Ina Garten and Husband Jeffrey Reveal the ‘Secret’ to Marriage on 55th Anniversary — by Playing the Newlywed Game!

The tied the knot on Dec. 22, 1968 when Ina was 20 and Jeffrey 22

Ina and Jeffrey Garten nailed “Not the Newlyweds Game.”

The pair, who tied the knot on Dec. 22, 1968, celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary by playing a version of the Newlywed Game on Instagram. The couple were asked questions about the very beginning of their relationship, like, “What did you eat on your first date?” (coffee) and, “Who noticed who first?” (Jeffrey, of course).

Jeffrey, 77, who is the Dean Emeritus at the Yale School of Management, was the first to spot the Barefoot Contessa host. Ina, 75, and Jeffrey laughed while reminiscing on their initial meeting, when she was 16 and in high school and he was an 18-year-old Dartmouth student.

“I wasn’t old enough to have a drink!” the Be My Guest with Ina Garten host said in the clip. Jeffrey added, “We tried but you didn’t have an ID!”

They got most answers correct and the few wrong answers were still celebrated by the married couple with a big laugh. When asked about Jeffrey’s least favorite food, Ina wrote, “anything I didn’t cook” and he answered, “fish stew.”

“That was the only failure you’ve ever had,” Jeffrey said lightheartedly. Ina replied: “That’s right, I made a really bad fish stew once.”

For deeper questions, the two were in sync. Both knew that the cookbook author’s “basic life philosophy” is to “have fun.” When asked about Jeffrey’s “basic life philosophy,” she answered, “happy wife happy life.” Jeffrey’s answer was sweetly similar: “Love Ina.”

Related: Ina and Jeffrey Garten's Wedding Photos Will Make You Believe in Love

“What’s Ina’s secret to a long marriage?” was next. Jeffrey answered, “love me to death” and Ina wrote, “marry Jeffrey!”

When asked about Jeffrey’s secret to a long marriage, the answers were the same: He said, “love Ina to death” and Ina answered, “love me!”

“I’d say that’s a pretty good secret,” she said, before giving Jeffrey a kiss on the cheek.

According to Food Network Magazine, their initial connection was serendipitous. Jeffrey was gazing out the library window at the time and he said to his roommate, "Look at that girl, isn't she beautiful?" His roommate knew her brother and helped make the connection.

“He saw me on the street and then sent me a letter with a photograph of himself in it,” Ina told PEOPLE. “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!'”

Six months after laying eyes on her, Jeffrey showed up at her house to take her out on a date.

Related: Ina Garten Says Her First Date with Her Husband Jeffrey Was a 'Disaster'

After their coffee-fueled first date, they dated for five years before getting married in her parents’ backyard in Connecticut when she was 20 and he was 22 in 1968.

From 1968 to 1972 Jeffrey served as a lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division, a captain in the U.S. Army Special Forces and an advisor to the Royal Thai Army. He was deployed shortly after they got married but always kept his newlywed top of mind, writing to Ina “every single day,” he shared with PEOPLE.

They were able to make some memories together during those early years of marriage. After Jeffrey had been stationed with the Army in Thailand for a year, the couple purchased $99 round-trip student tickets to Paris in 1971. While on a four-month camping trip with her husband, Ina tried the classic French stew and says that is what motivated her to learn to cook.

Before becoming the Barefoot Contessa, Ina worked in the White House in the ‘70 as a nuclear policy analyst after Jeffrey encouraged her to forge her own career and buy a business for sale in Westhampton Beach, New York. She kept the name of the business (Barefoot Contessa) and turned it into a specialty food store. Her foodie career unfolded from there, with Jeffrey by her side the whole time.

“From the time we got married, I really was interested in cooking, but I had never cooked at all,” she told PEOPLE. “He encouraged it so much by just being so appreciative when I cooked, and that was really the beginning of my career.”

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