them, to be able to cope with the pandemic, or even outside the pandemic. We have enough troubles already, there’s no need to judge other people’s action. I hope that if Martha’s comment gets to Ina, it’ll go in one ear and out the other right away.
I’ll take a glass of Cosmos with Ina over being looked down at and judged.
Team Ina
I just took it as a Lighthearted JOKE!!!
We need some pandemic laughter and sometimes the GOOP/Reese Weatherspoon wellness brigade swings too far in the ridiculous direction. Many of us work. Yes, I try and eat right, I exercise, I like nature but I also get stuck on crowded subways in rush hour. I need some levity and Reality!!!
I think Martha needs to climb off of the enormous perch that she has placed herself on and STFU! Ina was not endorsing that we all become alcoholics during the pandemic, she was just encouraging all of us to try and relax and it’s understandably an incredibly stressful period for everyone. Ina was just using the drinking as a shtick. Ina is relatable and very down to earth. Whereas Martha has built her entire career on an unattainable lifestyle for those of us that have actual commitments.
Yep! And a tall cosmo will always be more charming than insider trading…
I thought Ina’s shtick about large cosmos and drinking her way through the pandemic was always just that….a shtick. Does anyone think that Ina Garten is drunk every night or pours her first cosmo at 10 am or whatever? I mean maybe she is, IDK.
I do think its a funny tactic for Martha to take (attacking Ina for this, although I think “attacking” is a strong word in this context) since I think Martha got infinitely more interesting and appealing to a younger generation with her wine line and her collaboration with Snoop etc.
All that said, I do think there was a widespread acceptance of over-drinking during the early stages of the pandemic and I do think a lot of people are trying to walk that back now. I have mentioned on here before that starting over the summer I made a conscious effort to walk back my drinking bc it just kept creeping up. i remember when we first went into lockdown in March 2020 we thought “oh this will be two weeks or a month so hey, why not have that glass of wine at 3 pm, buy all the wine, mimosas for breakfast!” And now its almost two years later so yeah that 3 pm glass of wine doesn’t go down the same, you know?
But none of that is Ina’s fault.
Yes, of course it’s a shtick. And so is Martha’s ‘I only sip from my own brand of chardonnay and I live on a farm and get up at 7 because animals don’t wait’-nonsense. I doubt either of them do much else but work (and not on the farm). They are businesswomen and entrepreneurs, so good for them.
Me, I like my glass of wine at the end of the day to mark the end of the work part and beginning of the home part in my house. I understand many of us do.
I was coming here to say that a glass of wine does sometimes help with the demarcation between work and non-work since everything is at home now. I’m pregnant now so wine is not really an option anymore and am wondering what other people do to draw that line. Sometimes cooking dinner does that for me, but since I often have to work after dinner and have gone off TV because the quantity of shows is too overwhelming, would love some inspiration from others on how they “turn off” work mode.
@Kate I’m back to working from the office now, but I still like that demarcation between work time and chill time. I like to go for a walk or have a cup of tea. I’m trying really hard to get away from the glass of wine or over-indulgent snack.
Oh to be clear I am not judging people for a glass of wine, I love wine lol. But I do think for many during the pandemic that nightly glass of wine became a bottle of wine, or it started earlier in the day, etc. And that may work for some people but for others it does not.
@Kate right now to turn off my work mode I have a mug of herbal tea and something sweet, kind of whatever we have in the house. Sometimes its a handful of peanut M&Ms, sometimes its a Lara bar, etc. and I read a book for about a half hour. BUT I get off work at 230/3ish (depending on what time I logged on) and I never have to work after logging out.
@Kate, I realized I do that demarcation with a cup of my favorite tea. I enjoy alcohol occasionally, but at the end of a work day I always yearn for my tea (in my special mug) instead of a stiff drink. Nobody gets anything from me until I have my tea. My day is just not the same without it.
I gotta give both these women some slack though. I think Ina was just trying to encourage people to go easy on themselves and not take “self care” to stressful levels, while Martha was trying to temper Ina’s message by reminding people that seizing the day and doing rewarding work can also be therapeutic.
Thanks guys! Tea seems like a great idea, it does have that “sit down and relax” vibe and tea is one of my frequent impulse purchases so I have a LOT waiting to be enjoyed. I often go on walks during lunch to clear my head/refocus, so that doesn’t work for me to unwind but highly recommend it for anyone that needs a good mid-day break.
And @Becks1, totally hear you on a nightly glass becoming more. I do agree with you that at the beginning it was very much acceptable for any time to be wine o’clock and do what you want to get through this pandemic which will be over in 3 months (LOL) and then there was this realization that….we are going into year 3 of this!
