The Real Food Show
features culinary presenters preparing dishes in tandem with the health and human services secretary.
Many people associate propaganda with slogans like “war is peace,” rather than with directives to sprinkle nutritional yeast into salmon cakes because it supposedly benefits the microbiome. The Real Food Show reminds us that propaganda can sometimes resemble the sales pitch of early-2010s home-brewed kombucha.
Produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), this YouTube cooking program pairs HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with a rotating guest chef each episode. The first two installments run a little over 19 minutes apiece. In one, chef Andrew Gruel crafts salmon cakes served with an arugula, apple, and white bean salad, while in the other, chef Geoffrey Zakarian prepares a French omelet.
The mission, according to an HHS press release, is to translate updated federal dietary guidelines into tangible meals. “Each episode blends straightforward recipes with the science behind them,” relying on inexpensive ingredients and basic kitchen equipment.
It’s not a terrible concept, and I gleaned a few insights while watching. The meals were prepared simply and quickly, they looked appetizing, and I left feeling both that I wanted to cook this food and that I could. I also appreciated the way nutrition science was woven into the content. Honestly, I might enjoy the show—if it weren’t produced by the federal government.
Yet we can’t separate the show’s pleasures from the reality that it functions as a polished instrument of government messaging, and not a subtle one. References to the Magnuson-Stevens Act (which regulates U.S. fisheries), a recent executive order promoting regenerative agriculture, and concerns about screen time appear. The updated federal dietary guidelines are cited repeatedly. The advice isn’t wholly pernicious (eat more seafood; protein is acceptable). But it feels disconcerting when injected into otherwise practical lessons on lemon zest and whisking techniques. A government sizable enough to insert itself into American kitchens for benign aims could also be used to push less benign ones.
RFK Jr.’s MAHA Cooking Show Is Government Propaganda. I’m Kind of Into It?
