The first episode of Kennedy’s “Real Food Show” debuted Thursday on YouTube.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has launched a YouTube show with the aim of teaching Americans how to cook healthy, inexpensive meals. “Thanks to President Trump, we flipped the food pyramid and put real food back where it belongs: at the center of the American plate,” Kennedy said in a video he posted Wednesday to YouTube touting “The Real Food Show.”
“I’m traveling across America, connecting with renowned chefs to show families how to cook delicious, nutritious meals with real ingredients, and all at affordable prices,” the HHS secretary added.
“America, it’s time to eat real food. Let’s get cooking.” The show’s first episode aired Thursday on YouTube, with Kennedy and celebrity chef Andrew Gruel teaming up to prepare “crispy salmon cakes with apple, white beans and greens salad.”
Kennedy’s first stop on his cooking show brought him to Huntington Beach, California, where Andrew Gruel, a city council member, chef and conservative political commentator, joined the show as its first special guest.
The program will showcase how to prepare healthy meals for less than $5 a serving whenever possible, according to HHS.
Kennedy told USA Today that many Americans have forgotten how to cook, calling it a “lost art.”
“When we published the dietary guidelines, there was immediately sort of a good reaction, but also a little trepidation from the public and from critics saying that this food is a lot more expensive than the ultra-processed food that we’ve been eating,” Kennedy told USA Today. “And that’s not true.”
Thursday’s premiere episode was not entirely devoid of politics. Between a lesson on how to cook crispy salmon cakes, Kennedy inserted talking points about why Americans don’t eat enough seafood.
“I think it’s cultural because we have a lot of seafood in this country, and we’re used to eating meat, and think of that as our protein. Today we have the lowest level of cattle herds in history, in at least 100 years,” he said.
In an interview with USA Today ahead of the first episode of The Real Food Show, Kennedy said he had become so obsessed with following the diet that he used to take his own store-bought sauerkraut to restaurants. “I used to carry it with me, but I got too many complaints,” he said.
Kennedy’s cooking show will also feature recipes that include kimchi and sauerkraut, allowing others to follow the potent fermented-food diet that he and several members of the Trump administration have adopted.
“The way that you’re supposed to eat it is bite for bite,” he said. “You take a bite of the meat, take a bite of the sauerkraut. That is kind of the prescribed, perfect way of eating it. I don’t do that perfectly every time that I try.”
Kennedy credits his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, as the better cook in their household. He admits to preparing simple meals but praises Hines for her cooking and baking skills.
The Real Food Show is a new cooking series hosted by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that makes healthy, affordable cooking simple and accessible for every American. Inspired by President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, Secretary Kennedy is bringing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to life and showing that cooking with real food can be practical, approachable, and affordable for every family.
The program aims to teach Americans how to cook affordable meals using the new dietary guidelines set by his agency. The guidelines emphasize protein at every meal, along with full-fat dairy, vegetables, fruits, and grains.
Kennedy has been promoting the series on social media. In one video posted to X, which appears to reference the movie “Blade Runner 2049,” Kennedy says, “You look hungry. Real food can fix that.”
The show will feature celebrity chefs like Andrew Gruel and Robert Irvine, and it will be available online at hhs.gov/real-food-show.