I don’t even get the point of criticizing someone for saying they’re getting through these tough times with large Cosmos, when you’re busy shilling your own wines. What does Martha think people who buy her wines are doing with them, polishing their chandeliers?
Beautiful points, all of them.
All of this! I think the reason I’m doing Dry January (and beyond) is that the daily cocktails, the day drinking on weekends, all became habitual and I finally recognized that the pandemic is not going away (as an excuse) and I can’t keep doing this.
I think your assessment is dead on. Personally, I feel like I spent the first year of the pandemic overindulging in food and drinks, and the second year throwing myself into rigorous work and volunteering. I’m feeling incredibly burnt out now, and Reese and Martha’s advice isn’t landing too well. I think Ina’s point was that we should go easy on ourselves, which is what I’m aiming for in the third pandemic year. I’m just trying to do that with less booze than she’s describing.
Well Martha, during various lockdowns I got up at the crack of noon daily, (because I don’t live on a farm,) drank my way through various vineyards (not yours) and enjoyed doing no professional work as I’m retired. So there!
I started out thinking that they are both trying to amuse us by taking down the stereotypes of themselves: i.e. they are orchestrating a mini-feud for both publicity and the fun of it. They like to amuse people. It’s like Joan Crawford (Martha) vs Bette Davis (Contessa)
i’d be here for martha to lean into the super villain vibes she gives off
Agree with all of this. I feel like this is being goofy on Ina’s part. Like her April First recipe for the largest cosmo ever seen. Fantastic.
It’s a little cringe to joke about drinking all the time during the pandemic, having had a dear family member finally go into treatment for alcoholism during this season, but I think Ina is joking.
It feels disingenuous for Martha to criticize Ina when she’s literally shilling WINE.
I do agree that ice cubes in white wine is OK when the wine is not cold enough. I don’t love it, but I would rather have really cold wine with ice cubes than lukewarm chardonnay.
19 Crimes Wine? Hah, picked up deeply discounted 19 Crimes rosé and red with pix of Snoop Dogg on label after holidays. Sweeeet! Reminded me of one their shows where Snoop added some sugar, saying “I need me some sweet.” Red is still in the basement, but rosé needed heavy doctoring with lemon and orange to make it palatable (hot spiced wine). Never cooked from Martha Stewart and never will. Made my neighbor some lemon curd and she compared my simple recipe with hers from Martha. That recipe should have been called 19 Crimes!
She might not drink that much but since I saw her day-drinking with Seth Meyers, I figured it’s more of an exaggeration rather than a schtick. She definitely likes her drinks but is probably not often drunk.
Oh please. Martha ain’t up at 6 a.m. mucking out the stalls. She has staff for such things. Also, isn’t she smoking pot most days and texting with her friend Snoop?
Ina lives more like most of us (except we don’t live in the Hamptons in a beautiful large home with an amazing garden). I’d hit a party at Ina’s house over Martha’s every day of the week.
Yeah, I love my Queen Martha, but… her Instagram account is… not sober. I always assumed it WAS wine, so now my mind is wandering.
I love Ina and think she and Jeffrey make the cutest couple! If anything this pandemic should have taught us that imbibing within reason is not anything to ridicule. Save the outrage for the anti mask/ anti vaxxers!! “Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die!”
Oh Martha…lighten up! Live and let live…..
Speaking of lightening up, I used to watch Julia Child years ago (still do sometimes). I’ve also seen some of Martha Steward’s old shows when they were on (less than 10 total). I was always more comfortable with JC because I noticed that she had more self-awareness. She would routinely name substitute ingredients or kitchen tools for others to use if she was using some hard-to-find product. Julia even suggests using canned or frozen this-or-that for busy people. I noticed that Martha would not. On the rare occasions that MS would acknowledge an alternative existed, she would advise viewers to use her more time-consuming method instead. I once saw her painting a lampshade and had to tune out when she got ready to apply the second coat(!) — I just couldn’t take it anymore. At least, acknowledge that it’s a bit much!
The ONLY thing Julia Child insisted on was that cooks should have “impeccably clean hands.” Makes sense to me.
I would much rather enjoy some cosmos with Ina than have iced 19 Crimes Chard wine with Martha. No contest.
Love Ina, but Martha’s comments did make me reflect on the number of people i know over indulging to cope with the pandemic. It’s fine once in a while but we are 3 years in and it’s become consistent behaviour we all need to keep an eye out for.
