With a dad who loves to eat and a dad who loves to cook, it's hard to imagine a world in which Gideon and Harper Burtka-Harris grow up not loving food. Over the past six years, we've seen these twins eat everything from ramen to oysters on their dads' Instagram accounts, but it looks like they recently got to try their tiny hands at the cooking side of things at a playdate that blew all others out of the water.
Last week, David Burtka posted a collage of photos from a very special Chopped Junior-inspired playdate he organized for his six-year-old twins and their pals. In the captions, he wrote, "Last week we had a Chopped Jr competition at our house. I was so impressed with the kids. They worked so well together and really had great ideas. @nphfoodporn @nph was our judge. He got to try all the wonderful creations. Maybe next time we can get @thetedallen to host! #choppedjunior @foodnetwork" Seeing the post immediately made us wish we had been invited to participate. It really seems like the best possible way to encourage creativity and fun and check out how excited Neil Patrick Harris looks as he's served up a dish.
During a recent interview with People at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Harris gave even more details about the elaborate playdate. He explained that each team of three kids got a their very own impressive mentor: Burtka’s culinary assistant Susan and Michael Symon‘s sous chef. Yep, this is what if feels like to be jealous of six-year-olds. The father of two, of course, tried to be a fair judge, giving Harper's team first prize for plating and naming Gideon's best overall. He admitted that one of the things that put his son's team over-the-top was their nacho dish. NPH said, "I was really impressed that they remembered I loved nachos so much — it’s kind of my kryptonite." It sounds like Gideon really knows his audience. Smart strategy, kid.