Two creatures—furry Waffles and pink, meeping Mochi—fly around the globe in a magic shopping cart. Their aim: to explore a special ingredient in every episode of a new, half-hour kid’s show on Netflix. Often making appearances as the avid gardener who lives above a puppet-filled grocery store, Mrs. O (AKA Michelle Obama) helps the food puppet duo on their journey to learn more about ingredients like tomatoes, mushrooms, and eggs through cooking, learning, and eating. “Waffles + Mochi” is an international show meeting people and their foods in places like Italy, Peru, and Japan. For The New Yorker, Helen Rosner wrote about how the show’s casual angle touches topic areas that most food programs rarely tackle: water scarcity, Indigenous foodways, and disability inclusion. Along the way, Mochi and Waffles meet celebrities, chefs, scholars, salt farmers, and mycologists, along with a slew of children who help them on their journey. The lessons of Obama’s show are in line with her commitment to childhood nutrition and health. But as Rosner pointed out, the show seems to shy away from unpacking America’s broken food systems.
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