You’re right about that. I had to really look at my alcohol consumption because it was starting to get out of the control. One glass a night isn’t bad but when you’re getting up to 2 or 3/nightly, that’s not so good. Who’d think the pandemic would last this long?
Isn’t Martha “weeding” her way through with her BFF Snoop Dog?? Seriously, Martha, just go weed your garden on your multi-million dollar estate (*how*many* bathrooms????), and let the grownups do what they need to do to get through.
#TeamIna
Oh Shut up Martha! Maybe Martha can tell us how to make jail ” a good thing” ( rolling my eyes). Ina FOREVER!!!
Love Ina and her easy, gentle approach to life. Poor Martha. Maybe pop a few more CBD gummies and chill out.
I hid pot gummies in an old basket so the grandkids wouldn’t get them. I forgot and DONATED the basket to a local thrift shop!! :O
Look at jealousy rearing it’s blonde head. Ina is just living and imagine she was just having some fun with Reese and her list of pandemic “rules.”
There are the “Pull yourself up by the bootstraps & put on your big girls pants” vs. “We are all depressed by this and coping the best we can…” schools. Not sure everyone can just “snap to” because they should. I’m just glad I’m eating cookies instead of opium at this point.
I completely disagree (with probably everyone here.) I’m an alcoholic. Have been for a very long time. Don’t get me wrong, I do think everyone should have a coping method that suits them, but I have met way too many people who have either relapsed during the pandemic or all of a sudden had to join AA because the pandemic brought out an addiction they never knew existed.
Telling anyone to drink more when we are in the middle of a pandemic is disgusting. And I actually like Ina more than Martha. But I think they’re both out of touch.
My husband is an alcoholic, sober 38 years, so yes I understand the disease. But Martha’s snootiness here is jealousy dressed up as societal concern.
This.
Funny how Martha judges Ina for the bigger cosmos comment while straight-faced shilling her wine during the the pandemic. SMH.
I have no chef in this fight, but clearly Martha is bothered by Ina, not the alcohol.
Also, is it just me, or is ‘a couple of glasses of wine with dinner’ not really ‘not a big drinker’? I would describe myself as not a big drinker and I MAY have a couple of drinks a week, sometimes nothing at all… what is the difference really between a big cosmo and 2 glasses of wine?
The pandemic has caused a lot of issues for people, excessive drinking, mental health issues, weight gain, etc. I don’t think Ina was advocating drinking your problems away but making a joke. I don’t think you should drink your problems away either but this was a petty swipe by Martha because you know, how can anyone like this chubby woman and her “basic” recipes over me and my fancy recipes? Martha’s insecurity slip is showing and frankly how are lecturing anyone about their drinking while pushing your wine and blazing up every day. Martha needs to sit down and relax, relate , release.
My father was an alcoholic. He used it as a stress escape — the bottle of wine while watching TV. My dad was “high-functioning”, never missed a day of work, and wasn’t abusive. But it doesn’t change the fact that it’s stressful on a child to be around an adult who is drunk and not behaving like an adult should.
So while I am an occasional social drinker, I have always been very conscious of not using alcohol or any other substance as a regular way to unwind or manage my own anxiety. I don’t even have wine with meals unless I am in company or it’s a special occasion. And my own child has never seen more more than mildly tipsy. I don’t watch my drinking because I’m morally superior to my dad — who was a kind and gentle soul — I just saw what I didn’t want for my own family.
That said, I appreciated Ina’s commentary on Reese’s obsessively Type A take on pandemic behavior — cosmos and all. She didn’t only list drinking — she listed a bunch of other fun, time-wasting activities that don’t include alcohol.
Not all of us have it in us (or want) to be Reese or Martha. My life is so already full of things that I HAVE to do, that getting a chuckle over Ina’s clapback of the things that she WANTS to do made my day.
I feel for you Marietta – I come from a fam with a lot of substance issues and I know how that can make conversations like this incredibly sensitive!
Ina wasn’t promoting drinking more or using alcohol to cope with the pandemic. She was describing a range of activities that are pleasurable in moderation (for Ina at least) as a contrast to the idea that the new year has to be exclusively about rigid discipline and self-optimization. That’s a positive message even if an individual’s mileage may vary on the particulars.
Very well put.
Yes my husband relapsed soon after the pandemic began. As AA meetings went online, he stopped attending and it has been a very stressful 2 years for me, now I am very close to heading for divorce.
So I cringe every time someone suggest drinking more as coping with the pandemic or drinking zoom meetings etc at work.
I’m so sorry, Vera. I dealt with a similar situation with a close relative, but thankfully he was eventually willing to get into the hospital and detox. Even the fallout of that positive choice has been very stressful to our family. Alcohol is a very serious problem for a lot a of people.
