This Video of Julia Child Teaching Mister Rogers to Make Spaghetti Is the Escape We All Need Right Now

On their own, Mister Rogers and Julia Child are two of our favorite people. But together? Well, let’s just say that dreams do come true.

With all the mayhem in the news today, you can imagine our delight when a video of two of our favorite television personalities making culinary magic was brought to our attention by Kitchn last week.

The delightful 11-minute clip, posted by the official Julia Child Facebook page back in November, is from Child’s 1974 appearance on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. In it, she, Chef Brockett, and Mister Rogers demonstrate how to make a simple noodle dish called Spaghetti Marco Polo. (Watch it here.)

The family-friendly dish involves mixing warm spaghetti with salt, pepper, olive oil, butter, canned tuna in oil, chopped red pimentos, green onions, black olives, walnuts, grated Swiss cheese, and parsley. Yum.

Child starts by demonstrating how to cure a new wooden cutting board with olive oil. With her young audience in mind, she makes it clear which tasks should be left to the grownups (draining the pasta and chopping), and which can be handled by kids. A smiling Child chitchats about old movies as she makes quick work of the ingredients.

After it’s all been mixed together, she spoons messy, heaping portions onto plates and invites the two men to dig in with her. The trio taste the dish with chopsticks “because it’s more fun.”

Only Julia, right?

The whole thing is authentic, causal, and a much-needed escape from the glossy cooking shows we’ve become accustomed to. It’s a real treat.