I’m so sorry. I hope there’s a reversal, or a least a resolution that brings you peace, coming soon.
I’ve consoled myself, almost nightly with Ina’s recipes which are full proof. This sounds like Martha’s Achilles heel, endless professional jealousy. Martha needs to acquire some of Ina’s graciousnesses!!
I made a huge double batch of Ina’s chicken chili on Christmas Eve and it was soooooo good!
That sounds delicious, I’m going to check it out, thx!
Yes! Ina’s recipes are dependably good and everyone loves them. OTOH Martha’s are difficult to follow, often have exotic ingredients, and are failures. Team Ina all day every day.
So Martha is really busy … launching an alcohol line? But alcohol is is bad? Anyway, she has been ambitious workaholic since she was a teenager. That’s fine, but it does not mean everyone needs to be that way.
Yes. “Don’t drink…..but here’s my new wine, buy it!”
I enjoy the Ina/Martha back & forth. They are both talented and can be appreciated for their strengths and not so great aspects. Once I saw Martha’s home highlighted on whatever that show of hers during pandemic I feel like I can never dislike anyone who lives there. I like that Ina concentrates on cooking while Martha has so many things going on. When I first discovered Ina as a young mother I was annoyed that her entire days were devoted to meals, too unrealistic for me, specialty shopping ingredients, yeah no, not in my world. Also that she talked about and to her beloved Jeffery like a pet dog. Martha’s curated matchy matchy designs irritated me at first but I’ve grown to like both women and what they bring us.
I love Ina on social media and I like her recipes (I’m not the best baker but I made her challah bread and it was awesome) but I don’t particularly like her show. I can handle a segment or two but then she starts to annoy me. I’m not sure what it is. Too unrealistic a lifestyle? there’s something about her shows I just dont like, maybe its just envy, LOL.
I feel the same way. I really like Ina’s recipes, but she seems to live in a 1980’s bubble – that foodie, Hamptons, cheese-purveyor, and the gay guy who owns the flower shop in the “village” kind of world.
My brain cannot process the fact that Martha Stewart is 80 when she looks like that. Like damn, that is some good work.
80?! That’s crazy. She’s looked the same forever!
Yeah I stopped for a second on that. I can’t believe she’s 80 and looks this way. She is not aging!
I guess Martha forgot about the time she was on the Today show around the holidays (may have been Christmas morning), drinking, and telling pregnant Katie Couric that it was ok to drink alcohol because the pomegranate seeds or whatever she was using, cut the alcohol and Matt Lauer had to intervene…
I prefer Ina over Martha, but I’m totally with Martha on the topic of drinking. I’m tired of people glorifying alcoholism as if it were a harmless bit of self-care or some cool, romantic act of defiance. It isn’t. I’m watching one of my oldest friends destroy herself with her never-ending cocktails and it’s heartbreaking. This is not about moral judgement– it’s very real self harm, and I can see the damage, not only to herself but to everyone around her. Sorry to be so triggered, but there it is.
Absolutely! This! I am a very light drinker (like, actually – maybe a glass of wine every 7-8 months), and its SHOCKING how many people prescribe drinking (or more than that, getting completely drunk) as a solution to life’s problems. I’ve noticed it over the pandemic for sure, but also a few years back when my dad died; it was the number one offered advice from friends and family to deal with grief – which is SO messed up.
It’s become this “joking” prescription for everything and honestly Martha is right -it’s NOT charming. People should absolutely have a drink or two if they want to, if it is not out of control, and if they feel it is good for them and their life – but I absolutely agree it should stop being handed out as self care advice or like…a coping mechanism. That’s exactly what drinking SHOULDN’T be.
Agreed. I hate how normalised problematic drinking is. Just watched the Danish film Another Round the other night and I found it really depressing and the drinking culture very ugly. It’s the same here Australia and seemingly most other places. Binge drinking and daily drinking are 100% acceptable and if you don’t drink you are openly interrogated by others, as though not drinking is a personal affront to them. (I do drink but only occasionally.) I have no problem with moderate drinking but I feel like many people have problematic relationships with alcohol and are just kidding themselves that they don’t.
Agreed!
Ina was just teasing Reese’s type A January resolutions and having fun with her. Martha is a jealous one – remember the criticism she gave Gwyneth Paltrow for having the audacity to publish a cookbook because she was an actress and Martha told her to stay in her lane? Imagine being 80 and spending your time stewing over other people’s success in your field. What a waste of time.
I like both of them. Have one of Ina’s cookbooks and none of Martha’s. It seems as if People mag wants to renew some imagined “rivalry” between the two long time friends.imo Martha wrote the foreword for Ina’s first book.
https://people.com/food/ina-garten-martha-stewart-rivals/
“I just brought Frederic Fekkai home from California to cut my hair.”
Hahaha. Never change Martha.
Team Ina all the way.
Team Ina
Her cook books are great
I’ve made a few of Martha’s recipes over the years and they were meh just like her
Love the hypocrisy from Martha on the subject drinking daily. I adore both women but it’s 2022 and am over pitting one woman over another. Two glasses of wine every night versus a large cocktail? Both seem problematic to me but I live with a recovering alcoholic so i’m always triggered by daily drinking dressed up as normal behavior. Americans love to praise workaholics but all I see is a lonely woman who doesn’t know how to be still.
I’m not American and these people aren’t on my cultural radar, but when I saw Ina Garten’s message popping up all over Instagram I was kind of annoyed by the privilege displayed. Who is able to stay up late boozing and binging tv and who is able to stay in bed in the morning doing Sudoku’s? I get from your reactions that she is a tongue-in-cheek person.
She’s also rich as all get out, but somehow gracious enough that we don’t hate her for it.
I had an experience with Ina and she was a total B. Regardless of how great Ina’s recipes might be, her angle is total rich white lady privilege suggesting we sit around drinking, playing cards, binging into the late night….who is that realistic for? And ice in wine?….no one’s ever enjoyed a spritzer?
I’m not an expert, but I think there isn’t much difference in alcohol content in the end between one Cosmo and two glasses of wine (and modern glassware comes in such big sizes that two glasses might well be half a bottle).
Stewart seems to want to have it both ways: drink every day, but only wine with dinner, and watch a lot of TV, but only on two iPads, and only at night.
Before Thanksgiving, Reese did another insta video where she inadvertently dissed one of Ina’s recipes for roasted chicken. Ina was just lying in wait to take Reese down. She sees, remembers, and doesn’t forget. Martha doesn’t understand the beef at all. Of course Ina wasn’t being explicitly literal, she was taking potshots at Reese’s silly girlboss tweet for Reese taking potshots at Ina’s recipe, which why Reese? Why???
What?? Ina’s roast chicken is the standard I hold all roast chicken too. Flawless recipe!
I missed Reese’s story about inadvertently dissing ina’s famous chicken. What did she say? Didn’t know this was some tit for tat here! Do tell.
She said it was too complicated with too many herbs etc so she would never actually cook it but it “sounds lovely”.
Ohhhhhh I remember that! basically there was an element of “who has time for THAT?!?!?” to the post (even though I don’t think it was meant to be malicious) so I can see Ina’s response to Reese’s self-care in the same vein. like don’t mock my chicken but then tell people your ideas for self care like my chicken is so absurd.
I cancelled Ina after she turned down a dying child’s wish to be on her show. Not once, but TWICE.
Oh F off Martha. I suspect she’s just a mean girl at heart
I’m always Team Ina, but I do have a soft spot for MS. I’ve use her roast turkey\gravy recipe technique since 1999 when I saw it on her show. My family would revolt if I stopped making it for special holidays! OHH and I love BOOZE!
Nikki, you should get a frigging MEDAL for just eating cookies and not opium. I am not kidding. These have been the worst two years in our country in my memory. As John Lennon said, “Whatever gets you through the night, it’s alright.”
Ugh hate her, she is one of those toxic positivity people who are all like “You need to use this lockdown to be productive”. Gag.
I found it really funny that she shades drinking and then is like…but try my new wine that I’m shilling! It just sounds so obviously hypocritical that I have to wonder if it’s a joke.
There’s absolutely no choice to be made here. Martha has lived her entire life with a titanium rod firmly attached inside her ass.
Maybe we should all pitch in and rent a tow truck to drag it out? LOL!! I like Martha but she’s so extra….
Eh, coming from someone who rarely drinks because I’ve dealt with high functioning alcoholism close to me I get what she meant, but it comes across bitchy and judgmental. I’m horrified by alcohol culture these days, it’s everywhere and causes so much death and destruction but it’s still sold as fun and games, boggles my mind.
What a dork. She has to be self righteous a the time. Holier than thou syndrome. Like her best buddy Snoop isn’t smoking all day and hunting for Doritos. We can’t all live like we picked up tips from prison.
I always get annoyed when people tell others how to function based on their own preferences. She only drinks minimally? Ok so what. Some don’t.
I look at how people treat others and behave, not how many pies they make after a brisk crack head of dawn brisk walk. That wouldn’t be my speed.
She’s still an arrogant prick no matter how many times she got contact high.
Oreo came out with some lemon cookies, that’s what got me through the worse of 2020. Martha seems to have missed the humor in Ina’s comment.
Isn’t she buddies with Snoop? I mean, come on.
My Mom was on the board of a local charity that hosted an event featuring Martha Stewart giving a cooking lesson and some additional DIY activities.
My Mom was floored when Martha swooped in last minute after her team had set everything up ( and did 100 % of the of the work) and abruptly left, not a huge surprise, but what was is she gave zero acknowledgement to her people while being difficult and grumpy the whole time.
I wonder how she gets people to work for her!?!
I read that she’s one of those people who texts you at all hours of the day and night , weekends included and thinks you’re lazy if you’re not paying attention to your work 100% of the time. If you don’t want to work all the time you’re not committed. I worked for two women like that once and I felt that if your name is on the door or your getting the perks of partnership, do you but if you’re a worker bee like me, don’t put that expectation on me. I liked the ladies personally but being good at your job just meant you got more work dumped on you. I never went to lunch or went home on time and every Sunday evening I had a stomachache. I quit after 2 yrs, it was a small shop and me and my co-worker used to cry in the closet.
This is hilarious. I need this entertainment! Let it rip!
Martha who? Isn’t she the boomer that went to jail for insider trading?
Shut up Martha, nobody’s talking to you.
It’s not charming to be arrested for insider trading too but we all have our things, Martha.
I love them both. Ina is my go to chef.
I drink too much and have many friends in AA. I think it is valuable that we don’t normalize drinking.
On the subject of drinking and not of Ina vs Martha (both rich white ladies who give off vibes I recognize after working for their ilk …ugh whatever)…
But… yes, to all the posters who oppose the glorification of drinking…10000% agree! The alcohol industry has done a massive job of selling it for celebration, relaxing, low-harm, everyday activity. It’s. Not. At. All. Harmless.
Please…all you smart folx on here, check out the research. I was horrified to hear from a prominent breast cancer researcher (Weill Cornell) that TWO drinks a WEEK raised cancer risk enormously. She said it matter-of-factly, as an established truth. But how many of us have heard that? The alcohol industry does a really good job of covering it up. Recent article in the NYTimes said the same…there is no level of safe drinking for health reasons. There is literally no benefit to drinking. Drink if you want, but don’t make it out to be good, or necessary or without cost. Yes, I would love a cold beer on a hot July day…but that’s where it ends. It’s not really needed to unwind, socialize, face the evening, whatever.
Here’s a thought experiment to see how normalized daily drinking has become and how bizarre it is if you were to substitute anything else in it’s place. I love chocolate cake…Imagine if I said that I couldn’t transition to the end of the workday without a slice (or two) of chocolate cake, or not have it with dinner every night, or not attend a party without it. I would look bizarre to others who don’t see chocolate cake as a must-have mood lubricant. That’s what we are like when we do the must-have-a-glass-of -wine-to-unwind schtick; but we don’t realize it because it’s been so, so, so well sold as NORMAL, so that everyone accepts it as some sort of cool truth.
I grew up in a culture that provided evening transitions that were not pub/alcohol-based. While I don’t recommend evening prayers for everyone (hey, I only tolerated it as a kid because I had to lol!)…there are elements of it that are useful to people who are not necessarily spiritual or even theist. Lighting a candle, brewing a special cup of tea or tisane, having a little quiet time (a walk or meditation or reading), or putting on a soothing chant. Music of this kind is especially good at re-calibrating mental systems that are tired from a day’s work and need to stabilize (I tried this out when my kid was young and would predictably have that 5/6 pm cranky meltdown…it’s subconscious but it evens out the mood as day transitions into night…it works!). There’s quite a bit of research out there on this actually.
I guess what I’m saying is that people need to devise methods of self care that are not simply ingesting something to affect body chemistry. An evening transition is real from the body’s circadian rhythm point of view, but medicating it with alcohol is not. My partner is not woo-woo or theist, but will have a put-away-the-keyboard moment around 6 and usually go for a short, brisk walk. I usually light an oil lamp and have a short meditation. Sometime I put on music. My (now-grown) kid will stop work and do a short hatha yoga session. All of it helps punctuate the day. There must be so many other creative ways of de-compressing.
I had to make my first and only (very long intl) flight since March 2020 to get a sibling into rehab (heartbreaking) because pandemic+alcohol created a crisis out of a daily heavy habit. And I know I’m not alone in this. Let the alcohol companies sell their shtick but when we start doing it for them, then it’s a tsunami of bs.
Sorry for the long post…but I’ve so had it with the normalization of daily drinking.
That’s a lot of excellent food for thought Dawnchild. Thank you for taking the time.
Embezzlement is also not charming.
Well, she’s totally got that Polish farmer ethics of working hard everyday.
I love Martha but I’m with Inna on this one. It’s a pandemic and we need special cocktails for that😉
I read Martha’s response as being satiric and making some light fun of herself and her reputation. I don’t believe for a minute that she would endorse ice-cubes in wine. I love to think that the entire exchange is motivated to amuse his. I have never, however, seen either woman on television except for the delightful Cybill Shepherd “Martha”.
I’ve only made a few recipes from Martha Stewarts website but all three were GOD AWFUL. One was for financieres (these little French almond cakes) that called for so much sugar I thought they were joking. But I stupidly thought “what do I know? 3 cups of sugar might be totally reasonable.” It was not. They were so sickly sweet it was unreal. And Martha’s all slamming booze? Pot, meet kettle.
I love them both. They are each so much fun in their own way.
Although Ina’s recipes are INFINITELY better.
Reese’s original comment was very mellow, so it’s strange to see it characterized as out of touch. Didn’t she basically just say let’s drink more water and take more walks? I don’t know, that’s more relatable than let’s drink a pitcher of cosmos, a thing I’ve never done. I like everyone involved here I guess, for different reasons. But I do think some of the preferences are generational. Interestingly, Martha is hugely popular with younger Millenials and Gen Z, Ina not so much.
OK Judgey McJudgerson LOL look, in general, I like Martha Stewart! But GIRL, you’ve done time IN PRISON. Now you want to sit on a farm and judge other people for how they cope and their jokes. Jealously is *not* a good look for you. Snoop better puff puff PASS it on over to you so you can chill out.
This comment cracked me up.
Martha may be unlikable but she is not wrong. I am rather tired of people trying to make alcoholism ok because they don’t want to be judged for over drinking. It destroys people’s lives and families. Most people do not drink responsibly, just ask their family members.
I’m going to cut them both some slack. I mean, they’re both privileged women living in a bit of a bubble. Ina’s recipes are better, but Martha is more than just a cook, she’s a decorator and lifestyle maven and she’s iconic. I agree with Ina that’s it fine to have a cocktail and relax, but I also agree with Martha that over-drinking is a problem and it isn’t cute or funny.
I live in a pretty “Wine Mom” neighborhood and it’s gotten to the point where some local mothers day drink on school days. I got into a bad wine habit for a while when my kids were in school…..after I stopped working and they started carrying wine in grocery stores. Never during the day (how can one function that way?), but still. I had not been much of a drinker before that, not abstemious but just not into getting drunk or drinking regularly. It’s very easy to start overdoing it and some people are.
Each of them has her niche, which is fine.
She didn’t say “become an alcoholic”. People still don’t get the difference between drinking as something to enjoy like food and alcoholism. It’s not the same and a larger margarita doesn’t make you an alcoholic. Also Martha was in prison and smokes weed. She shouldn’t be the one talking. I started getting into cocktails and long drinks during the pandemic. I started in a 300 sqft apartment when it began. Let me have my Friday night cocktail to relax Martha.
Oh, what a mess. Even though Ina is correct in that we’re all doing our very best to cope with whatever resources and tools we currently have (and it was sweet of her to suggest some of her own coping tactics in, I *assume*, a not-shamey way), Reese has also dealt with substance abuse problems, so suggesting more drinking is not super helpful. Ina suggesting alternative coping skills could be interpreted as NOT being supportive of Reese trying to make an important change.
When Seth Meyers tried to get Ina to drink on his show, she didn’t exactly come off as a boozehound. Martha describing her own drinking habits, however… the lady doth protest too much. I get that Martha’s intention here is most likely to defend Reese by telling Ina to get the plank out of her own eye, but shaming others when they’re just trying to cope is never okay. Team No One (sorry, Martha my queen).
Eh, I’m with Martha on this one. Women’s drinking has become way too normalized (looking at you Reese). It causes cancer, and it’s used as a numbing agent against the crazy expectations that are on women these days (full time work, childcare, lazy husbands, the whole damn mental load etc).
I think I am with you on this. Martha might have come across as too judgy but imbibing too much has become a commonplace problem and one which is, as you said, too normalized. And I am not faulting the people doing it overall, just the culture that makes it not just acceptable but “cute and charming,” as Martha said. Just look at how many pairs of pajamas, wall signs, tee shirts, etc. are promoting the “Rose All Day” culture? It’s a problem.
Martha: “I do not agree about taking to drink to cope with things like the pandemic”
Also Martha: “Buy my new Chardonnay”
I have followed Martha’s personal ig account for many years, and she was the drunkest boomer on there for a couple years! This may be a case of the pot meeting the kettle.
I have a hard time believing martha is up early to muck out a stable….
She criticized drinking while promoting her wine in the same breath. What petty, joyless, goal-post shifting.
Martha took a cheap shop at Ina she she could make a not so humble brag and promote her Chardonnay. Very tacky.
Well, what does her BFF Snoop have to say?
I’m sure Ina is crying herself to sleep over Martha not thinking she’s “charming.” Lucky for Ina she’ll always have her first career — writing and analyzing the entire nuclear energy budget for the White House Office of Management and Budget by herself WHILE earning an MBA from Georgetown AND writing nuclear centrifuge policy papers for Presidents Ford and Carter — to fall back on. /s
Seriously. Ina is whip-smart, had a Yankee White Top Secret clearance, spent decades living in DC working with presidents and running with the State Department/DuPont Circle set from Jeffrey’s career there. She’s dealt with actual crises, and isn’t a name-dropper or chasing celebrities. Barefoot Contessa is wasn’t even her second act. It’s her third or fourth — and her cookbooks and shows are still best-sellers and top-rated.
Meanwhile, Martha Stewart has been doing this her whole life, and continues to be fatphobic and wildly out of touch with people who can’t buy duck fat, truffles, or Kobe beef on the regular.
So, the majority of your points are true. You, maybe do no know that Martha & Ina are friends. It is not a secret between Ina & Martha, that Martha helped, encouraged, wrote the forword of Ina’s first book and supported Ina. The two of them are probably laughing at this debate. They are friends that give each other sh*t and give no f*cks. Seriously, it is on record, by Ina herself, that Martha supported and encouraged (and hooked Ina with a publisher). These 2 women are not spatting. They’re laughing together.
Listen, I love Martha, but I am totally in love with Ina. Name a holiday, any holiday, and I can hork up a recipe to keep everyone in my life happy, and it’s ALWAYS Ina.
Also, in the late 90s and early aughts, I was going to a psychiatrist….long story, short, I was addicted to xanax by the end of his psychiatric journey. I had to find a way to soothe myself, after the xanax, and it was Ina. I dare anyone to be stressed out while watching Ina. I have episodes of her show for every mood.
We are now over two decades past that part of my life, and I still find my calm chopping an onion, or whatever. No pharmaceuticals needed.
Still not mad at Martha, and I would KILL for a Ina/Snoop/Martha collaboration.
I like both these ladies, so I’m not going to criticize either, but Martha is about money, honey. She’s not just about cooking. I looked at martha.com, and dayum, there’s all kinds of things on there for sale: pricey garden furniture, and I guess she is a mogul now. Into everything. I don’t know like the rest of you about her cookbooks or recipes. I’m listening to you. But then there is Ina. Ina is all about cooking, and you can tell she eats what she makes, and she is so sweet. So as I said, as far as cooking or cookbooks go, I’m listening to you all who have done the testing, but if I didn’t have you, I would go for Ina, because as I said, she’s all about cooking. Annnnd, she’s not snooty. 🙂
Here for the Poirot DVDs 🕵🏼
Do not come for Ina you bowl of vanilla pudding.
My office is right around the corner from Ina’s apartment in NYC, and I walked past her once on my morning commute while she was leaving a coffee shop laughing arm-in-arm with a friend. She exuded absolute joy, warmth, friendliness, and joi de vivre. I was totally shocked and thrilled to see her and she watched me freeze mid step, and I *swear* she sent that joy in my direction like a warm blanket – I don’t know how else to describe it.
Martha is a “cooler cat”… she dresses edgier than you’d expect, and every time I saw her it was at a hip/cool/youngish downtown charity or art event. If it was highschool, Martha would be popular for being the cool girl and Ina would be popular for being an absolute darling gem of a person.
Just my $.02 — I love them both!
I can’t imagine either Ina or Martha being that much fun. Ina is only fun insofar as she likes to mix a batch of cocktails to entice her friends to come over because she is insufferably lonely as her husband Jeffrey is NEVER home (except for a Friday night chicken dinner). Ina is a snob because she is new money. Martha is a snob because she takes on the air of being pedigreed. Different perspectives, but same outcome. Drink alone or with friends, but not with either of them.